Radial artery patency and clinical outcomes: Five-year interim results of a randomized trial

Abstract Objective This study was undertaken to compare elective angiographic patency and cardiac event-free survival of the radial artery graft with that of the free right internal thoracic artery or saphenous vein during a 10-year period after primary coronary artery bypass surgery. Methods This prospective, randomized, single-center trial was conducted on two groups of patients undergoing primary coronary artery bypass surgery. In a younger group (group 1, n=285, Results Graft patency estimates were as follows: 0.95 (95% confidence interval 0.85-0.99) in 39 radial arteries versus 1.0 in 29 right internal thoracic arteries ( P = .4) in group 1, and 0.86 (95% confidence interval 0.67-0.99) in 24 radial arteries versus 0.95 (95% confidence interval 0.83-0.99) in 22 saphenous veins ( P = .5) in group 2. Cardiac event–free survival estimates were as follows: 0.91 (95% confidence interval 0.76-0.99) for the radial artery versus 0.82 (95% confidence interval 0.63-0.99) for the right internal thoracic artery ( P = .7) in group 1, and 0.84 (95% confidence interval 0.64-0.99) for the radial artery versus 0.89 (95% confidence interval 0.72-0.99) for the saphenous vein ( P = .9) in group 2. Conclusion The 5-year interim results do not support the hypothesis that the radial artery has superior patency to or is associated with fewer clinical events than free right internal thoracic artery or saphenous vein grafts.