The harmonic blade facilitates easy atraumatic skeletonisation of the artery without the need to use any clips for the branches. The advantages of using a harmonic scalpel include: 1) a long conduit suitable for sequential and complex arterial grafting 2) minimising graft spasm from frequent handling of the graft or pinching of the body of the artery by side-branch vessel clips 3) reduction in collateral thermal injury to the chest wall and nearby vessels compared to diathermy harvest 4) faster conduit harvest 5) reduction in surgeon fatigue, as there is no need for frequent instrument exchanges required to clip and cut side branches