All arterial Grafts

What is very crucial for the long term success of CABG is what is being used as a graft to bypass the blocked coronary artery. Most surgeons use veins from legs for this purpose and this leads to blocked grafts within a few years. But the use of arteries from the chest and hand for bypassing the blocked coronary arteries can help avoid this. This is called All Arterial CABG.

The life of veinous grafts is around 5 years but the arterial grafts last longer than 20 years. It has been conclusively proven by studies that chest arteries (IMA) have better patency than veins and even drug coated stents. The arteries not only last longer but the blood flow in arteries increases with physical activity so after surgery patients can not only carry out normal activities and can do strenuous exercises without any problem.

The only challenge of All Arterial CABG is that it is technically more demanding and the surgeon needs to be specially trained.