No-touch versus conventional vein in coronary artery bypass grafting: three year follow-up of multicentre randomised PATENCY trial
An erratum to this article was published (BMJ, 27 Jul 2026 ↗)
Authors' conclusion
The no-touch technique consistently and robustly reduced the risk of vein graft occlusion and several cardiac events by one third to one half within three years after coronary artery bypass grafting surgery.
Study context
- Population
- Adults aged ≥18 undergoing isolated CABG, 7 cardiac surgery centres in China, enrolled April 2017–June 20192,281 had CT angiography
- Participants
- 2,655 adults
- Comparison
- No-touch vs conventional vein harvesting in CABG
- Primary endpoint
- Vein graft occlusion (CT angiography)
- Follow-up
- 3 years
Methodological detailsmulticentre, 3-year extended follow-up, Mean age 61 years (SD ±8); 22% women, 99.4% (2621) attended 3-year follow-up; 86.5% (2281) had CT angiography
- Multicentre
- 3-year extended follow-up
- Mean age 61 years (SD ±8); 22% women
- 99.4% (2621) attended 3-year follow-up; 86.5% (2281) had CT angiography
Primary result
As reported in the abstract
Vein graft occlusion
Each group vs conventionalOdds ratio (95% CI)P value
No-touch
0.62(0.48–0.80)
P < 0.001Each group vs conventionalAbsolute risk difference (95% CI)
No-touch
−3.2%(−5.0% to −1.4%)
Further findings
| Outcome | No-touch | Conventional | OR (95% CI) | P value | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vein graft occlusion, ITT analysis with multiple imputation (all 2655 randomised) · 3 yearsIntention-to-treat | 6.1% | 9.3% | 0.63 (0.51–0.81) | P < 0.001 | |
| 0.512Odds ratio (log scale) |
| Outcome | Absolute risk difference (95% CI) | |
|---|---|---|
| Vein graft occlusion, ITT analysis with multiple imputation (all 2655 randomised) · 3 yearsIntention-to-treat | −3.1% (−4.9% to −1.4%) | |
| −6−4−202Difference (linear scale) |
Original publication
No-touch versus conventional vein in coronary artery bypass grafting: three year follow-up of multicentre randomised PATENCY trial. BMJ. Published 30 April 2025. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →