Volume 11 - Número 3

From November 1989 through December 1995, eighteen patients underwent emergency coronary artery bypass grafting without cardiopulmonary bypass following percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty (PTCA). All patients had lesions in the left anterior descending coronary artery, diagonal coronary artery or right coronary artery, when we could reach without using cardiopulmonary bypass. In all cases we used a temporary intraluminal shunt in order to allow perfusion through the coronary artery and prevent ischemic effects. Three (16.66%) patients had myocardial infarction before going to emergency surgery and 4 (22.22%) patients had important ST segment elevation. The cardiogenic shock was present in 3 (16.66%) patients. The in-hospital mortality was zero. We compared the several authors mortality rates and ours by a statistic analysis. Keywords: Myocardial revascularization, methods; Myocardial revascularization, surgery; Angioplasty; Coronary vessels, surgery; Blood vessels prostheses; Extracorporeal circulation

Systemic inflammatory response syndrome induced by cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is responsible for organ dysfunctions observed in some patients. The tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-a) has been implicated in many clinical manifestations following cardiac operations with CPB, mainly in the vasoplegic syndrome. The purpose of this study was to verify the TNF-a release and its possible effects in patients with coronary atherosclerosis undergoing coronary artery surgery with and without CPB. Twenty patients were studied, 10 with CPB(Group I) and 10 without CPB(Group II). Serial blood samples were obtained during and until 48 hours after surgery in order to measure circulating TNF-a presence (using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay-ELISA), leukocyte count and erythrocytes sedimentation rate. Hemodynamic parameters as blood pressure and cardiac rate, body temperature, orotracheal tubing time, postoperative bleeding and inotropic drugs requirements were also compared. Statistical significance was assumed when the p value was less than 0.05. Serum levels of TNF-a (limit detection of the assay = 10 pg/mL) were detected in 6 patients from Group I (60%). This cytokine was detected in Group II. The TNF-a peaked soon after the CPB starting and remained detectable 48 hours postoperatively. The patients of Group I had hypotension in relation to Group II (7.4 ± 1.0 vs 8.5 ± 0.67). They also required more inotropic drugs (8 vs 1), had a higher cardiac rate (114.2 ± 8.0 vs 98 ± 10 bpm), hyperthermia (37.17 ± 0.54 vs 36.67 ± 0.35ºC), more postoperative bleeding (820 ± 120 mL vs 360 ± 84 mL), a longer orotracheal tubing time (13.6 ± 2.2 vs 9.3 ± 1.4 horas) and a more pronounced leucocytosis. We concluded that CPB induces the TNF a release and leads hemodynamic and organic alterations that can be deleterious to patients. It may play a role on the pathophysiology of the alterations observed in this study and the inhibition of the TNFa could contribute to minimize these effects. Keywords: Tumor necrosis factor, blood, cytokine; Myocardial Revascularization; Extracorporeal circulation, adverse effects

Between October 1995 and February 1996, sixteen patients were selected to undergo to surgical myocardial revascularization through left anterolateral minithoracotomy. The left internal thoracic artery was dissected in all patients, for consecutive anastomosis with interventricular anterior artery, without using extracorporeal circulation. Patients age ranged from 43 to 77, average 60 years. Sixty-two percent of them were men. There were no complications such as: acute myocardial infarction, mediastinitis, acute renal failure, hemorrhagy or stroke. There were no deaths. Four (25%) patients were submitted to cardiac catheterization that showed patency of grafts and grafted native arteries. Due to excellent initial results, the authors believe that this technique can be employed with greater frequency and that its use can be extended to the treatment of diagonal branches of the interventricular anterior artery and marginal branches of the circunflex, as soon as the surgical teams become more familiarized with it. Keywords: Myocardial revascularization, methods; Thoracotomy, methods; Thoracic arteries, surgery

