Is postoperative calcium channel blocker therapy needed in patients with radial artery grafts?
Calcium channel blocker therapy started immediately after surgery and continued for the first postoperative year does not affect radial artery graft patency and clinical and scintigraphic outcomes. On the basis of these data, the prophylactic use of calcium channel blocker therapy in patients with radial artery grafts seems unsubstantiated.
These data indicate that an increase in COX-2 expression might have a hypertensive effect, partly associated with 8-iso-PGF(2alpha) formation in l-NAME-treated rats.