Ministernotomy Versus Standard Sternotomy for Aortic Valve Replacement.

Background: Minimally invasive aortic valve surgery is becoming more popular everyday. The most used approach is mini-sternotomy. There are several promoted benefits related with minimal invasive approaches in comparison with standard sternotomy.

Multidrug-Resistant Acinetobacter baumannii mediastinitis.

Introduction: Mediastinitis remains one of the most serious complications of cardiac surgery. The reported incidence is 1-4%, while the related mortality varies from 10-47%.

Case Presentation: A patient with triple vessel disease (TVD) was hospitalized at our clinic for coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery.

Surgery Resection of a Massive Thymic Carcinoma during Urgent Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting.

Background: Thymic carcinoma is a very rare tumour. It is classified as thymoma type C according to World Health Organization classification. There are not many publications of simultaneous surgical treatment of thymoma during cardiac surgery interventions.

A Very Rare Case of Cor Triatriatum with Severe Mitral Regurgitation.

Background: Cor triatriatum sinister is rare congenital heart disease. It is mainly presented in childhood and often accompanied with other congenital anomalies. The cases with cor triatriatum treated surgically in adults and accompanied with severe mitral regurgitation are very rare.

Aortic Annulus Enlargement: Early and Long-Terms Results.

Aim: Patient-prosthesis mismatch (PPM) is a common occurrence in aortic valve surgery. Even the discussions about the impact of this phenomenon on the results of aortic valve surgery, the management of this problem remain one of the main topics in this kind of surgery. One of the ways of a solution is aortic annulus enlargement.

Aortic Annular Enlargement during Aortic Valve Replacement.

In the surgery of aortic valve replacement is always attempted, as much as possible, to implant the larger prosthesis with the mains goals to enhance the potential benefits, to minimise transvalvular gradient, decrease left ventricular size and avoid the phenomenon of patient-prosthesis mismatch. Implantation of an ideal prosthesis often it is not possible, due to a small aortic annulus. A variety of aortic annulus enlargement techniques is reported to avoid patient-prosthesis mismatch.

Surgical Treatment of Anomalous Origin of Right Coronary Artery in a Patient with Mitral Stenosis.

Background: An anomalous origin of the right coronary artery is rarely observed, with a reported incidence between 0.026% and 0.25%.

Prosthetic Subclavian-Aortic Bypass as a Safe Surgical Technique for the Coarctation of the Aorta in Adults.

Background: Coarctation represents 5-8% of congenital heart disease. Residual hypertension remains the main problem after late correction. Surgical treatment in the adult remains a challenge for the surgeon.

Incidence and Impact of Patient-Prosthesis Mismatch in Isolated Aortic Valve Surgery.

Aim: The mains topics of this work are the incidence of patient-prosthesis mismatch and the influence in the early results of isolated aortic valve surgery.

Methods: In 193 patients isolated aortic valve surgery was performed. The study population was divided in three subgroups: 20 patients with severe, 131 patients with moderate and 42 patients without patient-prosthesis mismatch.

Early infective endocarditis due to Staphylococcus aureus following dental procedures.

Staphylococcus aureus is now the most common cause of infective endocarditis (IE) in many areas of the developed world. Patients with S. aureus IE exhibit different characteristics compared to patients with IE deriving from oth- er organisms [1].

Chylopericardium after mitral valve repair for rheumatic valve disease treated with surgery.

Chylopericardium is a rare disorder that may be primary (idiopathic) or secondary to injury of the thoracic duct or thymus gland. Pediatric cardiac operations are more commonly related to this complication because thymus gland is very active in this population and atrophies in the adult patients. We present a case of chylopericardium after mitral valve repair for rheumatic disease, due to thymus gland tributaries injury.