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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 2003;23:138
© 2003 Elsevier Science NL

Letter to the Editor

Reply to Protopapas

Department of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon

Received 4 October 2002; received in revised form 4 October 2002; accepted 17 October 2002.

* Tel.: +961-1-350-000 ext. 5470; fax: +961-1-744-464
e-mail: hb03@aub.edu.lb

Key Words: Complication • Coronary bypass • Internal mammary artery • Internal thoracic artery • Outcome • Vocal cord paralysis

The first 20% of the full text of this article appears below.

The author has raised two concerns: One regarding the possible increase in recurrent laryngeal nerve injury with the upcoming evolution in cardiothoracic surgery, where the internal thoracic artery is completely harvested bilaterally thus exposing both recurrent laryngeal nerves, second whether this potential increase in risk warrants further prospective evaluation in view of the medico legal implications.

Regarding the first concern, no doubt that bilateral usage of the internal thoracic artery for total arterial coronary revascularization . . . [Full Text of this Article]