Graft Occlusion Following Coronary Bypass Surgery

The 1-year failure rate of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery is 15% to 20% despite aspirin therapy. A prior randomized study of CABG patients demonstrated that extending heparin or fondaparinux therapy for 30 days after surgery did not diminish the rate of early graft occlusion (J Thromb Thrombolysis 2011; 32:378).

Now, investigators have conducted a preplanned analysis of 99 patients in that study to determine whether anti-platelet factor 4 (PF4)/heparin antibodies — which are linked to thrombosis and generated in up to 80% of patients undergoing cardiac surgery — are associated with graft occlusion after CAGB and whether antibody formation and risk for heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) are lower with heparin versus fondap…