Managing diffusely diseased coronary arteries – place of endarterectomy in today's scenario

Introduction: Surgical management of diffuse coronary artery disease (CAD) requires aggressive techniques for complete revascularization. Coronary endarterectomy (CE) coupled with coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is a valuable technique for this subset. The aim is to evaluate the perioperative and early results following CE. Materials and Methods: Three hundred and eighty patients of diffuse CAD undergoing off-pump CABG were included in the study. CE was performed in 204 patients. The mean age of the patients was 62 ± 16.32 years. The male-to-female ratio was 1.43, and the mean SYNTAX score was 33.12 ± 6.42. The mean stay in the intensive care unit was 4.94 ± 2.72 for patients undergoing CABG with CE. The perioperative mortality was 4.9%. The patients were followed up at 3 months, and graft patency was assessed with computed tomography coronary angiography. The average graft patency was 86.725% for the grafts with CE. Patients with left anterior descending (LAD) CE had higher perioperative mortality (5%), overall survival (89.79% at 3 months), and graft patency rates (87%) were favorable. The outcome following single vessel CE was better than multivessel CE. Conclusion: In patients with diffuse CAD, CE is a safe technique with comparable mortality and lesser complication rate if performed adequately. Despite perioperative difficulties, early outcomes are favorable for CE to the LAD artery grafted with the left internal thoracic artery. Single vessel CE yielded a better result as compared to multivessel CE.