Risks of cerebrovascular events related to open heart surgery.

Prevention of perioperative cerebrovascular injury in patients undergoing open heart surgery is a serious task for the surgeon, especially as age and severity of atherosclerotic disease increases. The most significant predisposing factors have been identified as existing carotid arterial disease or prior stroke, heavy calcification of the aorta, renal dysfunction, advanced age, and diabetes mellitus. We have studied a series of 600 open heart patients from 1992 to 1995 from the incidence of peri-operative stroke and mortality, evaluating 16 risk factors: heavy calcification of the ascending aorta, asymptomatic carotid disease, insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, prior CVA, left ventricular function (ejection fraction of 20% or less), age greater than 70, renal dysfunction, transmural myocardial infarction, fluid balance index greater than 2500 ccs, smoking, type of procedure, emergency procedure, non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, cardiopulmonary bypass time, gender, and hypertension Stroke occurred in 8 patients (1.

Reoperation for prosthetic heart valve dysfunction: 19 years' experience.

Between September 1968 and October 1987, 152 patients (66 males and 86 females; age range, 15 to 79 years) underwent 1 or more reoperations (total, 179) for prosthetic valve dysfunction at our hospital. In this report, we present material and statistics reflecting our experience with the last reoperation in these 152 patients. The procedures involved the mitral valve in 93 patients, the aortic valve in 38 patients, double valves (aortic and mitral) in 19, and the tricuspid valve in 2.

Significance of asymptomatic biliary tract disease in heart transplant recipients.

Biliary disease in conjunction with heart transplantation was encountered in 13 of 33 patients: in the past history (three patients), at pretransplant evaluation (nine patients), and appearing de novo after transplantation (one patient). Four patients with asymptomatic cholelithiasis underwent transplantation: biliary complications requiring emergency and/or urgent surgery occurred in all, with two deaths. Potentially complicating factors included (1) untoward effects of steroids on tissue healing and infection and (2) interaction between liver dysfunction and/or external bile loss and cyclosporine metabolism.

Infective endocarditis: diagnosis, treatment, and mortality, as related to surgical timing and infectious organism.

To evaluate the timing of surgical treatment in infective endocarditis and to determine the relationship between the risk of mortality and the species of infectious organism, we reviewed a consecutive series of 65 cases involving patients with infective endocarditis who had been treated over a 17-year period. The patients included 41 males and 24 females, who ranged in age from 6 to 85 years (mean, 39.3 years).

The use of the gastroepiploic artery for coronary artery bypass graft: another alternative.

The right gastroepiploic artery was successfully used for coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) in two patients whose saphenous veins were unavailable for grafting. One internal mammary artery was used in each patient. Because the gastroepiploic is an arterial pedicle, it is expected to have a good long-term patency rate and should be considered as an alternative conduit.