Usefulness of transthoracic echocardiography in demonstrating coronary blood flow after coronary artery bypass grafting.

In this pilot study, we used transthoracic echocardiography to measure coronary sinus blood flow in 15 patients before and after coronary artery bypass grafting. Coronary sinus blood flow before and after revascularization was 274 +/- 95 and 451 +/- 102 ml/min, respectively (p <0.001). This finding is consistent with those previously demonstrated by invasive techniques.