Novel no touch technique of saphenous vein harvesting: Is great graft patency rate provided.

Coronary artery bypass grafting surgery effectively relieves signs and symptoms of myocardial ischemia. The left internal thoracic artery (LITA) graft is the gold standard having 90–95% patency rate at 10 years, whereas only 50% of saphenous vein (SV) grafts are patent at 10 years. However, there is a novel “no touch” technique in order to harvest an SV complete with its cushion of surrounding tissue, thus maintaining its endothelium‑intact. Significantly superior short‑ and long‑term graft patency rates comparable to LITA grafts can be achieved. Consequently, the SV may be revived as an important conduit in coronary artery bypass surgery.

Mechanisms of oxidative stress and myocardial protection during open‑heart surgery.

Cold heart protection via cardioplegia administration, limits the amount of oxygen demand. Systemic normothermia with warm cardioplegia was introduced due to the abundance of detrimental effects of hypothermia. A temperature of 32–33°C in combination with tepid blood cardioplegia of the same temperature appears to be protective enough for both; heart and brain. Reduction of nitric oxide (NO) concentration is in part responsible for myocardial injury after the cardioplegic cardiac arrest. Restoration of NO balance with exogenous NO supplementation has been shown useful to prevent inflammation and apoptosis. In this article, we discuss the “deleterious” effects of the oxidative stress of the extracorporeal circulation and the up‑to‑date theories of “ideal’’ myocardial protection.