Endoscopic Vein Harvesting for Bypass Surgery

Cardiac surgeons at St. Luke's Heart Center (Bethlehem, PA, USA) are performing endoscopic vein harvesting for coronary bypass surgery. The procedure allows them to obtain veins without making long, painful incisions in the patient's leg. The procedure also reduces patient pain, complications, and recovery times, say doctors at St. Luke's.

Recent advances in technology have made the need for large leg incisions unnecessary for many patients. Instead, cardiac surgeons at St. Luke's use a video camera and a light source to guide tiny surgical instruments through a specially designed tube into the leg where they can obtain the needed vein through small (1 cm in length) incisions. The surgeons are now beginning to perform endoscopic radial artery harvesting as well.

The results of this less-invasive procedure are outstanding, says Jeffrey Alpern, M.D., chief of cardiac-thoracic surgery at St. Luke's Hospital & Health Network. Patients experience smaller incisions, less postoperative pain, fewer wound-healing complications, minimal scarring, and a quicker recovery time.