Postoperative flow characteristics of left internal thoracic artery grafts

Twenty patients whose left internal thoracic artery (LITA) was anastomosed to the left anterior descending artery (LAD) underwent postoperative coronary angiography and Doppler ultrasound velocimetry. During angiography, the diameter of the LITA conduit was measured at three points: proximal, mid, and distal. The degree of left anterior descending artery stenosis proximal to the anastomotic site was evaluated by densitometry. The LITA flow velocity pattern was obtained at the three points to calculate the total, systolic, and diastolic flow volume. There were significant differences in the total LITA flow among the three points (proximal, 36.0 -F 17.2 mL/min; mid, 29.9 ± 15.2 mL/min; distal, 27.2 ± 14.0 mL/min; p p