Off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery by left anterolateral thoracotomy versus median sternotomy: a matched comparison

Background. Off-pump coronary artery bypass (OPCAB) surgery is an established technique for the management of three-vessel coronary artery disease. This study compared the clinical results of two different surgical approaches: median sternotomy and left anterolateral thoracotomy in patients undergoing OPCAB surgery. Methods. The study included two groups of 50 patients each with multivessel coronary artery disease matched for age, gender, extent of coronary disease, diabetes, hypertension and ejection fraction. Results. Preoperative characteristics were similar in the two groups. There were no deaths, or stroke. Patients undergoing median sternotomy received more grafts than those undergoing left anterolateral thoracotomy (3.30+/-0.8 vs 2.48+/-0.8 p
Introduction Off-pump coronary artery bypass (OPCAB) surgery via a median sternotomy is an established surgical technique for patients undergoing coronary revascularization. Recently the left anterolateral thoracotomy has been proposed as [...]