Assessment of Right Gastroepiploic Artery Graft by Transcutaneous Doppler Ultrasonography

Recently skeletonization by the ultrasonic scalpel has been recognized as a method of harvesting arterial graft including the gastroepiploic artery (GEA) for coronary artery bypass grafting. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of transcutaneous ultrasonography during assessment of skeletonized GEA grafts. Twenty five patients including 22 men and 3 women (mean age, 63 years; range, 47 to 84 years) underwent off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting using GEA between August 2003 and April 2004. After 3 to 28 weeks of the operation, GEA was detected on the liver surface under the guidance of the color Doppler ultrasonography. The GEA diameter, blood flow waveform, peak velocity and average velocity were measured, after that blood flow was calculated. Blood flow was detected in all 25 GEAs. Blood flow waveform showed only forward flow in 24 GEAs. In one case, forward and backward flow waveform was observed. GEA diameter was 3.1 ± 0.7mm, average flow velocity was 14.0 ± 5.1cm/s, blood flow was 80.5 ± 43ml/min. This study suggests that the transcutaneous ultrasonography proved to be a noninvasive and convenient method to evaluate postoperative skeletonized GEA