ABSTRACT
The patient was a 74-year-old man who was brought to the emergency room with severe chest pain and shock. Transthoracic echocardiography showed moderate pericardial effusion, and contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) showed a dilated ascending aorta with hematoma. However, no evidence of an intimal flap in the aorta was found. Bloody pericardial effusion was suggested by the CT attenuation value ; therefore, type A aortic dissection was highly suspected. At surgery, an extramural hematoma was observed on the ascending aorta. An 8-mm dehiscence that had penetrated the adventitia was identified just above the commissure between the right and left coronary cusps of the aortic valve, without dissection in the ascending aorta, and thus spontaneous aortic root rupture was diagnosed. The dehiscence was closed directly with a mattress suture from outside of the sinus, and the dilated ascending aorta was replaced. The patient's postoperative course was unremarkable, and he was discharged 14 days after surgery.
ABSTRACT
A 54-year-old man with unstable angina and Wolff-Parkinson-White (WPW) syndrome was admitted. Coronary angiography showed 90% stenosis of the left main trunk and 75% stenosis of the obtuse marginal branch. Coronary artery bypass grafting under cardioplegic arrest was done emergently. The left internal mammary artery graft was anastmosed to the left anterior descending artery, and a saphenous vein graft was used as a sequential bypass graft to the high lateral branch and obtuse marginal branch. Immediately after weaning from cardiopulmonary bypass, paroxysmal supraventricular tachycardia (PSVT) requiring electrical cardioversion was occurred, and catheter ablation was performed on the first postoperative day. There are controversus concerning the strategies of surgical treatment for unstable angina concomitant with WPW syndrome. Coronary bypass operation may trigger PSVT in patients with WPW syndrome. The optimal timing of perioperative catheter ablation needs further discussion.
