ABSTRACT
We report two-cases of cavernous hemangiomas arising from the epicardium in two women aged respectively 24 and 79 years old. The first patient was symptomatic and presented with palpitations. The second patient was referred after a random discovery at echocardiography. Chest CT and MRI were performed in the two cases and showed a mass located in the pericardial cavity. Coronary CT was necessary in the first case to ascertain the degree of coronary artery involvement. Both of our patients underwent surgical resection under cardiopulmonary bypass with an uneventful postoperative course for the first case. The second one, died postoperatively from pneumonia. Cardiac cavernous hemangiomas, although rare and well tolerated require prompt management and surgery at discovery to avoid further complications which may put at risk the patient's life prognosis
ABSTRACT
Coronary artery revascularization with cardiopulmonary bypass has been reported to carry several risks. Off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting has been proposed to result in a better outcome. The aim of this study is to assess the effect of off-pump cardiopulmonary bypass. In a 7-year period, a total of 100 patients undergoing isolated first-time off-pump coronary artery bypass graft were studied. The mean ejection fractions was 48% and the EUROSCORE mean was 4.9. The average number of grafts was 1.55 per patient. The postoperative outcomes were simple for most patients with little use of inotropes after 24 hours [42%], few cases of atrial fibrillation [9.4%], and transfusion [27.3%]. Time to extubation was less than 48 hours in most cases [94.7%] and hospital mortality rate was 10.5%.The beating heart bypass surgery allows good immediate results including multi-vessel disease and in patients at high risk