Complications of saphenous vein harvesting following coronary artery bypass surgery.

Abstract

Saphenous vein harvesting, though a relatively minor part of the coronary artery bypass operation, can cause complications that may dominate the early and late postoperative course. We describe three groups of complications that are usually given little attention in the literature: complication of vein harvesting in ischemic legs, recurrent cellulitis in vein donor legs, and saphenous neuropathy.