Leg wound infections following greater saphenous vein harvesting: minimally invasive vein harvesting versus conventional vein harvesting.

Wound complications associated with long incisions used to harvest the greater saphenous vein are common and well documented. We compared leg wound infection rates, wound healing disturbances (WHDs), length of vein harvested, vein harvest time, and total surgical time between minimally invasive saphenous vein harvesting (MIVH) and conventional vein harvesting (CVH) techniques. This meta-analysis showed a significant reduction in wound infections in favor of the MIVH group (odds ratio = 0.