Saphenous vein versus total arterial graft in coronary artery bypass graft

BACKGROUND: Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery remains the gold standard treatment for left main coronary artery and multivessel disease. In the last decade, arterial conduit clearly has had superiority over venous conduit. The aim of this study is to report and compare both types of conduit in Erbil Cardiac Center, Iraq. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was used to compare patients who received total arterial grafts (n = 25) with patients who had saphenous-vein bypass grafts (n = 25), at the point of gender, age, operation duration, post-operative complications, hospital stay, and the 6-month cardiac ejection fraction (EF) improvement. RESULTS: All patients of arterial group were men in comparison to 68% men versus 32% women in venous group; mean age of the patients was 50 years and 61 years for arterial and venous conduits, respectively. Duration of operation was 3.97 hours and 4.27 hours, hospital stay was 5.42 days and 7.20 days, and EF improvement was 11.48% and 4.40% for arterial and venous conduits, respectively. Although the duration of operation was not statistically significant, the total duration of hospital stay and EF improvement were statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Arterial conduit has started in the last decades. Although it technically needs more accuracy and time, it has a better outcome compared to the venous conduit.