No abstract

In patients with type A aortic dissection in whom femoral arteries are acutely or chronically diseased, axillary artery cannulation represents a safe and effective means of providing arterial inflow during cardiopulmonary bypass.

ASO remains the procedure of choice for the treatment of various forms of TGA with acceptable early and later outcome in terms of overall survival and free reoperation. Strong predictors for poor overall free-reoperation survival are complex TGA, VSD, coronary anomalies, aortic coarctation and LVOTO or moderate PAS. The pulmonary artery reconstruction using a single 'pantaloon patch' seems to offer less residual stenosis. Patients with a VSD and a significant mismatch between the neo-aortic root and distal aorta are at a higher risk for developing postoperative neo-AVI.

According to our results, we may conclude that pleural integrity has beneficial effects on the respiratory functional status after coronary revascularization using both IMAs. A meticulous and more careful IMA harvesting approach significantly reduces the postoperative morbidity regarding the pulmonary functional status, and as a consequence, reduces the hospital costs.

MV repair and replacement-preserving subvalvular apparatus in patients with impaired LV function offered acceptable outcomes in terms of morbidity and survival. Surgical correction of mild-to-moderate and moderate MR in patients with impaired LV function should be taken into consideration since it yields better survival and improved LV function.

The Gerbode’s defect is a communication between the left ventricle and right atrium. It is usually congenital, but rarely is acquired, as a complication of endocarditis, myocardial infarction, trauma, or after previous cardiac surgery. The acquired Gerbode defect with involvement of the tricuspid valve acquired after bacterial endocarditis can be challenging to repair. We present a rare case of young woman, with endocarditis of the tricuspid valve and acquired Gerbode defect without previous cardiac surgery. She underwent successful surgical closure of the Gerbode defect and reconstruction of the septal leaflet of the tricuspid valve using a an autologous pericardial patch. A total of 20 other cases were reported with acquired Gerbode defect due to endocarditis in patients without previous cardiac surgery. Three other cases presented acquired Gerbode defect due to myocardial infarction and two due to chest trauma. Another series of 62 patients presented acquired Gerbode defect after previous cardiac surgery. Surgical treatment is always feasible with excellent outcome. However the percutanous transcatheter closure remains an excellent option especially in high risk patients.

The AORPA from the aorta is a rare but important entity, necessitating a scrupulous preoperative and intraoperative evaluation. The techniques employing autologous tissues for enlarging and lengthening the AORPA seem to be associated with better results in terms of postoperative restenosis.

Introduction and objectiveThe left ventricular pseudoaneurysm (LVP) is rare, the surgical experience is limited and its surgical treatment remains still a challenge with an elevated mortality. Herein, it is presented a retrospective analysis of our experience with acquired post infarct LVP over a10-year period.Materials and methodsBetween January 2006 through August 2016, a total of 13 patients underwent operation for post infarct pseudoaneurysm of the left ventricle. There were 10 men and 3 women and the mean age was 61 ± 7.6 years. 4 patients presented acute LVP. Two patients had preoperative intraortic balloon pump implantation.ResultsVarious surgical techniques were used to obliterate the pseudoaneurysm such as direct pledgeted sutures buttressed by polytetrafluoroethylene felt, a Gore-Tex or Dacron patch, transatrial closure of LVP neck in submitral pseudoaneurysm, or linear closure in cases presenting associated postinfarct ventricular septal defect. Concomitant coronary artery bypasses were performed for significant stenoses in 12 patients, ventricular septal defect closure in 4 patients, mitral valve replacement in 3 and aortic valve replacement in 1 patient. Operative mortality was 30.8% (4 patients). Three of them were acute LVP. Three patients required the continuous hemodyalisis and 8 patients required intra-aortic balloon pump. At follow-up two deaths occurred at 1 and 3 years after surgery.ConclusionIn conclusion, this study revealed that surgical repair of post infarct left ventricular pseudoaneurysm was associated with an acceptable surgical mortality rate, that cardiac rupture did not occur in surgically treated patients.