BACKGROUND Injury to the saphenous vein endothelium during harvest impacts patency after coronary artery bypass graft surgery. Many centers are adopting endoscopic saphenous vein harvest (ESVH) instead of using the traditional open saphenous vein harvest (OSVH) technique. Our objective was to compare the effects of ESVH and OSVH on the structural and functional viability of saphenous vein endot...

The saphenous vein is one of the most commonly used conduits during coronary artery bypass grafting. Saphenous vein graft markers have been introduced to facilitate coronary angiography procedures in the follow-up of patients with ischaemic heart disease. However, today these markers have only a historical aspect. This report presents a 61-year-old patient who had undergone coronary artery bypa...

PURPOSE Saphenous vein graft disease (SVGD), defined as an occlusion of 50% or more of the SVG excluding distal anastomotic occlusion, is an important predictor of morbidity after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Late graft occlusion is a serious complication that often limits the use of the saphenous vein as a coronary bypass graft. Late graft occlusion is particularly common in old, de...

BACKGROUND Graft patency is a fundamental predictor of long-term survival after coronary artery bypass surgery. Left and right internal thoracic artery (arterial) graft patency has been shown to be superior to that of saphenous vein grafts. More recently, the radial artery has been used as an aortocoronary graft, but little is known about the midterm and long-term patency of this conduit. We pe...

The venous system has frequent anatomical variations. A good understanding of the venous anatomy is very important and proper evaluation of the venous system is crucial for the appropriate treatment of venous disorders. There are many variations of the greater saphenous vein at the level of the thigh, knee and leg. All variations of the saphenofemoral junction reported in the literature refer t...

Sensory impairment in the cutaneous distribution of the saphenous nerve was measured in 30 patients after bilateral stripping of the long saphenous vein. The vein was stripped upwards in one leg and downwards in the other. Three months after operation a significantly greater incidence of sensory loss was found in those legs in which the vein was stripped upwards (13 out of 26) compared with tho...

BACKGROUND Venous aortocoronary graft arterialization may precede a preterm occlusion in some coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) patients. The aim of the present study was to identify ultrastructural variations in the saphenous vein wall that may have an impact on the development of venous graft disease in CABG patients. METHODS The study involved 365 consecutive patients with a mean age ...

Introduction: Considering importance of fatty acids in developing coronary artery disease (CAD) and lack of information about saphenous vein which is commonly used as coronary arterial bypass, in this study we investigated differences in fatty acids composition between saphenous vein and aorta tissues in patients with CAD. Methods: Biopsy samples of aortic tissues and saphenous veins as well as...

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AIMS The chemokine receptor CCR5 and its inflammatory ligands have been linked to atherosclerosis, an accelerated form of which occurs in saphenous vein graft disease. We investigated the function of vascular smooth muscle CCR5 in human coronary artery and saphenous vein, vascular tissues susceptible to atherosclerosis, and vasospasm. METHODS AND RESULTS CCR5 ligands were vasoconstrictors in ...