ENDOSCOPIC VEIN HARVEST (EVH)

 You may need to have a coronary artery bypass graft as a sole procedure or as a part of more complex heart operation. Either way, you may need a healthy vein/vessel harvested from your leg, chest or arm for it to be attached to the blocked

coronary artery.

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Traditionally, when a vein from the leg is taken, it is done by making a long incision from the ankle to groin.

This will leave a major visible scar on your leg. This is nothing to be worried about, but the same can be done a less invasive way - EVH.

With endoscopic vein harvesting, we make just up to 3 small incisions around 1 to 2 inches and we use minimally invasive equipment to take out the vessel. This means that we can significantly limit the damage to the surrounding tissue and the skin.

EVH means that you will have less scarring from the vein removal, EVH reduces the risk of infection or wound problems. This causes less pain and swelling after the procedure. This then means you would be able to start your cardiac rehabilitation much sooner.