Acquired tracheo-esophageal fistula in adult-a classical case of 'what not to do'.

Acquired tracheo-esophageal fistulas (TEFs) are challenging. The most common causes are prolonged intubation, malignancy, and trauma whereas granulomatous infections like tuberculosis are rare. Endoscopic intervention with esophageal or tracheal stenting or clipping is of unproven benefit in the management of such lesions, where surgical repair is almost invariably required.

Ruptured sinus of Valsalva aneurysms - our surgical experience of 7 years.

Introduction: Aneurysms of sinuses of Valsalva are rare aortic anomalies having an incidence of 1.4-4.94% in the Asian population.

Technique of lung retraction during internal mammary artery harvesting.

We describe a novel technique for lung retraction during dissection of the internal mammary artery for its use in coronary artery bypass grafting. The lung is retracted using the blades of the Octopus (Medtronic Inc, Minneapolis, MN) suction stabilizer, without the suction connected. This technique can be used when the internal mammary artery is harvested by widely opening the pleura or by the extrapleural approach.