[Immediate and late results of the surgical treatment of the aneurysms and dissections of the ascending aorta]. / Resultados imediatos e tardios do tratamento cirúrgico dos aneurismas e dissecções da aorta ascendente.

PURPOSE: To report our experience and results with the surgical treatment of aortic aneurysms and dissections of the ascending aorta as well as the techniques that have been used. METHODS: Between May 1982-May 1995, 54 patients were operated on and divided in two groups: group A was composed of 25 patients with aneurysms or chronic dissections of the ascending aorta. The Bentall and DeBonno procedure was performed in 18, five were submitted to prosthetic aortic graft associated with aortic valve replacement and two prosthetic aortic graft without aortic valve replacement. Group B had 29 patients with acute dissections of the ascending aorta (type A) who were submitted to 10 prosthetic graft alone, nine Bentall procedures, five prosthetic graft with aortic valve replacement, four aortic repair and one direct suture of the dissection. The survival curve was obtained by the Kaplan-Meier method. RESULTS: Total hospital mortality rate was 13% and the late was 18.5%. Group A-immediate mortality rate was 8% (two patients): Low cardiac output and stroke; late mortality rate was five (20%): sudden death in three, pulmonary embolism one and infectious endocardite one. Group B-hospital mortality rate was five (17.2%) patients: low cardiac output three, multiple organs failure one and stroke with pneumonia one; late mortality rate was five (17.2%), distal redissection in three, sudden death in two. The average survival time was 86 +/- 12 for group A and 75 +/- 13 months for group B. CONCLUSION: The surgery of the aneurysm and dissections of the ascending aorta has shown immediate favorable results and a thorough follow-up to get better late results is needed.

Cox maze operation without cryoablation for the treatment of chronic atrial fibrillation.

BACKGROUND: From August 1993 to May 1994, 20 patients (mean age, 43 years) with atrial fibrillation underwent the maze operation without cryoablation. Ten patients had mitral stenosis, 5 had mitral insufficiency, and 5 had a mixed mitral lesion. The mean left atrial diameter as measured on echocardiograms was 6.1 cm. The cause was rheumatic in 17 patients (85%) and degenerative in 3 (15%). Seven patients had had previous episodes of thromboembolism. METHODS: Mitral valvuloplasty was performed on 7 patients, mitral commissurotomy on 4, and mitral valve replacement on 9. Thrombi were found in the left atrium of 7 patients and also in the right atrium in 2. The mean cross-clamp time was 73 minutes (range, 52 to 108 minutes). RESULTS: Patients were discharged from the hospital in good condition. Hemodynamic studies and Doppler echocardiograms showed significant reduction in the left atrial diameter (mean diameter, 4.9 cm; p < 0.01) in 18 patients. The two-channel Holter monitor showed sinus rhythm in 15 patients, atrial ectopic rhythm in 4, and atrial fibrillation in 1. Eleven patients (55%) experienced atrial fibrillation (9 in the first 3 months postoperatively), which was reversed with quinidine. Ninety percent of patients had development of an effective, synchronous, atrial systole. Six to 15 months postoperatively (average follow-up, 10 months), all patients were in functional class I, and 18 were not on a regimen of antiarrhythmic medication. CONCLUSIONS: This simplification of the maze operation has been demonstrated to be an effective alternative for the treatment of chronic atrial fibrillation.

[Use of tranexamic acid for bleeding control in myocardial revascularization]. / Emprego do ácido tranexâmico para controle de sangramento em cirurgia de revascularização miocárdica.

PURPOSE: To compare two groups of 80 patients undergoing to myocardial revascularization with the use of antifibrinolytic drug tranexamic acid and its efficacy in reduce bleeding and blood transfusion. METHODS: Prospective analysis of two groups of 80 patients. Group A-no antifibrinolytic therapy (dec 91-may 92) and group B-fibrinolytic therapy-tranexamic acid-10g EV (jun-dec/92). Quantification of mediastinal drainage over 12h as well as the blood or derivatives received at the same time. RESULTS: Hospital mortality: group A-3.8%, group B-2.5%. Drainage (12h): group A-602 +/- 547 ml and group B-260 +/- 260 ml (p < 0.001). Blood transfusion (12h): group A-1,782 +/- 1,163 ml and group B-1,105 +/- 839 ml (p < 0.001). COMPLICATIONS: group A-two cases of intraoperative myocardial infarction, one episode of jaundice; group B-one case of intraoperative MI, one reoperation for bleeding control, one episode of jaundice, one of renal insufficiency, two mediastinitis and one seizure. The mean hospitalization time was ten days in both groups. CONCLUSION: Tranexamic acid was an effective drug in bleeding control and in reducing blood transfusion in the postoperative of patients submitted to myocardial revascularization.

Modified technique for total cavopulmonary connection.

The laterolateral anastomosis between the superior vena cava and the pulmonary artery trunk is presented as a modified technique for total cavopulmonary connection. This procedure was successfully performed on a 9-year-old girl, associated with the exclusion of the right atrium, for the treatment of tricuspid atresia and transposition of the great arteries.

[Surgical correction of anomalous venous connection of the left lung without extracorporeal circulation]. / Correção cirúrgica da conexão venosa anômala do pulmão esquerdo sem circulação extracorpórea.

Surgical correction of anomalous pulmonary venous connection from the left lung to the innominate vein (through a vertical vein) without cardiopulmonary bypass, was performed in two patients, with excellent evolution. After median sternotomy, the ascending vertical vein was cut obliquely close to the vein, and connected to the left atrial appendage. In the postoperative period, the patients were in NYHA class I and the hemodynamic study showed normal venous drainage from the left lung to the left atrium.

Comissurotomia mitral: como evoluem os pacientes a longo prazo? / Mitral comissurotomy: how is the long-term evolution of the patients?

Procurando saber qual a evoluçao a longo prazo daqueles pacientes submetidos a comissurotomia mitral há mais de 14 anos, analisamos 100 pacientes, operados entre 1962 e 1975 e que tiveram seu acompanhamento no Instituto Dante Pazzanese de Cardiologia. Muitos pacientes foram operados nesse intervalo, mas nao tiveram seu seguimento em nossa Instituiçao e nao foram considerados. Setenta e seis eram do sexo feminino e 24 do masculino, com idades variando de ll a 50 anos, com média de 30,8 anos. Sessenta e cinco pacientes foram reoperados, sendo que em 18 ocasioes realizou-se outra comissurotomia, em um fez-se a revascularizaçao, em um substituiçao da valva tricúspide; em 45 vezes a valva foi substituída (43 próteses biológicas e duas metálicas). O tempo médio entre a primeira e a segunda cirurgias foi de 13,6 anos. Nao houve óbitos na reoperaçao. Trinta e cinco pacientes continuam em evoluçao da primeirs cirurgia, com um tempo médio de 17,2 anos, com um mínimo de 14 anos e um máximo de 27 anos. Dez estao no grupo funcional I, 17 no II, sete no III e um no grupo IV. Desta forma, dos 100 pacientes iniciais, 52 ainda estao com suas valvas naturais, mostrando que, apesar de a evoluçao da doença poder levar a alteraçoes nas valvas operadas, a comissurotomia mitral consegue uma boa evoluçao a longo prazo.