NEW YORK (Reuters Health) – During the first year after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), patency rates are similar for radial artery grafts and saphenous vein grafts, study findings suggest.

However, diabetic patients did better with saphenous vein grafts than with radial artery grafts, the authors report in the Journal of the American Medical Association for January 12. And for saphenous veins alone, endoscopic vessel harvesting resulted in lower patency rates.

The trial, conducted between 2003 and 2009 at 11 Veterans Affairs Medical Centers, included 733 patients (99% men) who had a first-time elective CABG who did not require concomitant valve surgery.

The investigators, led by Dr. Steven Goldman at the Southern Arizona VA Health Care System in Tucson, preferentially used the left internal mammary artery for the left anterior descending coronary artery when possible. They randomized the best remaining recipient vessel to a radial artery (n = 366) or a saphenous vein (n = 367). Patients were treated with daily aspirin 325 mg for at least a year.

In both groups, study graft patency was 89% at 1 year (238/266 treated with a radial artery and 239/269 treated with a saphenous vein). Results were similar for the different coronary arteries: the left anterior descending artery, circumflex, and right coronary artery.

Likewise, patency at 1 week did not differ (97% with the saphenous vein and 99% with the radial artery).

However, radial artery grafts had lower patency rates than did saphenous veins in patients with diabetes (p = .04).