Skeletonization and harvest of the internal thoracic artery with an ultrasonic scalpel.
A new method to skeletonize and harvest the internal thoracic artery using an ultrasonic scalpel is presented. The technique is simple, safe, and minimally invasive. It is possible to obtain sufficient vessel length for anastomosis to most coronary arteries for bypass grafting.
Higami
T
T
Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, Hyogo Brain and Heart Center, Himeji, Japan. thigami@hbhc.hiabcd.go.jp
Kozawa
S
S
Asada
T
T
Shida
T
T
Ogawa
K
K
D006801:Humans; D008323:Mammary Arteries; D013525:Surgical Instruments; D020858:Tissue and Organ Harvesting / Q000379:methods*; D014465:Ultrasonics