Open-heart surgery and Jehovah's Witnesses.

The religious community of Jehovah's Witnesses holds that blood transfusion is against God's law. Therefore, surgical treatment of Jehovah's Witnesses is a great challenge for every surgeon, especially for cardiac surgeons because blood transfusion is frequently needed during such operations. In this study we summarize the experience with Jehovah's Witnesses who have undergone open-heart surgery in Debrecen from 1989 to 1999 due to various cardiac diseases. Applying a complex surgical procedure developed by the authors to minimize blood loss during operation, preserved blood products were omitted. Three patients out of twenty-four died during the postoperative period. The twenty-one longtime survivors showed significant improvement in their clinical stage during the mean follow up of 37.6 months. More and more operations are done successfully without blood or preserved blood products worldwide, so it could be said that nowadays surgical treatment of Jehovah's Witnesses has a lower risk than before.

[Open-heart surgery in Jehovah's witnesses]. / Szívmútétek jehova tanúinál.

The religious community Jehovah's Witnesses was founded in 1870. They hold that blood transfusion is against God's law. Surgical treatment of a Jehova witness is a great challenge for every surgeon, especially for cardiac surgeons because blood transfusion is frequently needed during such operations. Authors have been trying to reduce the utilization of preserved blood for ten years. This study is about the experience with Jehovah's Witnesses who have undergone open heart surgery in Debrecen. Twenty-four patients underwent open heart surgery from 1989 till May 1999. 7 of them were males and 17 were females. The mean age was 53 years (40-70 yrs). Three patients had congenital heart disease, 11 had acquired valve disease and 7 had coronary stenosis. In 3 cases the patients had combined coronary and valve disease. Authors used a complete procedure for reducing blood loss during the operations. Two patients (8.3%) died during the early postoperative period. Preoperative mean haemoglobin level was 134.2 g/l (112-166) and haematocrit value varied between 36-50% (mean 38%). On the first postoperative day significant decrease was registrated in these values. From the second day a slow but significant increase of haemoglobin and haematocrit levels were detected. The mean follow up time was 37.6 months (2-144), and the NYHA classification of 21 longtime survivors improved from 3.06 to 1.62. At the Department of Cardiac Surgery in Debrecen as well as worldwide more and more operations are done without blood or preserved blood products, so it could be said that nowadays surgical treatment of Jehovah's Witnesses has lower risk than before.

Five-year experience with a suture annuloplasty for mitral valve repair.

We present five years' experience with mitral plication annuloplasty, performed with a semicircular buttressed suture around the posterior leaflet in 130 patients (mean age 58 +/- 11 years) with primary mitral valve disease (n = 71) or functional mitral regurgitation (n = 59). In 65 cases the mitral valve itself was also repaired. Concomitant myocardial revascularization was performed in 40 cases and aortic valve replacement in 43. All but three patients were followed up (97.6%). Postoperative echocardiography showed acceptable mitral area (2.28 +/- 0.39 cm2) and good valve competence in all cases. Inhospital mortality was 3% and late mortality 4.8%. During the follow-up period (22.8 +/- 10.9 months) 8 patients (6.6%) required mitral valve replacement because of progression of native valve disease (n = 4), technical failure (2) or expansion of the annuloplasty suture (2). Mitral annuloplasty thus can be performed simply and with good results, using a strong, non-stretchable buttressed suture. This procedure can be an inexpensive alternative to ring implantation.

[Improvement of myocardial perfusion following left ventricular resection]. / A myocardialis perfusio javulása bal kamrai resectiót követóen.

Left ventricular aneurysm had detected at the 55-year-old woman after extensive anterior myocardial infarction in association with progressive ventricular dilatation and symptoms of heart failure. Coronary angiogram revealed a serious lesion in the proximal segment of the left anterior descending coronary branch with a poor run off tract. 18FDG-PET and 99mTc-MIBI-SPECT investigation were performed in order to differentiate the scarred regions from the viable myocardial segments. Taking into consideration the results an aneurysm resection was performed without revascularisation procedure. After the surgery not only the ejection fraction and the left ventricular dilatation had improved but the tissue perfusion in the segments surrounding the resected aneurysm had also showed a significant increase at the follow up MIBI-SPECT imaging.

