Complications and Patient Satisfaction After Endoscopic Radial Artery Harvest: A Retrospective Cohort Study

Background/Objectives: This study aimed to assess complications after endoscopic radial artery harvest, evaluate patient satisfaction, and assess the feasibility of a questionnaire interview. The primary aim was to assess neurological damage after endoscopic radial artery harvest (ERAH), and the secondary aim was to assess the feasibility of a newly constructed questionnaire in Danish. Methods: From June 2010 through October 2012, 108 patients underwent endoscopic radial artery harvest for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) at our institution. A total of 100 patients were interviewed by phone between one and two years after the operation. The interviews included questions about infection, bleeding, neurological damage, vascular perfusion of the hand, re-intervention, and general satisfaction with the procedure. Results: The described cohort was mainly male (88.9% 95% confidence interval (CI) 90.5–98.4%) with a mean age of 60.8 years (standard deviation (SD) 9.0). The self-reported incidence of postoperative antibiotic treatment was 7.0% (95% CI 3.1–14.4%), sensory deficit 18.0% (95% CI 11.3–27.2%), pain 8.0% (95% CI 3.8–15.6%), motoric deficit 4.0% (95% CI 1.3–10.5%) and cold or pale fingers 9.0% (95% CI 4.5–16.8%). At a follow-up time with a mean of 1.40 years (range 0.97–2.37 years, SD 0.36), all incisions were healed satisfactorily, 12.0% (95% CI 6.6–20.4%) reported sensory deficit, 7.0% (95% CI 3.1–14.4%) reported pain, 2.0% (95% CI 0.3–7.7%) reported motoric deficit, and none had a tendency towards cold fingers. The mean duration of antibiotic treatment was 8.7 days ± 2.3. When asked to rate the endoscopic procedure points of satisfaction from 0 (worst) to 10 (best), the mean was 9.7 ± 0.7. Conclusions: This study reports the occurrence of surgical complications immediately after ERAH, with an occurrence of self-reported neurological deficits of 18%. A questionnaire was feasible in a cohort of postoperative patients receiving radial artery harvest.