To the Editor,
We appreciate the comments of the authors on our article entitled as “Association between platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio and saphenous vein graft disease in patients with stable angina pectoris” published in Anatol J Cardiol 2015 May 5 (1).
The causes of saphenous vein graft failure differ according to the time period after surgery. Thrombosis is the dominant factor in graft failure in the first month after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG), intimal hyperplasia between 1 and 12 months, and atherosclerosis is the main pathogenic insult to venous graft failure 12 months after surgery (2). Therefore, as we mentioned in the discussion section of our paper, we included patients who had CABG surgery >1 year ago to minimize graft failure factors related to the surgery itself.
We believe that further prospective studies would better clarify the correlation of the platelet-to-lymphocyte ratio with the duration between CABG surgery and saphenous vein graft disease.
References
- 1.Kundi H, Balun A, Çiçekçioğlu H, Çetin M, Kızıltunç E, Çetin ZG, et al. Association between platelet to lymphocyte ratio and saphenous vein graft disease in patients with stable angina pectoris. Anatol J Cardiol. 2015 May 5; doi: 10.5152/akd.2015.6224. Epub of ahead of print. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 2.Parang P, Arora R. Coronary vein graft disease:pathogenesis and prevention. Can J Cardiol. 2009;25:e57–e62. doi: 10.1016/s0828-282x(09)70486-6. [CrossRef] [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]