New technology may bring pain relief to bypass patients.

With more than 650,000 cases per year in the United States alone, coronary artery bypass surgery is the most common heart operation. The technique saves lives, but because veins are harvested from patient's legs during the procedure, painful side-effects are commonplace, with nearly 25% of all bypass patients requiring additional care due to post-op complications and/or severe leg pain.

A promising new technology that incorporates principles of cardiac surgery, external ultrasound and plastic surgery has been developed to provide surgeons with the ability to harvest saphenous veins for use in open-heart, or coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) procedures while enhancing wound healing and reducing post-operative leg pain.

The technology, called the Silberg TPS system, enables surgeons to harvest veins in a less traumatic fashion, resulting in dramatic patient benefits in terms of recovery time, physical comfort, and avoidance of infection and other complications and was launched by Southern California-based Mettler Surgical earlier this year.

"In my opinion, the Silberg TPS represents a major breakthrough in saphenous vein procurement for CABG procedures," said Marshall V. Marchbanks, M.D., a Cardiac, Vascular and Thoracic surgeon based in Santa Rosa, California, and one of the pioneers of the technology.

"It provides tremendous benefit to patients and may greatly contribute to decreased length of stay in the hospital," added Marchbanks. "I have seen this personally in my practice and have every intention to continue use of the device. In more than 150 patients, we have seen dramatically improved results with very few complications."

The technology was invented by Barry Neil Silberg, M.D., F.A.C.S., of Santa Rosa, California. Dr. Silberg originally developed a variation of the technique using a special ultrasound device combined with wetting solution to prepare tissues for surgery and liposuction. This process made the surgical procedures less traumatic by loosening the tissues. After receiving many requests from cardiothoracic surgeons looking for a way to lessen trauma to the legs of their CABG patients, the methodology and technology were redesigned for application in open heart procedures.

Lyea Chu is a freelance writer specializing in health care issues.