Minimally Invasive Vein Harvesting: A Comparison of Endoscopic Versus Traditional Open Saphenectomy:

The greater saphenous vein (SV) is the conduit of choice for coronary and infrapopliteal revascularization procedures. Unfortunately, to harvest 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 complications. Minimally invasive procedures have several advantages including reduced incidence of wound complications, decreased hospital length of stay, and, therefore, health-care savings. Currently, little information 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 length, and harvested vein quality between the OS and ES techniques in six nonpreserved cadavers.Each limb was randomly selected for either OS or ES. The length of incision, number of SV leaks after harvest, length of SV, and time required for harvest were recorded for each technique. (continued on next page)The table su...