OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the influence of the technique used in the dissection of thoracic arteries in the evolution of diabetic patients submitted to OPCAB. METHODS: Seventy diabetic patients submitted to OPCAB using bilateral thoracic arteries were evaluated. In Group A, thoracic arteries were dissected as a pedicle, while in Group B they were skeletonized. RESULTS: The mean age of patients in Group A was 52.14 ± 7.35 years old versus 55.71 ± 8.1 years for Group B (p=0.057). In Group A, six patients (17.1%) were insulin dependent against nine (25.7%) in Group B (p = 0.561). The EUROSCORE was 3.97 ± 2.49 for Group A opposed to 4.14 ± 3.06 for Group B (p = 0.879). The number of distal anastomoses in Group A was 3 ± 0.77 versus 3.03 ± 0.89 in Group B (p = 0.981). Three patients (8.57%) from Group A presented with mediastinitis. Insulin dependence was the only significant risk factor (p=0.008) for mediastinitis. In this group the use of skeletonized internal thoracic arteries significantly decreased the incidence of mediastinitis (p = 0.044). Conclusion: The incidence of mediastinitis was lower in the group for which mammary arteries were dissected using skeletonization. Among insulin-dependent diabetics, 50% of the patients from the group in which the pedicled internal thoracic artery was utilized presented with mediastinitis; the utilization of skeletonized internal thoracic arteries significantly decreases the incidence of mediastinitis.
Myocardial revascularization; Mammary arteries; Diabetes mellitus
