Minimally invasive approach during coronary artery bypass grafting surgery is safe and effective

New research shows that a minimally invasive approach used during coronary artery bypass grafting surgery is safe and effective, despite previous studies that linked endoscopic vein harvesting to a higher mortality rate. The research, published in the August 1, 2012 edition of The Journal of the American Medical Association, was an observational study of more than 235,000 patients included in The Society of Thoracic Surgeons National Database who underwent CABG surgery at 934 participating surgical centers. Investigators compared the three-year outcomes of patients undergoing EVH to the outcomes of patients undergoing the more invasive open vein harvesting (OVH) procedure and found no difference in mortality rates. "This study should alleviate concerns of patients and surgeons raised by past studies, and confirms the superiority of the EVH technique in terms of infection and wound complication rates that makes the minimally invasive approach the preferred method," said senior author Peter K. Smith, MD, Professor and Chief of Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery at Duke University in Durham, N.C.