Use in Cardiovascular Procedures
The vein is often removed by vascular surgeons and used for autotransplantation in coronary artery bypass operations, when arterial grafts are not available or many grafts are required, such as in a triple bypass or quadruple bypass.
The great saphenous vein is the conduit of choice for vascular surgeons, when available, for doing peripheral arterial bypass operations because it has superior long-term patency compared to synthetic grafts (PTFE, PETE (Dacron)), human umbilical vein grafts or biosynthetic grafts . Often, it is used in situ (in place), after tying off smaller tributaries and stripping the valves with a device called LeMaitre's valvulotome.
The saphenous nerve is a branch of the femoral nerve that runs with the great saphenous vein and is often damaged in surgeries that make use of the similarly named vein.
Read more about this topic: Great Saphenous Vein
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