Background: Complete arterial revascularization has become a favoured form of surgical treatment for multivessel coronary artery disease because of the excellent long-term patency of the internal mammary artery. Because of the limited number of the arterial grafts to achive complete arterial revascularization, alternative conduids have been sought. The aim of this study was to evaluate the suitability of descending branch of the lateral circumflex femoral artery (LCFA-d) angiographically as a source of arterial conduit.

Methods: The suitibility of LCFA-d was assessed morphometrically from lower limb angiograms of 20 adult male patients undergoing coronary angiography who did not have any clinical symptoms or signs of peripherial arterial occlusive disease. Atherosclerotic involvement of the LCFA-d was evaluated by measuring the internal proximal and distal diameter, length, number of the collateral branches and distal anastomosis of the vessel angiographically

Results: In this morphometric measurements, the average proximal diameter was 3.1 ± 0.4 mm, the average distal diameter was 2.7 ± 0.2 mm, the average length was 20.7 ± 1.6 cm, and the number of the collateral branches was 3.4 ± 0.1. In only one case (5%) significantly atherosclerosis, and in two cases (10%) plaque formation were found.

Conclusion: Despite the limited number of assessed arteriograms, the LCFA-d might be suitable as an arterial free graft for myocardial revascularization. Evaluation of clinical studies' and long-term follow-up results are necessary to determine the true efficacy of LCFA-d.

Keywords : Lateral circumflex femoral artery, arterial graft, revascularization