Abstract: A functional element to be mounted on a retractor for performing cardiothoracic surgery has a securing device for mounting it releasably on the retractor. A device for holding up a beating heart lifted from an operating site has several spreadable strip-shaped holding fingers. It is proposed that three or four strip-shaped holding fingers are present which are designed to be bendable so that they can be shaped to form a holding basket adapted to the particular heart which is to be held.

Abstract: A medical instrument for endoscopic removal of the saphenous vein has an elongated shaft which has at the distal end a spatula tip and in whose proximal region is arranged a laterally projecting handle. The instrument further has an endoscopic optical system which has an eyepiece cup that is arranged at the proximal end of the instrument. The handle is joined to the shaft in such a way that an outer side of the instrument facing away from the handle continuously has a surface that, from the distal to the proximal end, is free of projections. The eyepiece cup is arranged in oblique orientation with respect to a longitudinal center axis of the shaft and encloses with the handle, with respect to the longitudinal center axis, an angle of less than 90°.