Radial artery and right internal thoracic artery: jousting for the throne of coronary artery bypass grafting

Even in the presence of multivessel coronary artery disease, a majority of the patients in almost all developed countries receive only a single arterial conduit during coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) (1). This continues to occur despite a large body of evidence demonstrating improvements in clinical outcomes for patients who receive more than one arterial graft during CABG. Several randomized controlled trials (RCTs) suggest better patency rates for the radial artery (RA) versus the saphenous vein (SV) (2-4). Growing evidence has demonstrated the superiority of the RA and right internal thoracic artery (RITA) in regards to patency when compared to the SV (5).