title: Endoscopic radial artery harvesting for coronary artery bypass grafting: the initial clinical experience and results of the first 50 patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The radial artery (RA) is a commonly used arterial conduit in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Traditional open-vessel harvest often leads to postoperative wound complications and cosmetic problems. Endoscopic RA harvesting (ERAH) has been widely used to prevent these problems. The purpose of this study was to assess these problems and graft patency in the first 50 patients who underwent ERAH.
  
  
  METHODS
  Between February 2006 and October 2007, 50 patients underwent ERAH with the VasoView system (Boston Scientific). These patients were compared with 50 patients who underwent the traditional open technique.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The mean age was 62.8 years in both groups. All RAs were successfully harvested. No conversion was made from ERAH to the traditional open technique. The mean harvesting time (forearm ischemic time) was 27.4 + or - 6.5 minutes, and the mean length of the RA in the ERAH group was 18.5 cm. Neither wound complications, such as wound infection and skin necrosis, nor severe neurologic complications were recorded. The patency rate was 95.9% (95/99) in the ERAH group and 94% (94/100) in the open group.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  ERAH can be performed safely, and the early results are satisfactory. Endoscopic vessel harvesting is therefore recommended as the technique of choice for RA harvesting.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Fukuoka University School of Medicine, Fukuoka, Japan. noby.ito@nifty.ne.jp
authors.forename: Nobuhisa
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ito
authors.forename: Tadashi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Tashiro
authors.forename: Noritsugu
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Morishige
authors.forename: Hidehiko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Iwahashi
authors.forename: Masaru
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nishimi
authors.forename: Yoshio
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hayashida
authors.forename: Kazuma
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Takeuchi
authors.forename: Noritoshi
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Minematsu
authors.forename: Go
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Kuwahara
authors.forename: Yuta
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Sukehiro
mesh_terms: D001026:Coronary Artery Bypass / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods*; D003324:Coronary Artery Disease / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000601:surgery*; D019723:Endoscopes; D004724:Endoscopy / Q000379:methods; D004867:Equipment Design; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010865:Pilot Projects; D017534:Radial Artery / Q000637:transplantation*; D020858:Tissue and Organ Harvesting / Q000295:instrumentation* / Q000379:methods; D016896:Treatment Outcome