Late dissection of pulmonary autograft treated by valve-sparing aortic root replacement.

Dissection of the pulmonary autograft is an extremely rare complication requiring emergent treatment as there is a chance of rupture and proximal aortic involvement. The autograft dissection can involve the aortic annulus, causing separation of leaflets from the annulus in addition to causing annular dilatation, thereby precluding resuspension of leaflets. The usual treatment in such cases is to perform the Bentall procedure, which involves placing a valved conduit (usually mechanical valve) and thereby necessitating anticoagulation. This report describes a case of successful valve-sparing aortic root replacement following the Ross procedure with dissection of autograft.

Endomyocardial fibrosis in an adult mimicking left ventricular mass.

Endomyocardial fibrosis is a rare condition that occurs primarily in tropical countries. It can often mimick a variety of other common cardiac conditions such as apical hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and Ebstein anomaly. We report a case of a left ventricular mass that at histologic examination was found to be endomyocardial fibrosis.

Endoscopic vs conventional vein harvesting: a prospective analysis.

Minimally invasive vein harvesting is associated with better leg wound healing and a lower incidence of wound infections. We analyzed our experience in 2 prospectively enrolled groups of non-randomized patients undergoing elective coronary artery bypass grafting. Group 1 was 81 patients who had endoscopic vein harvesting; group 2 was 80 who had conventional open vein harvesting. The time taken for endoscopic harvest (skin incision to skin closure) was significantly less than that for open harvest (51.07 vs 75.94 min). The number of cases to reach a plateau on the learning curve for endoscopic vein harvest was 20 for 2 lengths of vein and 35 for 3 lengths of vein. Significantly more suture repairs per vein were required in group 1 (1.32) than group 2 (0.38). The incidence of wound infection was 1.2% in group 1 vs 8.8% in group 2. Endoscopic vein harvesting is not difficult to learn and it should be preferred over open vein harvest, given its benefits in wound healing.

Anomalous origin of left coronary artery from pulmonary artery in adults.

Various techniques have been described for management of anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery presenting in adults. Three patients, 1 male and 2 females, aged 27-37 years, underwent transpulmonary pericardial patch closure with concomitant left internal thoracic artery anastomosis to the left anterior descending artery, under standard cardiopulmonary bypass, thus creating a two-coronary system. One patient had concomitant mitral valve repair. All 3 survived the operation. Postoperative angiography in 2 patients revealed good antegrade flow with decreased collaterals in one and competitive inhibition with increased collaterals in the other. This procedure is considered to be the safest and simplest in this subset of patients.

Reimplantation of the two coronary ostia as a single button in Ross procedure.

A 10-year-old boy presented with severe aortic regurgitation due to a dysplastic aortic valve. He underwent a Ross procedure employing a mini-root replacement technique. At surgery, he was found to have eccentrically located coronary ostia which were both reimplanted as a single button into the pulmonary autograft. Postoperatively, multislice computed tomographic coronary angiography demonstrated satisfactory reimplantation of the coronary artery ostia with no evidence of kinking or compression of the coronary arteries. This case report supports the technique of transfer of coronary ostia as a single button where coronary anatomy is unfavorable for their individual transfer.