[A 20-year follow-up of Danish coronary artery bypass patients].

This study describes the influence of complete revascularization on the long term survival of patients following coronary artery bypass surgery. The patient population consists of 100 consecutive patients discharged from our department after undergoing a coronary bypass operation between November 1973 and July 1978. Patients who survived less than 30 days postoperatively are excluded from the study. The patient population consists of 87 males and 13 females. Mean age was 52.2 years at time of surgery. The rate of revascularization was estimated by coronary angiography, performed between one and 34 months postoperatively, in contrast to other similar studies found in the literature, where such estimation was performed peroperatively. Twenty-five of 86 patients were completely revascularized at postoperative angiographic estimation. Long term survival for the patient population and for the group of completely revascularized patients were compared to the expected survival of the Danish background population (comparable age and sex). Long term survival for the patient population as a whole was similar to that found in similar studies. There was an expected increased mortality compared to the Danish background population.