Harvesting bilateral internal thoracic arteries using a novel subxiphoid approach versus the conventional lateral thoracic approach—results of an experimental study

A new method was developed to harvest bilateral internal thoracic artery grafts using a subxiphoid approach and robotic assistance. The present study compared the potential utility of the subxiphoid method with that of the lateral thoracic approach.The first part of the study examined the optimal placement of the instrument ports to maximize the robotic arms' range of motion. The second part of the study examined the 2 approaches for harvesting...