[Surgical treatment of mitral insufficiency using annuloplasty suture technic]. / A mitralis insufficientia mütéti kezelése annuloplasticás öltéssel.

In 1991 a simple and cheap technique was introduced for mitral valve repair at our department. After repairing the mitral leaflets, where indicated a posterior leaflet annuloplasty was performed with a semicircular suture and the annulus fixed for the appropriate size by tying the stitch. Between July 1991 and December 1995 86 patients underwent the above procedure (average age 56.8 +/- 10.4 years). 45 patients had primary mitral valve disease (myxomatous degeneration, rheumatoid disease, endocarditis), the other 41 had functional mitral regurgitation secondary to severe aortic valve or coronary artery disease. Echocardiography showed severe mitral regurgitation in 77% of the patients. In 45 cases the mitral valve itself was also repaired (valvotomy, quadrangular resection, wedge resection, etc.) in 29 cases the aortic valve was replaced as well, while 24 patients required additional revascularisation of the myocardium. The 30 day mortality was 3.5%. One week after surgery echocardiography was performed at all patients and showed acceptable mitral valve area (2.28 +/- 0.39 cm2). In 28 cases mild mitral regurgitation was found, the other valves were competent. All but 3 patients were followed up (96.4%). There were 6 late deaths (3 cardiac, 2 non cardiac, 1 embolic, 7.2% late mortality). During the follow up period (31.7 +/- 11.2 months) 5 patients required mitral valve replacement for severe recurrent mitral regurgitation (6.0%). In two cases new chorda rupture caused the recurrence, in an other case the suture had torn out of the annulus due to inadequate surgical technique. In the last two cases the annulus had dilated with intact Prolene annuloplasty stitch present, 86.8% of the survivors were in NYHA class I. or II. Our results suggest that mitral valve repair in selected cases can be performed without using expensive annuloplasty rings. The suture used for annuloplasty should be strong, non absorbable and non stretchable. Since 1994, when we started using GoreTex suture instead of Prolene no more patients required reoperation for annuloplasty failure.

[Prevention of atrial fibrillation by atrial-based pacemaker implantation]. / A pitvari fibrilláció megelözése pitvari vagy pitvar-kamrai szekvenciális pacemaker-beültetéssel.

A large number of studies have demonstrated the long term disadvantage of single lead ventricular pacing in sick sinus syndrome. Ventricular pacing mode predicts chronic atrial fibrillation in patients with preimplant paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. The goal of the report was to study the effectiveness of single atrial and dual chamber (atrio-ventricular sequential) pacemaker treatment in the prevention of atrial fibrillation for patients with sick sinus syndrome complicated with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. In our university hospital 16 atrial based 5 and dual chamber 11 pacemaker were implanted for treatment of patients with sick sinus syndrome (with or without AV conduction disturbances) complicated with paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. The mean age were 61 (24-78), nine males and seven females. Before or during pacemaker implantation sinus node and AV node function analysis, and echocardiography were performed. There were no surgical complications, lead and/or generator failure. All patients had routine follow-up performed at 4 weeks, 3 months, 6 months. Mean follow up was 31 +/- 8 months (range 3 to 93 months). The atrial based and dual chamber pacing were effective in 90% of our cases. In one patient the treatment had to be combined with propafenone. According to our result, the atrial based pacing may be used to reduce the incidence of atrial fibrillation with careful programming of the base atrial pacing rate, and it is associated with lower frequencies of thromboembolic complications and pacemaker syndrome.

[Alternatives to heart transplantation]. / A szívátültetés alternatívái.

