[Coronary endarterectomy (blind and open) associated with bypass. Experience in 143 patients].

From June 1982 until January 1986, 173 coronary endarterectomies (EA) with bypass were performed in 143 patients. The series includes 130 conventional EA and 43 open EA with coronary reconstruction. In 9 cases of open EA the revascularization of the reconstructed coronaries was accomplished with internal mammary artery (AMI). 70 (40.4%) EA were performed on the right coronary artery, 75 (43.3%) on the left anterior descending coronary artery and 28 (20.1%) on the left circumflex coronary artery. The early mortality rate in the entire group was 3.5% (respectively 2.0% for the conventional EA and 7.3% for the open EA) and the rate of perioperative myocardial infarction was 8.4% (7.8% in patients receiving conventional EA and 9.7% in those receiving open EA). With mean follow-up of 18.4 months, most (89.8%) of the surviving patients were either symptoms-free or greatly improved. Coronary endarterectomy is a worth-while procedure and it allows surgical management of otherwise inoperables arteries.