Early outcomes of radial artery use in all-arterial grafting of the coronary arteries in patients 65 years and older.

We retrospectively evaluated early clinical results of coronary revascularization using none but arterial grafts in patients aged 65 years and older. The cases of 449 consecutive patients who had undergone isolated myocardial revascularization were divided into 2 groups: the arterial conduit group (n=107) received a left internal mammary artery (LIMA) graft and 1 or both radial arteries (RAs), while the mixed-conduit group (n=342) received a LIMA graft and 1 or more saphenous vein grafts (SVGs), with or without an RA. There was no significant difference between the groups' rates of mortality.

Effect of posterior pericardiotomy on early and late pericardial effusion after valve replacement.

Objective: Pericardial effusion (PE) after cardiac surgery is frequent. It is more frequently seen after valve replacement or other types of heart surgery. Oral anticoagulants and antiplatelet agents may induce effusion development after open heart surgery.

Mitral valve replacement after application of atrial appendix flap in endocarditis with posterior annular abscess.

In patients with acute bacterial endocarditis and annular abscess formation, cardiac valve replacement is associated with high perioperative mortality and morbidity. We present two patients who had had infective endocarditis and annular abscess formation in the mural leaflet region. Before replacing the mitral valve, we covered the atrium and annulus with a flap of evaginated left atrial appendix.

Determination of the pericardial to serum myoglobin ratio for the early diagnosis of perioperative myocardial infarction after coronary artery bypass grafting.

Pericardial fluid reflect the composition of cardiac interstitium in myocardial ischemia. This study investigated the value of the pericardial and serum myoglobin (MG) measurements for the diagnosis of perioperative myocardial infarction (MI) after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Postoperative arterial and pericardial blood samples were taken in 64 subjects undergoing elective CABG allocated to two groups according to the 12-lead electrocardiogram (ECG) abnormalities observed during the first postoperative 24h.