The concept of replacing diseased mitral valve with porcine mitral stentless valve allowed to address the "idiosyncrasy" of the left ventricular flow and contractility. From March 92 to December 95, 108 patients had their mitral valves replaced by stentless mitral valves. Their age varied from 11 to 65 years (mean 35.22 ± 14.98). There were 67 (62%) females and 41 (38%) males. The predominant ethiology was rheumatic heart disease 94 (87%) cases, followed by a prosthetic dysfunction 6 (5.6%) cases, myxomatous disease 5 (4.6%) cases, infective endocarditis 2 (1.9%) cases and ischemic lesion 1 (0.9%) case, 26 (24.1%) patients had mitral stenosis, 24 (22.2%) mitral regurgitation and the remaining 58 (53.7%) mixed lesions; 21.3% of the patients had previous open heart operations. The great majority of the operated patients (97.2%) were in functional class III and IV (NYHA). Associated procedures were performed in 9.3% (10) of the cases. RESULTS: Hospital mortality occurred in 7 (6.5%) patients non valved related with exception of one whom developed early endocarditis. Of the 101 remaining 3 required reoperations, in two due to valved size mismatch and 1 due to papillary muscle tear. Of the 98 remaining patients, 2 were lost to follow-up, 96 patients have been followed for 3.2 to 45 months. During the late follow-up there were six (6.25%) deaths, of the 3 patients with late prosthetic endocarditis, 2 had their valves replaced with standard bioprosthesis, with one death. The third patient expired before reoperation. The late death patient (mitral insufficiency) died early after reoperation. The other 3 patients expired: 1 due to myocardial infarction, 1 due to stroke and 1 with pancreatitis. LATE REOPERATIONS: There were 12 patients reoperated, in 8 due to mitral regurgitation with one death, in 2 due to decrease of the mitral valve area, and 2 late endocarditis with one death. CURRENT CLINICAL FOLLOW-UP: 80 patients are being currently followed. The ecodopplercardiographic studies have shown 63 patients with normal functioning mitral stentless valves, 15 with mild but stable mitral regurgitation and two with reduction on the mitral valve area by the pressure half time. In all but two, serial echocardiographic studies have shown improvement in the left ventricular function, with decreased end systolic and end diastolic volumes. CONCLUSION: Porcine mitral stentless valves have shown better performance, are hemodynamicaly superior with greater possibility of maintaining normal ventricular size and function. Although this study showed a distinct "learning curve" related to the new product and technique, these can be overcome by training and following current described operative technique. Keywords: Mitral valve, surgery, clinical results; Heart valves, prostheses, clinical results; Bioprostheses

Between August 1980 and May 1995 we studied 31 patients who underwent aortic valvuloplasty for aortic insufficiency. Eighteen (58.06%) were male and 13 (42.94%) female. The age ranged from 2 to 68 years (avarage 20.9 +/- 18.3). The ethiology was congenital in 21 (67.65%), rheumatic in 6 (19.35%), degenerative in 3 (9.67%) and infective endocarditis in 1 (3.25%). The type of valvuloplasty performed were: anuloplasty with external fixation of the cusp in 10, anuloplasty with internal fixation of the cusp in 10, partial anuloplasty in 4, triangular resection of prolapsed cusp in 5 and correction with a patch of bovine pericardium in 2 patients. The most frequent associated surgery was ventriculosseptoplasty in 14. The mean time of cardiopulmonary bypass and aortic crossclamp was 96.43 and 70.53 min, respectively. We didn't have operatory death. One patient was submitted to a new valvuloplasty in the intra-operative period because of a residual insufficiency. We observed one death in the follow-up due to a cardiac insufficiency nineteen months after surgery. Twenty five (80.6%) patients are in functional class (N Y H A) in the follow-up. We concluded that patients who underwent aortic valvuloplasty for aortic insufficiency had low surgical risk and good outcome. Keywords: Aortic valve insufficiency, surgery; Aortic valve, surgery; Aortic valvuloplasty

