Abstract 520: Should Bilateral Internal Thoracic Artery Grafting be Used in Patients with Peripheral Vascular Disease?

Background: The potential survival benefit of Bilateral Internal Thoracic Artery (BITA) compared to Single Internal Thoracic Artery (SITA) grafting in peripheral or cerebral vascular disease (PVD) patients is questionable, due to their short life expectancy and increased risk of sternal wound infection. Methods: Six hundreds and four Patients with PVD who underwent BITA grafting between 1996 and 2010 were compared with 478 PVD patients who underwent SITA grafting. Results: Patients undergoing SITA were older, more often female, more likely to have chronic obstructive lung disease, EFu003c30% ,Diabetes, renal insufficiency, congestive heart failure and emergency operation. Euroscore of SITA patients was significantly higher(10.1 ±3.1vs. 8.1± 3.3 %,pu003c0.001) Operative mortality (4.4% vs. 5.0% in BITA and SITA)and sternal wound infections (4.4% vs. 3.6%) were not significantly different between groups. Median follow-up was 9.50 (95%CI 8.83-10.16) years. Ten-year survival (Kaplan-Meier ) of the SITA and BITA group...