Background. We evaluated the effects of coronary artery bypass with off-pump skeletonized bilateral internal thoracic artery grafting in patients with insulin-dependent diabetes. Methods. One hundred eighty-five consecutive patients with insulin-dependent diabetes who underwent isolated coronary artery bypass grafting with bilateral internal thoracic grafts were retrospectively compared according to surgical technique, ie, off-pump grafting with skeletonized internal thoracic artery ( n = 162) or on-pump grafting with pedicled internal thoracic artery ( n = 23). Results. The on-pump group was younger (62.3 +/- 9.2 versus 69.9 +/- 8.5 years; p = 0.02) and had fewer distal anastomoses (3.5 +/- 1.0 versus 4.0 +/- 1.1; p = 0.02) than the off-pump group. No 30-day mortality occurred in either group. The incidence of deep sternal infection was significantly lower in the off-pump group than in the on-pump group (0.6% versus 13.0%; p = 0.01). The early angiographic results did not differ between the two groups. The median duration of follow-up was 3.4 years ( range, 0.1 to 9.9 years). Rates of survival, freedom from cardiac mortality, and freedom from cardiac-related events ( including cardiac-related death, myocardial infarction, percutaneous coronary intervention, repeat coronary artery bypass grafting, and congestive heart failure) did not differ between the two groups. Dialysis, peripheral vascular disease, ejection fraction less than 0.40, and age were independent risk factors of late death. Conclusions. Overall, our results support the surgical management of coronary artery bypass grafting in insulin-dependent diabetics using off-pump skeletonized bilateral internal thoracic artery grafting.
