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.