Epicardial Ablation of Ventricular Tachycardia by Re-median Sternotomy in a Patient with Double Mechanical Heart Valves / 日本心臓血管外科学会雑誌

The patient is a 39-year-old-man who had rheumatic heart disease and had undergone mitral and aortic valve replacements with mechanical St. Jude prostheses as well as tricuspid valve repair and a MAZE procedure 17 years previously. He was admitted with ventricular tachycardia (VT) and an implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD) was implanted. Four months later, he was admitted again with VT, and attempts to manage the VT with drugs were not successful. We performed electro-anatomical mapping and ablation for VT by re-median sternotomy. His postoperative course was uneventful. At 15 months after surgery, no recurrence of VT was recognized.

A Case of Lymphangiography Treatment with Lipiodol for Postoperative Chylomediastinum after Redo Mitral Valve Surgery / 日本心臓血管外科学会雑誌

A 71-year-old female, who had diabetes mellitus and chronic renal failure on dialysis, had undergone mitral valve repair and tricuspid valve annuloplasty. Five months after the operation, she suffered from infectious endocarditis and underwent mitral valve replacement. Postoperatively, a total fluid volume of 300 to 600 ml/day was drained from the pericardial tube, and its appearance became milky after the start of oral intake of food. She was diagnosed with chylomediastinum. Despite fasting and total parenteral nutrition for 2 weeks and subcutaneous octreotide administration, the volume of fluid drainage was not reduced. Therefore, we planned lymphangiography treatment with Lipiodol on postoperative day 37. On operation, under local anesthesia, the left inguinal lymph node was punctured under ultrasound guidance, and Lipiodol was injected at a rate of 12 ml/h for 1h. On the next day, the volume of fluid drainage was reduced, and the pericardial tube could be removed 9 days after lymphangiography.

The Case of a Patient with Femoral Artery Stenosis Caused by Angio-Seal^® Use Treated with Endoarterectomy / 日本心臓血管外科学会雑誌

In cases of hemostasis of the femoral artery where the sheath is removed after percutaneous catheterization, there is greater improvement in patient condition and shorter duration of hospital stay when arterial puncture closing devices are used rather than standard manual compression because the use of these devices results in shorter hemostasis and rest times. However, some complications due to these devices have also been reported. Here, we report a case of femoral artery stenosis due to Angio-Seal^® use in a 67-year-old woman. Embolization of the basilar artery aneurysm by endovascular treatment was performed at another institution ; the percutaneous puncture site was the right femoral artery. When this treatment was provided, hemostasis of the artery was performed with the Angio-Seal^®. About one month after the embolization, right intermittent claudication occurred after a 300-m walk. Echography and computed tomography (CT) angiogram showed 75% stenosis of the right common femoral artery, and therefore endoarterectomy of the artery was performed. The postoperative course was favorable and the ankle brachial index score improved from 0.82 to 1.15. In addition, CT angiogram showed resolution of the stenosis of the right common femoral artery and right intermittent claudication ameliorated. Based on the intraoperative views, it was suggested that the arteriosclerotic lesion had existed at the common femoral artery before the endovascular treatment and it might be the cause of the complication mentioned above. In order to prevent complications due to Angio-Seal^® use, it is important to examine the indications of the use of this device by evaluating the puncture site of the artery with echography and other diagnostic techniques before the insertion of a sheath.