A modified approach for totally endoscopic, touchless radial artery harvesting.

Abstract

Since the inception of endoscopic vessel harvesting, theprocedure has been criticized for having excessive contact with the conduit, thus potentially causing endothelial damage and decreasing patency rates.1,2 Despite the criticism, the very same method has been adopted to harvesting the radial artery. We attempted to create a touchless technique by eliminating several points of contact to the vessel and making the procedure as atraumatic and as standardized as possible.