HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Author home page(s): Tomoya Yoshizaki Noriyuki Tabuchi Permission Requests Google Scholar Articles by Yoshizaki, T. Articles by Toyama, M. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Yoshizaki, T. Articles by Toyama, M.

Verapamil and Nitroglycerin Improves the Patency Rate of Radial Artery Grafts

Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Yokohama City Minato Red Cross Hospital, Yokohama
¹ Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Kameda Medical Center, Chiba, Japan

For reprint information contact: Tomoya Yoshizaki, MD, Tel: 81 45 628 6100, Fax: 81 45 628 6101, Email: yoshizaki.tsrg{at}yokohama.jrc.or.jp, Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Yokohama City Minato Red Cross Hospital, 3-12-1 Shinyamashita, Naka-ku, Yokohama 231-8682, Japan.

The best way to prevent spasm of the radial artery is still under investigation. We retrospectively compared the effectiveness of topical verapamil-nitroglycerin with papaverine in preventing graft spasm in 215 patients who underwent isolated conventional coronary artery bypass using a radial artery. Postoperative angiographic data were successfully collected in 116 patients. Perioperative radial artery graft spasm was observed in 2 patients in the papaverine group and 1 in the verapamil-nitroglycerin group; this difference was not considered significant. Complete or functional occlusion was detected by postoperative angiography in 13 grafts (10 in the papaverine group and 3 in the verapamil-nitroglycerin group). Multivariate regression analysis revealed that topical papaverine and grafting to the right coronary artery significantly increased the rate of occlusion of radial artery grafts. Although further studies are needed, our data support the view that topical verapamil-nitroglycerin reduces the incidence of radial artery graft occlusion.