Second best conduit—is it the tag or patency that counts?

Abstract

The Radial Artery Patency and Clinical Outcomes (RAPCO) trial compared radial artery (RA) with free right internal thoracic artery (RITA) and saphenous vein grafts (SVG). This was a prospective, randomized, single-center trial with two separate arms (RA-RITA and RA-SVG). The study showed that RA was superior to free RITA in terms of 10-year angiographic patency and provided a survival advantage as well. In contrast, RA-SVG comparison suggested a trend towards better outcomes with RA but no statistically significant difference in patency or survival. In this appraisal of the RAPCO trial, both the conduct and the findings have been critically evaluated. The concerns over using free RITA as aorto-coronary grafts as opposed to composite grafts and the insufficient sample size for the RA-SVG comparison have been highlighted. In the RAPCO trial that spanned almost quarter of a century, patency of all three conduits studied in the trial appears satisfactory.