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Ann Thorac Surg 2004;77:1135
© 2004 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

Correspondence

A word of caution about the skeletonization of the right gastroepiploic artery

Hiroshi Osawa, MD, PhD, Yuzuru Matsuyama, MD, PhD

Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, Kofu Jonan Hospital, Kamimachi 753-1Kofu, Yamanashi 400-0863, Japan

e-mail: h_osawa{at}kofujonan.or.jp

To the Editor:

We read with great interest the article by Asai and Tabata [1] in which they reported a technique to skeletonize the right gastroepiploic artery. We agree that skeletonization should be done. It is easy to divide the anterior layer of the omentum. However, their method has limitations. For example, when the omentum is very thick, it takes more time to divide, and there is the risk of burning the graft. We use an ultrasonic scalpel to gently dissect the artery. This "dissect and cut" method avoids injury to the graft. The technique takes a few minutes longer than does that of Asai and Tabata, but the quality of the graft is always excellent. We recommend the "dissect and cut" method for any surgeon who plans to start using skeletonized grafts.

Skeletonized radial artery grafting improved angiographic results [2]. Similarly we expect skeletonized gastroepiploic artery grafts to provide good results.

References

  1. Asai T., Tabata S. Skeletonization of the right gastroepiploic artery using an ultrasonic scalpel. Ann Thorac Surg 2002;74:1715-1717.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
  2. Amano A., Takahashi A., Hirose H. Skeletonized radial artery grafting: improved angiographic results. Ann Thorac Surg 2002;73:1880-1887.[Abstract/Free Full Text]




This Article
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