[The surgical treatment of heart valve defects combined with multiple coronary artery involvement].

The authors analyze 144 surgeries in patients with single and multiple valvular defects combined with multiple involvement of the coronary arteries; multiple (3-4) coronary artery shunting was carried out in 21 patients, the mortality being 19.4%. Recovery of the blood stream in all involved coronary arteries and correction of defective valves were found conducive to reduction of incidence of myocardial infarction and acute heart failure. Retrograde blood cardioplegia to a considerable measure shortened the duration of aorta clamping and improved myocardial protection. Such methods and improvement of surgical technique helped us reduce the mortality rate by 2-3 times.