Use of volatile anesthetics in extracorporeal circulation.

Background And Objectives: The use of volatile anesthetics in cardiac surgery is not recent. Since the introduction of halothane in clinical practice, several cardiac surgery centers started to use these anesthetics constantly.

Content: In the last years a great number of studies have shown that the volatile anesthetics have a protecting effect against myocardial ischemic dysfunction.

Surgical treatment of partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection to the superior vena cava.

Objective: Surgical treatment of anomalous pulmonary venous connection to the superior vena cava, associated with sinus venous atrial septal defect, is well established and correlates with low mortality and morbidity. In order to reduce the incidence of stenosis or occlusion of the right superior vena cava, especially when associated with the presence of left superior vena cava, the right atrial appendage was used to enlarge the right superior vena cava, after the diversion of the anomalous pulmonary veins for the left atrium.

Methods: Between June 1986 and September 2008, 95 consecutive patients were operated with anomalous drainage in the superior right vena cava and high right atrium.

[Coronary aneurysm after drug-eluting stent implantation].

The use of drug-eluting stents aiming at by-pass the disadvantage of stainless steel stents have been associated to late thrombosis after withdrawal of anti-platelet agents. We report a case with another complication, the development of a coronary aneurysm in the stent area more than three years after index procedure. Late chronic local inflammatory responses may be responsible for the weakening, erosion and aneusrysm formation.