Intraoperative data
Harvesting of RA was uneventful in all cases in both groups and no
conversion was necessary from the ERAH to ORAH. There was a
statistically significant difference in the length of incision for RA
harvest (2.4±0.4cm in ERAH vs 24.8±4.4cm in ORAH groups,
p<0.001), as expected by the design of the study. However, the
length of RA grafts (16.8±3.2cm vs 17.2±2.9cm, p=0.23) and RA harvest
time (31±11min vs 28±12min, p=0.32) were similar in the ERAH and ORAH
groups respectively, as were the duration of cardiopulmonary bypass
(108±32min vs 102±28min, p=0.56) and aortic clamping (63±21min vs
59±18min, p=0.43). Likewise, there were not intergroup differences in
the graft blood flow (ml/min) (51.7±24.1 vs 50.9 ±25.2, p=0.75) and PI
index (2.1±0.8 vs 1.8±0.9, p=0.28). One RA graft in ORAH group required
limited repair with 7/0 Prolene (Table 2 ).