title: Use of the Harmonic Scalpel for harvesting arterial conduits in coronary artery bypass.
abstract: A simple and effective technique is described here for harvesting the gastroepiploic artery (GEA) and radial artery (RA) using the Harmonic Scalpel. The mean time of harvesting GEA was 9 min and that of RA was 17 min. There were no injuries or spasms of those grafts and the postoperative angiograms performed in 28 patients. This shows 100% patency of the conduits. The GEA and RA are safely harvested by using the Harmonic Scalpel and the use of arterial conduits in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) seems to be easily achieved.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Shounan Kamakura General Hospital, Kanagawa, Japan.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Isomura
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Suma
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sato
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Horii
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D001158:Arteries / Q000601:surgery; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000295:instrumentation*; D004564:Electrocoagulation; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D017534:Radial Artery / Q000601:surgery; D013270:Stomach / Q000098:blood supply