Gastroepiploic artery as an in situ coronary artery bypass graft: evaluation of MRI and colour Doppler ultrasound in follow-up.

The right gastroepiploic artery, increasingly used as an in situ coronary artery bypass graft, has good long-term patency. This study aimed to assess the accuracy and limitations of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and colour Doppler ultrasound (US) in postoperative follow-up of such cases. In eight consecutive patients (6 men, 2 women, mean age 57 years), conventional angiography, MRI and US were performed to evaluate graft patency. Colour Doppler US, performed within a week of the operation, correctly detected flow in three patent grafts. MRI (1.5 tesla) was performed c. 17 months after surgery, using a spine coil and a coronal two-dimensional Flash-type imaging sequence. At angiography six of the eight gastroepiploic artery grafts were patent, and two were occluded. The sensitivity and specificity of MRI were 100%. This accuracy makes MRI a promising method for noninvasive post-operative evaluation of right gastroepiploic artery graft patency.