Preoperative saphenous vein mapping

Abstract

The successful performance of any arterial bypass procedure starts with, ideally, the surgeon being armed with the maximal amount of information about the patient. This is commonly thought of as a history, physical examination, arteriography, and any preoperative testing for medical clearance. Most surgeons would not willingly abandon some effort to image both the inflow and outflow arteries, whether by conventional angiography, ultrasound, magnetic resonance arteriography, computerized tomography, or other more arcane techniques. However, these same surgeons often pay little attention to the greatest portion of their bypass, the vein itself. © 2007 Springer-Verlag London Limited.