Study of graft arteries – Data Collection
Protocol
| Patient selection | From time of study commencement, all eligible CABG patients seen by cardiac surgeons are invited to participate. |
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| Informed consent | Research nurse explains purpose of study and surgical procedures involved. If patient agrees to participate, provide with Informed Consent form and ask to sign. Forward Informed Consent form to administration. |
| Patient data collection | Research nurse interviews patient and completes interview schedule. Missing information obtained from patient files when possible. |
| Specimen collection | Collect the discarded segments of RA and ITA grafts from all participating patients. Collect the discarded segments for analysis. |
| Specimen treatment | Fix artery segments in a 4% formaldehyde solution and store for histopathology and morphometric analysis. |
| Histopathology preparation | Prepare multiple transverse slices of each artery, with 5µm sections, in paraffin wax. Record a unique identifier for each artery to ensure pathologist is blind to artery source, that is, does not know which type of artery is being examined. |
| Histopathology | Pathologist records the presence of the following arterial abnormalities: intimal thickening; medial calcification; atherosclerosis. Also record type of atherosclerosis using the American Heart Association classification of vascular lesions. |
| Morphometric preparation | Exclude specimens that have been distorted in surgery or by histopathology preparation. |
| Morphometric analysis | Using colour image analysis, measure the following:
Calculate the following:
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