This study aims to evaluate the clinical outcomes of endoscopic vein harvesting (EVH) for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in obese patients. Totally, 153 obese patients who underwent EVH (n=81) or standard bridging technique (SBT, n=12) in CABG surgery from May 2012 to October 2014 in our hospital were enrolled in this retrospective non-randomized controlled study. The general situation of operation, postoperative complications and short medium-term outcomes were analyzed. The baseline characteristics were similar between these two groups (P>0.05). There were no statistical differences in total operation time (226±28 min vs. 224±30 min, P>0.05), number of damaged vessels (0.12±0.05 vs. 0.16±0.06,P>0.05) and short medium-term outcomes including revascularization rate (1.25% vs. 2.78%, i 0.05), vessel dysfunction rate (11.25% vs. 11.11%,P>0.05) and mortality (0.00% v . 0.00%, P>0.05). Use of EVH was associated with significant reduction of total harvesting time (41 ±6 min vs. 63± 11 min, P<0.05), incision length (4.4±1.1 cm 18.2±4.5 cm, P<0.05) and postoperative lower extremity complications (P<0.05). EVH can reduce the risk of wound complications, whereas does not influence short- and medium-term outcomes in obese patients. It can be considered a reliable procedure of harvesting vessel conduits for obese patients undergoing CABG.
Keywords: coronary artery bypass grafting; minimally invasive endoscopy; obesity; saphenous vein harvesting.