Comparing 3-month and 1-year patency rates of no-touch great saphenous vein and pedicled left internal mammary artery in off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting: a prospective non-inferiority study

Teng-Yue Zhao; Bing-Jie Wang; Chu Liu; Jiang Liu; Ji-Qiang Bu; Yu Liu; Shu-Guang Zhao; Wen-Li Zhang; Zi-Ying Chen; Yu-Ming Wu

doi:10.3389/fcvm.2025.1547482

Comparing 3-month and 1-year patency rates of no-touch great saphenous vein and pedicled left internal mammary artery in off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting: a prospective non-inferiority study

Front Cardiovasc Med. 2025 Jun 16:12:1547482. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2025.1547482. eCollection 2025.

Authors

Teng-Yue Zhao^{1

2}, Bing-Jie Wang³, Chu Liu¹, Jiang Liu¹, Ji-Qiang Bu¹, Yu Liu¹, Shu-Guang Zhao¹, Wen-Li Zhang¹, Zi-Ying Chen¹, Yu-Ming Wu²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cardiac Surgery, The Second Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China.
² Department of Physiology, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China.
³ Department of Anesthesiology, The Third Hospital of Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China.

Abstract

Objective: In this study, we compared the 3- and 12-month patency rates of great saphenous vein (GSV) grafts harvested using the no-touch technique and pedicled left internal mammary artery (LIMA) in off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCABG). We also evaluated the short-term efficacy of the grafts harvested using the no-touch technique.

Methods: A non-inferiority study was conducted between June 2019 and August 2022, involving 106 patients who underwent OPCABG using the "no-touch" technique to harvest grafts from the LIMA and GSV. We aimed to assess and compare the patency rates of the pedicled LIMA graft and the no-touch GSV graft at both the 3- and 12-month postoperative intervals. Additionally, we sought to evaluate the advantages of employing the no-touch GSV graft in the context of OPCABG.

Results: There was no statistically significant difference in patency between the no-touch GSV graft and the LIMA at 3 and 12 months post-OPCABG (P < 0.001).

Conclusion: The no-touch technique can provide graft patency comparability with the LIMA; therefore, in addition to the internal mammary artery, the no-touch GSV is recommended as a graft alternative.

Keywords: left internal mammary artery; no-touch great saphenous vein; non-inferiority study; off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting; rate of patency.