Venous Conduits in Coronary Surgery: Old Problems — New Solutions

Abstract

The introduction of autovenous coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) marked the era of surgical revascularization in patients with coronary artery disease. It provided effective treatment for angina and significantly improved the long-term prognosis. Venous transplants today remain the most popular conduits in coronary surgery due to their availability, ease of harvesting, and the absence of length restrictions. Despite the advantages of autovenous CABG, the main disadvantage is the high incidence of venous graft failure, which represents an important and unresolved problem in cardiac and cardiovascular surgery. On the other hand, the traditional allocation of a large saphenous vein implies the dissection of soft tissues throughout the length of the isolated conduit. Traumatic dissection causes a long-lasting persistent pain syndrome after surgery, frequent abnormalities in skin sensitivity, and a high incidence of wound complications in the lower extremities. These complications lengthen the period of rehabilitation of patients and worsen the quality of life. There is an approach of isolating the vein in a block with surrounding tissues to optimize the long-term functioning of the venous shunt, however, this technique is even more traumatic than the traditional method, and therefore its use is limited in practice. On the other hand, the introduction of minimally invasive methods of isolation allowed to reduce the incidence of wound complications and to improve the cosmetic result, but there is no convincing data regarding the effect on the consistency of shunts in the long-term postoperative period. The problems associated with the use of venous conduits in CABG are multifaceted, and their solutions are necessary to improve the effectiveness of surgical revascularization.