The biventricular repair of congenital heart diseases with an inadequate or absent ventricle to pulmonary artery connection sometimes requires the use of extracardiac conduits. In order to study the longterm outcome of a glutaraldehyde-preserved bovine pericardial conduit valved with a stentless porcine aortic valve, we reviewed the data of 33 patients operated between November 1985 and October 1995. Patients ages ranged from 15 days to 18 years (mean 5.7 ± 4.3 years). Pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect (VSD) was the most frequent disease (16 cases), followed by tetralogy of Fallot with absent pulmonary valve (5), truncus arteriosus (4), transposition of great arteries with VSD and pulmonary stenosis (3) and other miscellaneous (5). The overall hospital mortality was 18.2% and was related to the preoperative clinical condition; 23 patients (70%) were followed by a mean of 4.8 ± 3.0 years (ranging from 3 months to 10 years). The most common late complication observed was stenosis of the anastomosis between the conduit and the pulmonary artery present in 17.4% (4/23) of the patients and was the cause of 2 later reoperations (p=0,02); another patient was reoperated for late conduit endocarditis. This complication was also the cause of 1 of the 4 late deaths (17.4%). The last patient is waiting for surgery. The development of the anastomotic stenosis was problably due to a retraction of the pericardial tissue along the transition with the thin wall of the pulmonary artery. Up to 10 years, gross calcification impairing the function of the valve or the conduit itself could not be detected. In conclusion, the bovine pericardial conduits have shown a good performance as a vascular substitute. Calcification has not been a major drawback. The righ incidence of distal stenosis appears to be more related to a shrinking of the pericardial tissue than to technical reasons. Keywords: Vascular prostheses; Bioprostheses; Heart ventricle, surgery; Pulmonary artery, surgery

The patent ductus arterious frequently occurs in premature neonates causing serious cardiopulmonary disfunction. The treatment includes two options; one clinic and the other surgical procedure. The surgery for patent ductus arteriosus has been done since 1938. Clinical treatment with indometacin induces closure of the arteriosus ductus. The aim of the article is to analize the surgical results with thoractomy by triple-ligature of the ductus for the treatment of persistent ductus arteriosus in fourteen patients including low weight children and premature neonates with cardiopulmonary disfunction. The indications for surgery in these cases were respiratory distress and congestive heart failure. The technique used was triple-ligature of the patent ductus arteriosus. There were no complications neither mortality. The Neonate Intensive Care Unit was important for the evolution of these patients. Our study showed good results achieved by this technique, with low mortality and morbidity and the importance of the Intensive Care Unit for the evolution of these patients. Keywords: Patent ductus arteriosus, surgery, premature neonates; Premature neonates, respiratory insufficiency, surgery; Premature neonates, cardiac insufficiency, surgery

Pentoxifylline (Trental ®), vasodilator with rheologic action, was administered to patients with acquired valvopathies (7 pt - 2 reoperations) before (1,200 mg p/day/3 days) and during the surgery (1 mg/kg/90 min, i.v.) to evaluate its effects on the platelets and hemodynamic. Bubble oxygenators, moderate hypothermia and intermittent cold blood cardioplegia were used. Hematocrit, hemoglobin, circulating platelets and aggregate platelets index, blood loss and transfusion and cardiac output were followed among other variables till the 12th post-op. hour. They were compared with a control group (6 pt - 1 reoperation) by non parametric tests of Wilcoxon and Mann Whitney. Pentoxifylline, protecting the platelets, has determined better conditions of coagulation and small post-op bleeding. However, its vasodilator effect was reduced or absent, without any benefit on the periferic circulation, systemic vascular resistance and cardiac output. Keywords: Heart valve diseases, surgery; Extracorporeal circulation; Pentoxifylline, pharmacology; Platelet aggregation, drug effects; Hemodynamic, drug effects

