Minimally invasive internal thoracic artery harvest: the hybrid approach.
BACKGROUND
Safe harvesting of the left internal thoracic artery is a difficult problem during minimally invasive coronary artery bypass grafting without cardiopulmonary bypass. A complete internal thoracic artery dissection through a limited approach is technically demanding and time consuming and different techniques have been proposed.


RESULTS
Based on our experience, the different surgical approaches and technical considerations are reviewed.


CONCLUSIONS
A hybrid technique using dissection under direct vision and completed by thoracoscopy is discussed and proposed as our preferred technique of internal thoracic artery harvesting.
Massetti
M
M
Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, University Hospital, Caen, France.
Babatasi
G
G
Nataf
P
P
Bhoyroo
S
S
Le Page
O
O
Khayat
A
A
D000368:Aged; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008323:Mammary Arteries / Q000637:transplantation*; D019060:Minimally Invasive Surgical Procedures / Q000379:methods; D013906:Thoracoscopy; D014741:Video Recording