Clinical, angiographic, and intravascular ultrasound characteristics of early saphenous vein graft failure

OBJECTIVES: We sought to examine saphenous vein graft (SVG) lesions that fail within the first year after operation. BACKGROUND: Saphenous vein grafts remain patent for approximately 10 years; however, up to 15% to 20% of SVGs become occluded within the first year. METHODS: We studied 100 patients who underwent percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) for early (<1 year post-implantation) SVG failure lesions and compared them with a diabetes- and hypercholesterolemia-matched cohort of late SVG failures (>1 year). Coronary angiography and intravascular ultrasound images were analyzed. RESULTS: The majority of patients in both groups were males who presented with unstable angina; 36% were diabetic. Graft ages were 6.0 +/- 2.9 months and 105.4 +/- 50.8 months, respectively. The early SVG failure lesion location was more often ostial or proximal (62% vs. 42%, respectively). Early SVG failures were angiographically smaller than late failures (reference: 2.47 +/- 0.86 mm vs. 3.26 +/- 0.83 mm, p < 0.001) but had similar lesion lengths. Intravascular ultrasound showed that early failure lesions had smaller proximal and distal reference lumen areas (7.3 +/- 6.8 mm2 vs. 10.6 +/- 3.8 mm2, p = 0.026) and greater reference plaque burden than late failures (52.3% vs. 36.1%, p < 0.001). After PCI, 20.6% of early and 30.6% of late failure lesions had creatine kinase-myocardial band (CK-MB) greater than twice normal. CONCLUSIONS: Early SVG failure is mostly proximal or ostial, lesions appear focal, and early SVGs appear smaller than late SVGs. Intravascular ultrasound shows significant reference segment plaque burden, suggesting more severe, diffuse SVG disease.