The Atrium: Internal Mammary Artery Harvesting

Excellent video and contribution by Professor Taggart and Dr. Copperwheat. 2 additional points- Dr Robert Goetz, is credited with the first successful clinical CABG - a RIMA inserted into a divided RCA done off pump with a non suture technique in 1960.This was performed at the TB hospital of the Bronx Municipal Hospital Center . An extraordinary man and an extraordinary life story.. See: https://www.annalsthoracicsurgery.org/article/S0003-4975(00)01264-9/fulltext Also, when I harvest 2 IMA's I have typically put a loose suture ligature on the harvested LIMA at the distal chest wall and left it untied on a clamp. When the RIMA harvest is done and heparin is administered, it is very easy with minimal retraction to simply tie off the left IMA. -invariably it has grown much larger being in situ. All my best regards to Mr Taggart- I had him out to my hospital in Connecticut many years ago and he was a superb visiting professor- though I think the local cardiologists didn't quite buy in to his strong support of CABG superiority- and probably still don't! '