HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Author home page(s): Giovanni Marchetto Andrea M. D'Armini Mauro Rinaldi Mario Viganò Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Marchetto, G. Articles by Viganò, M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Marchetto, G. Articles by Viganò, M. Related Collections Cardiac - other Minimally invasive surgery

Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 2005;27:1122-1124
© 2005 Elsevier Science NL

How-to-do-it

Portaclamp in video-assisted minimally invasive cardiac surgery: Surgical technique and preliminary clinical experience

Division of Cardiac Surgery, I.R.C.C.S. Policlinico San Matteo, P.le Golgi, 19, 27100 Pavia, Italy

Received 27 October 2004; received in revised form 16 February 2005; accepted 21 February 2005.

^* Corresponding author. Tel.: +39 038 250 3515; fax: +39 038 250 3509. (E-mail: gmarchetto{at}katamail.com).

Video-assisted minimally invasive cardiac surgery (VAMICS) is currently performed with various indications. However, despite the increasing evidence of its effectiveness, new approaches have to be defined to simplify this procedure, minimize its potential complications and limit its costs, for a wider use in the surgical community. The limited access to the aorta is a key point in VAMICS and mandates specific clamping modalities with their own limitations, costs and drawbacks. The Portaclamp (Cardio Life Research SA, Louvain la Neuve, Belgium), a new autoguided extravascular aortic cross-clamping system, has been recently proposed to facilitate VAMICS. Herein, we describe the Portaclamp approach and report our indications and preliminary clinical experience so to define its role in VAMICS.

Key Words: Less invasive surgery • Cardiac • Device • Adult