Data collection
The study cohort consisted of all individuals who underwent a CABG
operation at our department between January 1992 and May 2020. The
present study included all individuals treated with a PCI on the SVG
(stenosed or occluded) between 1 January 2006 and 31 May 2020. The SVG
was harvested either with the no-touch technique or with the
conventional one. Two surgeons reviewed all the surgical reports to
check the categorization of cases into the two groups. The PCI was
performed in one of two cardiology departments. The sole exclusion
criterion was the execution of PCI less than 30 days after the CABG,
because this was interpreted as a direct complication of the primary
operation due to technical difficulties and not related to the type of
vein graft or harvesting technique.
The RAND-36 health survey and information about the study were sent by
regular mail to each individual’s address (supplementary n.1). In case
of non-response, the questionnaire was re-sent at 1-month intervals. All
individuals who did not respond the first time were contacted by
telephone. Demographic and clinical data were collected from a national
quality register, the Swedish cardiological and cardiosurgical
intervention register (Swedeheart)19, and from the
local hospital register. The study has been approved by the Regional
Ethics Review Board in Uppsala (DNR: 2015/242).
This was a single-centre study conducted at the centre that invented the
no-touch technique and has been using it since 1990.