Assessment of left internal mammary artery graft patency by transthoracic Doppler echocardiography

BACKGROUND: The successful application of noninvasive Doppler spectrum analysis has been reported for the hemodynamic assessment of LIMA graft after myocardial revascularization. HYPOTHESIS: The objective of this study was to assess the utility of transthoracic Doppler echocardiography (TTE) in providing information on LIMA flow in patients after coronary artery bypass graft surgery. METHODS: In all, 22 patients (aged 62 +/- 8 years) with LIMA graft to the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery who underwent coronary angiography were assessed using high-frequency (5 MHz) transthoracic Doppler echocardiography. They were compared with 25 patients with angina (control group A, aged 59 +/- 12 years), in whom an ungrafted LIMA was assessed, and with 17 patients (control group B, aged 59 +/- 9 years) with angiographically normal coronary arteries, in whom the LAD was assessed. RESULTS: A biphasic pattern (systolic and diastolic) was recorded in all cases. In 14 patients with a normal graft or < 70% stenosis (Group 1) and in control group B, blood flow was maximal during diastole. In eight patients with severe graft stenosis > 70% (Group 2) and control group B, blood flow was maximal during systole, with low diastolic flow. The diastolic fraction of the velocity time integrals was 0.81 +/- 0.11 for Group 1 and 0.25 +/-0.06 for Group 2 (p < 0.05). A diastolic velocity time integral fraction < 0.5 predicted > 70% stenosis with a sensitivity and specificity of 100%. The ratio of systolic/diastolic peak velocities was 0.61 +/- 0.31 for Group 1 and 3.21 +/- 0.49 for Group 2 (p < 0.05). A systolic/diastolic peak velocity > 1 predicted stenosis > 70% with a sensitivity and specificity of 100 and 90%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: High-frequency TTE is a useful noninvasive method for detecting LIMA graft blood flow. Severe graft stenoses exhibited Doppler velocity patterns, which were different from those of patent grafts, or grafts with moderate stenoses.