Jh. Matsuura et al., MINIMALLY INVASIVE VEIN HARVESTING - A COMPARISON OF ENDOSCOPIC VERSUS TRADITIONAL OPEN SAPHENECTOMY, Vascular surgery, 31(5), 1997, pp. 519-522
The greater saphenous vein (SV) is the conduit of choice for coronary
and infrapopliteal revascularization procedures. Unfortunately, to har
vest an SV it is often necessary to make an incision the length of the
leg, and this is associated with a significant incidence of wound com
plications. Minimally invasive procedures have several advantages incl
uding reduced incidence of wound complications, decreased hospital len
gth of stay, and, therefore, health-care savings. Currently, little in
formation is available that compares traditional open saphenectomy (OS
) versus a minimally invasive procedure, endoscopic saphenectomy (ES).
The purpose of this study was to compare SV harvest time, incision le
ngth, and harvested vein quality between the OS and ES techniques in s
ix nonpreserved cadavers. Each limb was randomly selected for either O
S or ES. The length of incision, number of SV leaks after harvest, len
gth of SV, and time required for harvest were recorded for each techni
que. The table summarizes the findings of the cadaver dissections. [GR
APHICS] Per limb, no difference was noted in vein harvest length or nu
mber of leaks between OS and ES. A significant reduction was found in
incision length for ES (14.4+/-1.4 cm per limb), but the time required
for OS was significantly shorter (P=0.01). This study suggests an equ
ivalent length of SV can be harvested with either OS or ES techniques;
however, with the ES technique there is a reduction in incision lengt
h and, therefore, a less morbid operative technique.