This paper is about the alternatives of curing the drug-refractory heart failure with the exception of cardiac transplantation. It includes even the newest methods mostly being in the phase of animal experiment in the meantime. The authors give a review on the different possibilities of skeletal muscle autotransplantation for cardiac support, such as cardiomyoplasty which has already been done in Hungary too, externally powered mechanical devices for long-term support, molecular and cellular cardiomyoplasty. The partial ventriculectomy and transmyocardial laser revascularization are mentioned as well. Although, most part of the enumerated procedures is not available in Hungary at this time, they are expected to enter the arsenal of medicine in the future.

Morphological damage to the central nervous system (CNS) following open heart surgery.

We investigated 40 patients who had died following open heart surgery between January 1990 and May 1992. Between this time, 703 open heart procedures were carried out at the University Medical School of Debrecen, 2nd Department of Surgery's Cardiac Surgery Unit with a mortality rate of 8.3%. We studied each individual's clinical records, autopsy findings, and histology of defined portions of brain tissue. Clinical information used were: sex, age, clinical stage (according to New York Heart Association (NYHA) classification) at time of surgery, type of procedure performed, and duration of time of extracorporeal circulation. Autopsy records collected and studied focused on the macroscopic and microscopic alterations in the CNS. The most common morphological findings in the CNS for the 40 studies cases were, cerebral edema in all cases, reactive microgliosis and nuclear pyknosis in most cases, and in a minority of the cases focal microscopic hemorrhage or focal microscopic white emolition. Also found were, destructive brain hemorrhage and global cerebral necrosis. Of the 40 cases studied there was only one case in which brain death was diagnosed perioperatively, and which was clinically diagnosed to be caused by global cerebral hypoxia.

[Unstable angina pectoris associated with surgically treated coronary artery atresia]. / Instabil angina pectorissal járó egyszájadékú koszorúér-hálózat operált esete.

A case report of a rare, presumably congenital form of "single coronary artery", is presented. The authors review the classification and clinical significance of the entity with special emphasis with regard to anginal symptoms and the so called sudden unexpected death syndrome. Details and result of surgical intervention (conventional aorto-coronary saphenous bypass) are discussed.

Granulated sugar treatment of severe mediastinitis after open-heart surgery.

Fifteen cases of mediastinitis developing after 1,164 open-heart operations (incidence 1.3%) were analyzed. Closed mediastinal irrigation was used as primary therapy in ten cases and led to complete healing in five. Granulated sugar treatment was given primarily to four patients and to five others after failure of closed mediastinal irrigation. The sugar treatment was successful in six patients with hospital stay averaging 91.6 +/- 8 days. The three other patients in this group died before discharge from hospital. During 22-month follow-up there was no recurrence of mediastinitis in the granulated sugar group, but reoperation was necessitated by sternal fistula in two of the patients with closed mediastinal irrigation. Granulated sugar treatment is effective in refractory, severe mediastinal infections.

[Topical treatment using granulated sugar in advanced mediastinitis following open heart surgery]. / Nyitott szívmütéteket követö elörehaladott mediastinitisek helyi kezelése kristálycukorral.

The complications caused by infection were examined prospectively in the case of 1164 patients who had undergone open heart operation. Postoperative mediastinitis occurred in 15 cases (1.3%). Owing to mediastinal infection verified by bacteriological findings all patients had to undergo surgical intervention. Ten patients were treated by closed mediastinal irrigation. This method was effective in the case of five patients. Granulated sugar treatment was locally applied in five cases because of an infection, relapsing in spite of a closed treatment, and in four cases primarily, because of advanced mediastinitis and sternum osteomyelitis. With the mediastinal cavity being filled with granulated sugar twice a day, a rapid emptying of the wound and granulation tissue formation was observed in all patients. Redressing was easy and painless. Out of the 9 patients treated by granulated sugar three died before being discharged, but none of the deaths were due to wound complications. The rest of the patients were discharged cured averagely after 91.6 +/- 8.0 days. During the average 22 months' follow up period recurrence of sternal infection was not observed in the group treated by granulated sugar, while out of the 5 patients cured by closed mediastinal irrigation two had to undergo another operation after a few months because of the formation of sternal fistula. The authors consider the granulated sugar treatment to be an effective method in the treatment of obstinate and advanced mediastinal infections.

