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): Friedhelm Beyersdorf Christoph Lutz Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Beyersdorf, F. Articles by Schöllhorn, J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Beyersdorf, F. Articles by Schöllhorn, J. Related Collections Cardiac - other Coronary disease

Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 2004;25:143
© 2004 Elsevier Science NL

Letter to the Editor

A retrospective audit of long-term lower limb complications following leg vein harvesting for coronary artery bypass grafting

Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany

Received 19 September 2003; accepted 17 October 2003.

^* Corresponding author
e-mail: beyers@ch11.ukl.uni-freiburg.de

Key Words: Coronary artery bypass grafting • Wound infection • Saphenous vein

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

We would like to congratulate Dr Garland and colleagues for their important and honest paper concerning the incidence of lower limb complications following leg vein harvesting for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) [1]. They have described clearly the high incidence of wound infections, numbness, pain and unilateral leg swelling after conventional vein harvesting for CABG. In addition, the authors could not confirm the previously reported association to risk factors by other groups, such as diabetes or peripheral vascular disease. Garland et al. [1] also point to the fact that most of the wound infections occur following hospital discharge and are associated with a high rate of postoperative antibiotic use. The rate of . . . [Full Text of this Article]