In order to evaluate the efficacy of mediastinitis treatment with continuous wound irrigation with PVP11 % solution, plus antibyotics and surgical treatment, and to analise the risk factors of this serious infection, we retrospectively studied 1113 patients submited to cardiac surgery, between. January 1993 and April 1995, at the Instituto do Coração do Hospital Madre Tereza, Minas Gerais, Brasil. Eleven risk factors to mediastinitis were analized: age, sex, weight, diabetes, hypertension, smoking, blood transfusion, lenght of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), use of internal thoracic artery graft, pleural drainaige and hospital stay prior to surgery. Eighteen (1.68%) patients developed mediastinitis in the postoperative period and were treated with surgical intervention, continuous irrigation with PVP 11 % solution and antibyotics, during an average of 8 days. The hospital stay for this group of patients was in average 37 days. The predominant microorganism found was S. aureus (72%). The mortality was 27% (5 patients) due to disseminated infection. The authors conclude that continuous wound irrigation with PVP 11 % solution was an ease procedure with low mortality rate. The present method is effective in the treatment of this serious post-operative complication. Keywords: Mediastinitis, epidemiology; Mediastinitis in heart surgery, riskfactors; Heart surgery, adverse effects; Mediastinitis, drug therapy

In order to quantify seric levels of heparin, its attenuation as a time function and its residual value after neutralization with protamine sulfate, blood samples were collected, at pre-set intervals, from 27 patients undergoing myocardial revascularization surgery under extracorporeal circulation. After heparinization (400 Ul/Kg), blood samples were collected at 5, 10, 30 and 60 minutes and subsequently every 30 minutes depending upon the extracorporeal circulation lenght. At each hour after heparinization, a new heparin dose (200 Ul/Kg) was administered. The samples were kept at 4ºC prior to the heparin extract process, which was performed by physical/chemical method. The dosages showed that 5 minutes after heparinization the patients show maximal blood concentration of heparin and after 60 minutes it is aproximately 68% of the concentration at 5 minutes. At 90 minutes time, that is, after re-heparinization, the concentration of heparin is 96% of the one showed on the fifth minute and after the protamine sulfate neutralization (1.5:1), a residual value corresponding to 4% of the one initially observed is still found. It was observed that older patients have a tendency to keep longer seric heparin level, and heparin concentration at a given time could be estimated by the Equation Heparin - Concentration = 104.7 + (-12.85 x minutes (In) + 0.25 x age). Keywords: Heparin, blood; Myocardial revascularization; Extracorporeal circulation

The distribution pattern of a cold (3-4ºC), crystalloid cardioplegic solution (CS) in the myocardium was studied in 15 mongrel dogs, with 10-15 kg of body weight. Alter anesthesia and median sternal thoracotomy. The pericardium was opened and extracorporeal circulation established. The following routes were employed for cardioplegic perfusion: 1) Antegrade - through ascending aortic canullation bellow the aortic occlusion clamp;2) Selective retrograde - through coronary synus (Co.S - 25 mmHg) using a self-inflating ballooned cannula; 3) Total retrograde, (Co.S - 40 mmHg) - through a cannula inserted in the right atrium (RA); 4) Sequencial retrograde, Co.S-RA - with the CS flowing first through the coronary synus lowering the interventricular septal temperature to 16 ºC and after through the RA cannula as in the total retrograde technique with the pulmonary artery occluded and;5) Sequencial retrograde, Co.S-RV - the RV chamber being directly cannulated through the tricuspid valve and perfused, instead of the RA in the latter technique. The temperature variation of the myocardium in the left ventricule (LV), RVt RA and sinus node region (SN) was controlled employing an Omega needle termistor and thermometer. With the antegrade technique (70 mmHg pressure) the most uniform myocardial cooling, the lowest CS volume and perfusion time duration was observed, followed In excelence by the Co.S-RA Sequencial retrograde technique and the Co.S-RV sequencial technique. The present data indicate that sequencial retrograde cardioplegic perfusion techinique is significantly better than the usual Co.S or RA total retrograde technique alone for myocardial protection when compared with the aortic root antegrade perfusion technique. Keywords: Heart arrest, induced, methods; Myocardium, metabolism; Cardioplegy; Myocardial protection, cardioplegy

This paper describes a new technique for insertion and removal of intra-aortique balloon trough a segment of saphenous vein. The balloon's removal is accomplished without a new surgical intervention, which decreases many complications. The authors studied the evolution of 18 patients operated on with this new technique. Keywords: Intra-aortic balloon, methods; Intra-aortic balloon, effects; Femoral artery, surgery; Saphenous vein, surgery; Counterpulsation, aortic; Assisted circulation, methods