ORIGINAL ARTICLES  CARDIAC SECTION 

The Journal of Cardiovascular Surgery 2003 December;44(6):707-11

Copyright © 2009 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Neurologic symptoms after great saphenous vein harvesting for coronary artery bypass grafting

Budillon A. M., Zoffoli G., Nicolini F., Agostinelli A., Congiu S., Beghi C., Gherli T.

Department of Cardiac Surgery, University of Parma, Parma, Italy

Aim. Inci­dence eval­u­a­tion of cuta­neous neu­ro­logic symp­toms in the ­lower ­limbs as a new ­event ­after ­great saph­e­nous ­vein (GSV) har­vesting for cor­o­nary ­artery bypass ­grafting (­CABG). ­Each day we har­vest the GSV for ­CABG. ­Some ­authors ­have ­reported the ­onset of saph­e­nous neu­ralgia com­plex as a new ­event of ­which we ­would eval­uate the inci­dence.
­Methods. ­From Jan­uary 2000, ­until ­June 2001, 2 091 ­patients under­went car­diac sur­gery; 1 326 under­went ­CABG, 1 227 of ­them ­using the GSV as a con­duit for ­almost one ­graft. ­These ­patients ­were pros­pec­tively ­reviewed; all ­were preoper­a­tively exam­ined to deter­mine the pres­ence of ­normal sen­sa­tion in the ­lower ­limbs and ­elude the pres­ence of saph­e­nous neu­ralgia. ­Then, we eval­u­ated sen­sa­tions in the ­lower ­limbs at 5 ­days, 8 ­weeks, and 5 ­months ­after oper­a­tion to deter­mine the new ­onset of saph­e­nous neu­ralgia. The ­areas of sen­sory ­loss ­were ­recorded ­each ­time and ­reported in a dia­gram to ­obtain 3 ­areas.
­Results. Hyper­aes­thesia and ­pain ­were ­noted in a few ­patients, espe­cially at 5 ­days and 8 ­weeks con­trol, but at 5 ­months ­none of ­them com­plained of ­real ­pain.
Con­clu­sion. ­This ­study dem­on­strates ­that saph­e­nous neu­ralgia ­after har­vesting the GSV for ­CABG is a ­rare con­se­quence. The ­main ­symptom is ­anaesthesia but its dura­tion is gen­er­ally no ­longer ­than 2 ­months. Hyper­aes­thesia and ­pain, for the ­early ­onset and the ­early dis­ap­pear­ance, are con­sid­ered as a ­normal con­se­quence of sur­gical pro­ce­dure.