A New MultiSuction Heart Positioner for Minimally Invasive Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting

Proper positioning of the heart through a small left thoracotomy is the main challenge during off-pump minimally invasive cardiac coronary artery bypass grafting. Here we report a novel technique for target vessel exposure using the Tentacles NEO (Sumitomo Bakelite, Co Ltd, Tokyo, Japan) multisuction heart positioner, a device with 3 independent small suction cups that can be applied to various surfaces of the heart and pulled toward any direction using attached traction cords. The armless design of the device enables the use of flexible exposure techniques and contributes to the safety and feasibility of minimally invasive coronary artery bypass grafting.