The radial artery in coronary artery bypass grafting

Although the initial experiences with radial artery as a conduit for coronary surgery were not satisfactory, it is nowadays widely used. After its renaissance in the early 90s its used has extended, with high patency rates in the series of patients followed for several years. Our goal is to comment the history if this graft, the technical for harvesting, the experience accumulated over a decade of use as the second conduit of choice and the reasons that guarantee their use. From August of 1996 we have used the radial artery as coronary bypass graft in 424 patients. A total of 543 distal anastomoses were built with 454 radial arteries, which contributed to reach a high percentage of complete revascularizations with exclusively arterial conduits. Our own experience has convinced us that it is an excellent conduit to be used in coronary surgery, in our opinion best after left internal mammary artery. The reasons that, in our opinion, guarantee its extensive use are: its arterial nature, availability, the minimum morbidity associated with its harvest, its similar caliber to the coronary vessel, available length, ease surgical handling, resistance to kinking, and the possibility to avoid saphenectomies and the excellent patency in the long-term.