This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) On-line video Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Author home page(s): Takeshi Shimamoto Masashi Komeda Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Shimamoto, T. Articles by Komeda, M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Shimamoto, T. Articles by Komeda, M.

To-and-fro pattern: an indication of flow competition or a sign of incompetent coronary anastomosis?

^a Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine, 54 Shogoin Kawahara, Sakyo, Kyoto 606-8507, Japan
^b Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Toyohashi Heart Center, Toyohashi, Japan
^c Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Yamato Seiwa Hospital, Yamato, Japan

*Corresponding author. Tel.: +81-75-751-3784; fax: +81-75-751-4960.

E-mail address: shimamo{at}kuhp.kyoto-u.ac.jp (T. Shimamoto).

To-and-fro pattern in pulse Doppler wave form has been considered a sign of flow competition at the coronary anastomosis. However, this flow pattern is not sufficient to judge whether there is no construction errors in the anastomosis itself. We report a usefulness of the high-frequency ultralinear transducer when used with pulse Doppler because it allows the visualization of the shapes of the anastomosis and each vessel, quantification of the flow, and elucidation of flow characteristics. This transducer can be applied to the management of suspected flow competition because, with pulse Doppler waveforms of graft flow and color Doppler images, it allows the detection of the diastolic-dominant flow pattern, good anastomotic shape, and smooth flow in the graft and the target vessel after the native vessel is clamped.

Key Words: Coronary disease; Imaging; Echocardiography