ABSTRACT
The heart, coronary arteries, and peripheral arteries represent the ultimate development of a complex anastomotic network that originated embryologically as a hollow tube. In this respect, the cardiovascular system lends itself well to the concept of laser endoscopic surgery (Fig. 1). The cardiovascular system is sufficiently unique, however, to require major modifications of previously developed laser endoscopic surgical techniques. In particular, the diminutive luminal diameter of coronary and peripheral arteries, the fact that these vessels are blood filled and that the coronary arteries, as well as the heart, are moving 60-100 times per minute have forced investigators to consider a variety of technological innovations to establish cardiovascular laser endoscopic surgery as a viable treatment modality. Accordingly, this chapter will discuss the manner in which laser technology has thus far been tailored to accomplish in vitro, and in selected cases in vivo, cardiovascular endoscopic laser surgery.
