Is single or double aortic clamping safer in terms of cerebral outcome during coronary bypass surgery?

The purpose of the present study was to investigate retrospectively which aortic clamping technique, the single clamp technique (SCT) or double clamping technique (DCT), is safer in terms of cerebral functions in patients who have undergone coronary bypass surgery. We evaluated 1100 patients who underwent coronary artery bypass graft surgery at our institute from 1998 to 2004. The two groups, SCT (n = 550, 50%) and DCT (n = 550, 50%), were comparable with respect to smoking, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, diabetes mellitus, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, peripheral arterial disease, history of neurological events, creatinine levels, and existence of a carotid lesion. No significant differences between the SCT and DCT groups were observed in terms of cardiac and cerebral complications perioperatively and postoperatively. Both single and double clamping techniques have advantages and disadvantages in patients undergoing coronary bypass surgery.