The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Vol 69, 212-216, Copyright © 1975 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery and The Western Thoracic Surgical Association
Extrathoracic bypass for stenosis of innominate artery
GK Sethi, SM Scott and T Takaro
Stenosis of the innominate artery usually occurs in older patients in whom
the risks of conventional, corrective procedures such as transthoracic
endarterectomy or aorto-innominate arterial bypass grafting are quite high.
An axillo-axillary bypass procedure was performed in a high-risk patient
with innominate arterial stenosis who had repeated episodes of transient
cerebral ischemia due to decreased blood flow through the right carotid
artery and reversal of blood flow through the right vertebral artery.
Postoperatively, he has had dramatic improvement in his symptoms. Because
of its simplicity, avoidance of major thoracotomy, avoidance of temporary
occlusion of the carotid artery, and excellent late results,
axillo-axillary bypass grafting is being proposed as the procedure of
choice for stenosis of the innominate artery.