Fellow discussant Dr. Steven Bolling, a thoracic surgeon at the University of Michigan Medical Center in Ann Arbor, said he expects the data will shift practice and increase utilization of the radial-artery graft.
When asked about this point during a press conference at the meeting, Dr. Fremes said that radial-artery utilization varies by jurisdiction at about 20%, compared with more than 95% for the internal-mammary artery. He noted that the evidence to date on radial-artery grafts has been mixed and comes mainly from observational studies.
"The study we presented is the first multi-institutional, longitudinal, randomized comparison, so this is fairly unique data," he said. "Hopefully, it will be persuasive."
Press briefing moderator Dr. Spencer King III, with St. Joseph’s Heart and Vascular Institute in Atlanta, said RAPS challenges the prevailing attitude that the radial artery is not that much better than vein grafts. RAPS "says maybe it is going to last longer. So I think this is an interesting thing for surgeons to chew on," he noted.
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research funded the study. Dr. Fremes reported no conflicts.