Coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery remains the standard
of care in the treatment of advanced coronary artery disease. It is well
recognized that the long-term clinical outcome after myocardial
revascularization is dependent on the patency of the bypass grafts.
Conventionally, invasive coronary angiography has been used to assess
graft status and evaluate for graft occlusion (Frazier et al., 2005).
There is an expanded number of patients undergo coronary artery
bypass graft (CABG) surgery allover the world each year. Long term
graft patency is the major factor limiting the initial clinical benefits of
revascularization and patient survival. Cardiac catheterization remains the
reference standard for graft patency, but its invasive nature limits its
routine use. Results provided by non-invasive techniques such as exercise
testing, thallium scintigraphy, or exercise echo are often difficult to
interpret in such patients, who may have chest pain unrelated to
myocardial ischaemia, progressive disease of native coronary arteries,
ischaemia unrelated to graft obstruction, or a pre-existing patchy
infarction pattern (Blumeke et al., 2008).
A more accurate method for non-invasive assessment of patency of
CABG is needed.
Having a noninvasive coronary angiography available has been a
much awaited goal for clinical cardiologists for decades (Leta and Liado,
2006).
The field of noninvasive imaging of cardiovascular disorders has
advanced considerably in recent years (Leta and Liado, 2006).
Computed tomography coronary angiography (CTA) has been
considered as an attractive alternative to the gold standard invasive
coronary angiography in the evaluation of coronary artery disease (CAD)
(Jabara et al., 2007).
Recent investigations have shown increased image quality and
diagnostic accuracy for non-invasive coronary angiography with
multidetector (64-slice) C-T angiography (MSCT) as comparable to
previous generations (MSCT) scanners, with few studies evaluate its role
in the evaluation of Coronary artery bypass grafts (Schuijf et al., 2007). |
