Hydrodissection technique of harvesting left internal thoracic artery.

Use of internal thoracic arteries in coronary artery bypass surgery has become universal. Skeletonized internal thoracic artery is useful in coronary artery surgery for sequential anastomosis as it also provides a long length of graft. Skeletonizing the conduit is technically more difficult than harvesting it as a pedicle graft. We describe a technique of harvesting the internal thoracic artery in which 10 to 20 mL of normal saline is injected into the fascial plane of the left side of chest wall along the course of artery to develop a plane of dissection.