Coronary artery surgery, specially when performed without cardiopulmonary bypass, needs an "atraumatic" method that allows temporary coronary occlusion with minimal injury to the vessel wall. An experimental study was performed using the right coronary artery of cadaver hearts in order to evaluate the methods of "atraumatic" clamping of arteries with variable degrees of atherosclerosis. The vessels were evaluated histologically both for intensity of the atherosclerotic disease and intensity of injury to the coronary artery wall. Results suggest a relationship between severity of coronary artery disease and degree of injury to the artery wall.
coronary occlusion; vascular injury; coronary atherosclerosis; myocardial revascularization