Repair of SVA can be performed with an acceptably low operative risk and a good symptom-free long-term outcome expectation. Echocardiography provides all the necessary details for diagnosis. Dual exposure/patch repair strategy is advocated in the ruptured cases.

ARF development after cardiac surgery often results in high morbidity and mortality. Recognizing risk factors permits the timely institution of proper treatment, which is the key to reducing untoward outcomes.

Although surgical intervention should be postponed until active inflammation has subsided, often this is not possible, because of the emergent nature of these problems. Most arterial complications of vasculo-Behcet disease present with a pseudoaneurysm rupture or with impending rupture. An aggressive surgical approach can be life-saving in such instances, and should be undertaken regardless of long-term complications, which are more common when the operation is performed in the presence of active inflammation. Early and late results can be improved by individualizing, selecting a disease-free area for reconstruction, and eliminating use of autologous graft material.

The patency of a sequential vein graft conduit is generally better than that of an individual one, especially for poor run-off coronary vessels, provided that the most distally located anastomosis is done on a good coronary artery in terms of quality and diameter. Using a minimal length of conduits is another advantage. However, failure of a single sequential conduit jeopardizes all the anastomoses along that graft segment. Besides, sequential grafting is technically more demanding, and the technical expertise in performing a sequential anastomosis is probably among the important determinants of short- and long-term patency.

Any tricuspid disease not amenable to repair thus necessitating replacement is an unfortunate situation since both the short and long-term results of valve replacement are suboptimal in regard to those of left-sided valve replacements, probably due to different structural and geometrical characteristics of right ventricle and the low-pressure venous system hemodynamics. Etiology, clinical presentation and pulmonary vascular hemodynamics are major determinants of the outcome.

On the basis of the presented data, off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting appeared to be a safe and effective technique in selected patients with appropriate coronary lesions.

Left ventricular aneurysm repair is an important therapeutic intervention and can be performed with reliable results, regardless of repair method, either linear or circular. Long term results revealed better functional status in circular repair group. Concomitant coronary revascularization reduced the incidence of low cardiac output state. Performance of the unaffected regions of myocardium was found to be an important determinant of both early and late outcome.

Nitric oxide has a key role in vascular homeostasis. It plays a protective role by suppressing abnormal proliferation of vascular smooth muscle following various pathological situations including atherosclerosis and restenosis after vascular interventions such as balloon angioplasty, stent deployment and bypass grafting. It also has strong antiplatelet and anti-thrombogenic properties. In this review, possible applications to daily vascular and endovascular surgery practice, including systemic use of NO donors, enhancing endogenous production of NO by L-arginine and gene therapy, local delivery strategies and coating stents and grafts with NO-delivering/enhancing chemicals are reviewed.