[1][2] MICS CABG (Minimally Invasive Cardiac Surgery/Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting) or the McGinn technique is heart surgery performed through several small incisions instead of the traditional open-heart surgery that requires a median sternotomy approach, and can be performed in patients with multivessel coronary artery disease.
A recent meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials by Amin et al (2024) showed that minimally invasive mitral valve surgery (MIMVS) reduced the number of days spent in the hospital and demonstrated a trend towards lower postoperative pain scores, but it did not decrease the risk of all-cause mortality or the number of patients needing blood product transfusions.
[8] Two access incisions are also made at the 6th intercostal space and xiphoid process to allow for instruments to position and stabilize the heart.
This pump flows at 2-3 liters per minute to support circulation and eliminates the need for cardioplegia to arrest the heart.
Eliminating the need for median sternotomy greatly reduces the trauma and pain associated with open-chest surgery and improves quality of life for patients.
[13] Benefits Include: At the 2014 International Society for Minimally Invasive Cardiothoracic Surgery Annual Meeting in Boston, Dr. Joseph T McGinn presented a study titled "Minimally Invasive CABG is Safe and Reproducible: Report on the First Thousand Cases," which found a low rate of conversion to sternotomy and low rate of complications.
92% of patients were free from angina and none of the participants experienced any aortic complications, repeat revascularizations, cerebrovascular accidents, myocardial infarctions or death.
[17] At the 2010 International Society for Minimally Invasive Cardiothoracic Surgery Annual Meeting in Berlin, Germany, duel center data was presented the standardization of MICS CABG in performance and reproducibility of its results.
Its safety and effective alternative for performing surgical myocardial revascularization on the beating heart (OPCAB) is emphasized.
"[18] A 2009 publication in Circulation, titled "Minimally Invasive Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting: Dual-Center Experience in 450 Consecutive Patients" concluded MICS CABG as a feasible procedure with excellent short-term outcomes.
At that time the study noted, "this operation could potentially make multivessel MICS CABG safe, effective and more widely available.