Coronary TrialPatency-Coronary Trial

Heart bypass surgery is used to increase blood flow to the heart. This surgery is usually done using a heart-lung machine (on-pump surgery) allowing the surgeon to perform the procedure on a still heart. However, this heart-lung machine causes an inflammatory response and is linked with complications such as heart injury, stroke, brain injury, kidney failure, need for blood transfusions, irregular heart rhythms and death. An effective way of counteracting the effects of the heart-lung machine is to not use the pump itself, thus performing the bypass surgery with a beating heart (off-pump surgery). However, off-pump surgery is technically more difficult, possibly associated with a decrease in graft patency. The ongoing Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Off or On Pump Revascularization Study (CORONARY), is a prospective randomized clinical trial comparing bypass surgery done with and without the pump. Worldwide, 4700 patients will be included and followed up for 5 years. The proposed research project, The Patency AssessmenT of grafts pErformed iN CORONARY (PATENCY-CORONARY), is a prospective clinical trial for the evaluation of patency (or "openness") of the bypass grafts that will enrol 1200 consecutive CORONARY patients reaching their one year follow-up. Patients will undergo a non-invasive scan using X-rays to safely and quickly evaluate graft patency. The PATENCY-CORONARY trial will determine if off-pump surgery is associated with decreased graft patency at 1-year post-surgery compared to on-pump surgery when performed by skilled surgeons in different clinical settings, whether decreased graft patency is associated with adverse short and long-term outcomes, and explore other risk factors associated with decreased graft patency.