title: Traction-type heart stabilizer for off-pump coronary bypass grafting.
abstract: We designed a stabilizer to assist us in performing coronary artery bypass grafting on the beating heart. The stabilizer consists of a U-shaped holed platform, an articulating arm, and a clamp for attachment to an ordinary sternal retractor. The target coronary artery is dissected, then two elastic sutures, 15-20mm apart, are wrapped around it, proximal and distal to the anastomotic site. These sutures for traction are passed through holes in the U-shaped platform and tied. This traction immobilizes the target area of the coronary artery. The stabilizer described herein provides good exposure and steady immobilization to enable anastmosis to be more easily performed in the beating heart.
authors: Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Sapporo Medical University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Morishita
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Komatsu
authors: K
authors: K
authors: Kuwaki
authors: T
authors: T
authors: Koshino
authors: T
authors: T
authors: Abe
mesh_terms: D000714:Anastomosis, Surgical; D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000379:methods*; D003327:Coronary Disease / Q000601:surgery*; D004867:Equipment Design; D006801:Humans; D013536:Suture Techniques; D014143:Traction / Q000379:methods