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PurposeBilateral in situ internal thoracic artery (ITA) bypassing may result in excellent myocardial revascularization without increasing the risk of deep sternal wound infection. Although there have been concerns with the use of pedicled bilateral ITA, the risk of infection may not be greater than the use of skeletonized ITA.Materials and MethodsThe present study was retrospectively undertaken to determine if pedicled BITA grafts are associated with a higher risk of sternal wound complications. A total of 207 patients who underwent bilateral ITA bypasses with or without existing diabetes mellitus, and 162 patients of those received bilateral pedicled ITA and 98 patients received unilateral ITA bypass grafts.ResultsNo sternal wound complications were noted in either the bilateral ITA or unilateral left ITA groups.ConclusionBilateral pedicled ITA harvesting was not associated with a greater incidence of infectious sternal complications compared to patients receiving unilateral ITA bypass grafts.

Aortic valve replacement is one of the most common major cardiac surgeries worldwide. Despite improvements in surgical techniques, postoperative complications after aortic valve surgery remain a source of substantial morbidity and mortality. Although transthoracic echocardiography and transesophageal echocardiography have been used for routine surveillance of prosthetic heart valves, computed tomography (CT) has played an important role with echocardiography in the diagnosis, treatment, and follow-up of patients after valve replacement. CT has the advantage of evaluating the extent of disease, such as paravalvular dehiscence, abscess, and pseudoaneurysm, in aortic prosthetic valves. In this article, we review the various image findings of postoperative complications after aortic valve replacement detected on CT.

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