Open versus tunneling radial artery harvest for coronary artery grafting

We present a less traumatic surgical technique for harvesting the radial artery as a coronary artery bypass graft that does not require any special equipment or skills. We prospectively randomized 40 patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting with the radial artery into two groups on the basis of harvest techniques: tunneling excision and conventional open method. The less-invasive tunneling technique is safe, easily applicable, and preferred by patients because of the superior cosmetic result.