Results of the interventions to severe coronary artery stenoses are mostly predictable. However, controversy still exists concerning moderate stenoses. Rapid increase in plaque sizes of borderline lesions have been reported, and long periods of nonintervention with these lesions can lead to undesirable cardiac events^[1^,2^]. Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) to moderately stenotic coronary vessels that were diagnosed by qualitative coronary angiography (CAG), is associated with lower long-term mortality^[3^]. But the success of surgical intervention in moderate stenoses is suggested to be associated with the functional importance of the lesion. Fractional flow reserve (FFR) is the suggested technique to decide the functional importance of a moderate coronary stenosis^[4^]. FFR has a very critical role in a surgeon's decision because a graft that was bypassed to a coronary artery with a functionally insignificant stenosis may be dysfunctional as a result of the competitive flow^[5^]. In this study we try to observe the fate of the left internal thoracic artery grafts (ITAG) that were bypassed to left anterior descending artery (LAD) with moderate stenoses that were identified with FFR technique. The patients were included in the study regardless of their symptom status so we chose color Doppler ultrasonography (CDUS) as a noninvasive screening method. The studies, which have demonstrated that CDUS could detect ITAG patency at a rate of over 90%, had encouraged us to choose CDUS as a screening method^[6^,7^].

Basic demographic and clinical characteristics of the 30 patients who form the study population are shown in Table 1.

Preoperative and postoperative distribution and comparison of symptoms and functional capacities of patients are seen in Table 2. No statistically significant difference was found between the preoperative and postoperative functional capacities of the patients (P=0.059). However, patients were reported to have improved from their angina during the postoperative follow-ups (P<0.001). Angina complaints have been reduced significantly in patients with single-vessel bypass, as well as in those who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting in two or more vessels (P=0.008 and P=0.001, respectively).

Apart from the CABG, three (10%) patients were subjected to additional intervention with one patient undergoing septal myectomy, one patient carotid endarterectomy, while one patient also underwent repair of femoral artery pseudoaneurysm.

The median FFR value was found to be 0.70 (range: 0.56-0.80). Only two patients were found to be in the 0.75-0.80 range.

The mean period of postoperative stay in the intensive care unit was found to be 1.8±3.1 days for all patients, whereas the postoperative period for hospitalization was reported as 6.3±4.1 days. The mean period between CABG and CDUS was found to be 35.1±19.7 months.

Results from CDUS conducted during outpatient follow-up visits demonstrated that the ITAG was functional in 63.3% of the patients (19 patients). Patients were then divided into two groups (functional and dysfunctional) according to assessment of ITAG, and the statistically significant difference between the groups evaluated (Table 3). A significant difference was reported between the two groups with regards only to the duration between CABG and CDUS. This duration was found to be 29.4±19.6 months in the group with functional ITAG, and 44.7±16.6 months in the dysfunctional group (P=0.046).

There was no significant difference between the two groups with regards to the preoperative and postoperative functional capacities (ITAG functional group P=0.053; ITAG dysfunctional group P=0.655).

Four of the patients who were found to be consistent with postoperative angina accepted to undergo CAG. As a result, no statistically significant comparison was performed.

Preoperative complaints of angina were reported to fall from 88.9% to 16.7% in the functional ITAG group, when compared to the postoperative period (P<0.001), whereas the complaints fell from 90.9% to 36.4% in the dysfunctional ITAG group (P=0.034).

The functional ITAG rates of the patients according to CDUS are shown in Figure 1. Accordingly, the two-year functional graft rates were found to be 90.8%, whereas the three-year functional graft rates were 76.6%.

Fig. 1

About 63.3% of the ITAG of the patients who underwent CABG according to FFR values, were found to be functional during a mean postoperative period of 35.1±19.7 months. Functional graft rates were found to be lower than the known patency rates of the ITAG. In the dysfunctional ITAG group the period between CABG and CDUS was found to be significantly longer than that observed in the functional ITAG group.

Moderate coronary stenoses are currently being treated according to their functional significance. Non-intervention for moderate stenoses, considered to be functionally insignificant, has demonstrated to alter survival and the incidence of angina^[9^]. Uneventful survival rate in cases with percutaneous coronary interventions (PCI) performed according to FFR guidance has shown to be higher than in procedures determined by CAG alone, and that FFR reduces the number of vessels involved with, and the cost of PCI^[10^]. These findings are in line with another study which shows that surgical revascularization of moderate lesions according to their functional significance does not increase unwanted cardiac events despite reducing the number of anastomoses^[11^]. These results may be due to the fact that the patency of grafts for coronary stenoses, considered as functionally severe, is higher than that of those considered to be non-severe^[12^].

ITAG is normally a conduit with a 10-year patency rate of 95%^[13^]. The fact that our study population consisted of patients with moderate stenosis suggests that the low functional ITAG rates (63.3%) may be due to native coronary blood flow. This flow in native vessels is more pronounced in vessels with moderate stenosis than in those with severe stenosis. Moderate target vessel stenoses have shown to be an independent risk factor for arterial graft dysfunction and can particularly cause grafts to become dysfunctional due to competitive flow, reducing the three-year patency rates to less than 90%^[14^,15^]. Due to the fact that arterial grafts reduce disease progression and also ensure regression of existing stenosis^[16^], improvement in native coronary flow may be another reason for dysfunctional ITAG in patients with moderate LAD stenosis as observed in our study population. The flow in the native coronary artery may prevent graft function when it is providing adequate perfusion to the myocardium distal to the stenosis. This sufficient flow in the native vasculature may have rendered patients to remain asymptomatic.

ITAG which could not be assessed with CDUS in our study were considered as being dysfunctional. Literature studies show that the grafts of approximately 10% of patients could not be evaluated with CDUS, and at least 60% of these grafts were detected as being patent on CAG^[6^]. Similarly, one of the reasons why the functional ITAG rate was below the expected level can be attributed to such limitations in the imaging procedure.

The small sample size of our study may be the most important limiting factor. The period between CABG and CDUS are not homogeneous in the study population. Also study results could be affected by the heterogeneity of surgical technique or even surgeons, the diameter of coronary arteries as well as the severity of FFR values. The FFR values in the grey zone, which is considered to be within the range of 0.75-0.80, were reported in only two patients; hence, a comparison could not be performed according to lesion severity. There is another heterogeneity in the number of diseased and bypassed vessels. Results obtained show that there was a significant decrease in postoperative angina complaints in patients with single-vessel bypass, as well as in those who were subjected to bypass grafting in two or more vessels (P=0.008 and P=0.001). The ITAG was used only at the LAD position in all of the patients and CDUS was used for visualizing only the functional status of the ITAG. Occlusion of saphenous venous grafts of coronary stenosis other than LAD may cause ischemia in some parts of the myocardium, leading to observable symptoms, while saphenous grafts of vessels which are a source of preoperative pain may remain patent, leading to asymptomatic features in the patients. Finally, evaluation of graft function was performed with CDUS; however, results could not be compared to CAG which is considered to be the golden standard.

This study may give us an idea that grafting of moderate coronary stenoses may negatively affect graft patency rates. In order to assess the safety of determining the hemodynamic importance of moderate lesions by the FFR technique, studies with adequate and homogenous follow-up periods, involving a larger study population, and whose CDUS results can be confirmed by CAG, are required so as to obtain more definite results.