Decreased patency rates following endoscopic vein harvest in coronary artery bypass surgery

OBJECTIVES: Endoscopic vein harvest has gained widespread use in coronary artery bypass surgery. However, potential negative mid- and long-term effects following endoscopic vein harvest have been described. We aimed to compare long-term clinical outcomes following endoscopic and open vein graft harvesting.

DESIGN: This study was a clinical follow-up with additional computed tomographic coronary angiography among 126 first-time bypass patients originally included in a randomized study comparing early leg wound complications and cosmetic results. Deceased patients were retrospectively followed-up.

RESULTS: Follow-up was complete, but information on clinical end-points was not available in all patients. A total of 111 patients were alive at follow-up. Median observation time was 6.3 years (range: 0.2 - 9.1 years) including three in-hospital deaths. Vein graft failure was significantly higher in the EVH group (13 of 31; 42%) compared with the OVH group (2 of 32, 6%) (P = 0.001). However, this difference was not reflected by differences in recurrence of angina (P= 0.44), myocardial infarction (P=0.11) and all cause mortality (P=0.15).

CONCLUSIONS: Following at a median follow-up time of 6.3 years significantly more vein graft failures were identified following EVH compared with OVH without any differences in long-term clinical outcomes.