Werner RS, et al. - Given a link between blood transfusion in cardiac surgery and reduced short- and long-term survival has been consistently suggested by accumulating evidence, so, researchers assessed periprocedural blood loss as well as transfusion rates in elective, isolated total arterial coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) utilizing exclusively skeletonized bilateral internal mammary arteries (IMAs). Of 1,011 consecutive patients having coronary artery disease who were treated with CABG between January 2007 and December 2014, 595 with preoperative hemoglobin levels > 9md/dl and who underwent elective, isolated CABG for multi-vessel coronary artery disease were analyzed. Findings revealed decreased transfusion rates of erythrocyte concentrates among patients who underwent elective, isolated total arterial CABG using exclusively skeletonized bilateral IMAs vs mixed CABG using a combination of single IMA and saphenous vein grafts. The use of a total arterial approach was not associated with a higher incidence of complications.