RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Saphenous vein is the most commonly used conduit in coronary revascularization. Traditional open vein harvest often leads to impaired wound healing and postoperative infection. In the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University Hospital of Copenhagen, we have introduced endoscopic vein harvest and this study describes our first experiences. MATERIALS AND METHODS: From January to October 2004 the saphenous vein was harvested endoscopically in 38 patients. We used the disposable Guidant VasoView EVH System to mobilize the vein and divide the side branches through a 2-3 cm incision. Data are analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS: None of the patients had postoperative complications with their donor site. 68% of the harvested veins were of good quality and only 8% were of a poor quality. The inferior quality of these veins was anatomical and not due to technical problems. CONCLUSION: Large randomized trials including two metaanalyses show that endoscopic harvesting of the saphenous vein reduces infection and wound healing problems in patients undergoing cardiac surgery without reducing the quality of the vein. Our data confirm the hypothesis that the method can be introduced with good results and reasonable learning curves.