[Direct revascularization of the myocardium using the internal mammary artery]. / A szívizom direkt revascularisatiója az arteria mammaria interna felhasználásával.

The best graft in coronary bypass operations is the internal mammary artery (IMA) as its rate of staying open for long term is better than that of the vena saphena magna. The authors present the operative and postoperative results of their first 161 patients who were subjected to IMA grafting. 126 were men and 35 women of the patients and the average age was 50.2 years. Before the operation the majority of the patients belonged to NYHA III state (69.6%). 86 patients (53.4%) had myocardial infarction before the operation, 50.3% were operated on because of 3 blood vessel diseases and the stricture of the main trunk was confirmed in 12.4%. 128 patients underwent only coronary bypass operation, in the others thrombendarterectomy (17 patients), valvular operation (11 patients) and resection of the left ventricular aneurysma (5) were carried out simultaneously. The IMA graft was placed in the majority of the cases on the LAD (70.8%) or as a sequential anastomosis on the LAD-diagonal system (21.1%). The average number of peripheral anastomoses was 2.8 anastomoses patient. 2.5% was the rate of early mortality (4 patients), reoperation was performed in 10 cases because of bleeding or tamponade and perioperative infarction occurred in 8 cases. 3.1% was the rate of late mortality (5 patients). The average follow-up examination time was 12.7 months (3-39 months). At the postoperative examinations 88.8% of the patients were free of angina and 108 patients got into NYHA I state after the operation. Of the 43 control bicycle ergometric examinations 35 were negative and 8 positive.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Valve surgery combined with myocardial revascularisation. Report of 62 cases.

Combined valvular and coronary bypass surgery was performed in 1984-1988 in 62 patients. Their age range at operation was 38-75 (mean 59) years and more than 90% were in NYHA class III or IV. Valve replacement was performed in 55 cases--mitral in 13, aortic in 33, tricuspid in one and combined valve procedures in eight cases--and valvular correction in seven cases. The patients also received a total of 92 coronary artery grafts (1-4/patient, mostly as single grafts). The hospital mortality was 3% and there were two late deaths. Follow-up was 100% complete 2-52 (mean 22) months after surgery, and more than 90% of the survivors were improved.

Successful surgical repair of a congenital subvalvular left ventricular aneurysm.

Subannular left ventricular aneurysms are rare in white persons. Six white patients have been reported in the literature who underwent surgical repair because of subaortic left ventricular aneurysm. The authors report on a further case, a 41 year-old woman who was operated on at their clinic. The rare occurrence of this disease inspired them to review the literature and to describe their case.

Clinical experience with the Björk-Shiley integral monostrut heart valve prosthesis in the aortic and mitral position.

From May 1982 to May 1985, 174 Björk-Shiley integral monostrut (BSIM) heart valve prostheses were implanted in 160 patients. Eighty-eight valves were placed in mitral and 86 in aortic position. There were 92 males and 78 females with a mean age of 54.1 years (140 patients were in NYHA class III or IV (87.5%]. Single valve replacement was performed in 116 (72%) patients, 30 (19%) underwent multiple valve procedures and in 14 (9%) valve replacement was combined with coronary artery bypass surgery. There were no intraoperative deaths. Six patients died within the first month after surgery. One hundred and fifty-two (98.7%) patients were followed for a total of 190 patient years (average 14.8 months per patient). There were 8 late deaths (4.2 per 100 patient-years), 5 of these were valve related. Valve related complications were observed in 9 patients (4.5 per 100 patient-years). The overall incidence of peripheral embolization was 2.6 per 100 patient years. At the time of the follow-up study 136 (94%) patients were in functional class I and II. Fourteen patients with isolated AVR and six with MVR underwent hemodynamic evaluation on an average of 12 and 10 months after surgery. The early results suggest that the BSIM prosthesis represents a promising alternative in heart valve replacement, because there were no mechanical failures, thromboembolic complications are rare and hemodynamic performance is good.