Frequency of stress-induced thallium-201 defects in patients with patent internal mammary artery to the left anterior descending coronary artery graft

Abstract

Coronary artery revascularization with the internal mammary artery (IMA) was proposed 25 years ago. Initial enthusiasm was tempered by reports pointing to the higher absolute flow and better flow characteristics of venous grafts. However, long-term follow-up of several large cohorts of patients proved IMA superior to venous grafts, with a lower incidence of cardiac events and better actuarial patient survival. 1 The role of myocardial perfusion imaging in the follow-up of patients with IMA grafts has not been defined.