Evaluation of coronary bypass graft patency by ultrafast computed tomography

A noninvasive technique for determining bypass graft patency is greatly needed. To determine if bypass graft patency could be accurately assessed with ultrafast computed tomography (CT) following an intravenous contrast injection, ten patients with 21 coronary bypass grafts were studied. All patients had cardiac catheterization and ultrafast computed tomographic studies within one month of each other. The sensitivity of detecting angiographically open grafts with ultrafast CT was 94.1% (16/17), specificity of detecting angiographically closed grafts was 100% (4/4), and accuracy was 95.2% (20/21). These preliminary results in a small clinical series indicate that ultrafast CT may be a useful, minimally invasive technique for evaluating coronary bypass graft patency.