Minimal access approach for surgical management of cardiac tumors.

BACKGROUND: Following our experience with minimally invasive valve replacement operation, we utilized this technique for surgical management of cardiac tumors. METHODS: Between April 1997 and September 1999, 5 consecutive patients with cardiac tumors underwent minimally invasive excision of the tumors. The patients were 4 women and 1 man with an age range of 32 to 50 years. The tumor was located in the left atrium in 4 patients and the right atrium in 1 patient. The common presenting symptoms were dyspnea on exertion (100%), chest pain (60%), palpitation (60%), and transient ischemic attack (20%). Diagnosis was established preoperatively by echocardiography only. RESULTS: In 2 patients the approach was right parasternal and the subsequent 3 patients had direct-access partial sternotomy. The myxoma was resected transseptally in all patients. There was no hospital mortality. One patient had postoperative embolic episode leading to left hemiparesis. Follow-up did not reveal any complication related to this technique and all were in New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class I. CONCLUSIONS: Minimal access partial sternotomy is an effective approach that adheres to all the identified surgical principles in successful removal of these tumors. The smaller incision does not compromise the efficacy or safety of the operation, reduces hospital stay, and has a good cosmetic result.

25-year experience with 456 combined mitral and aortic valve replacement for rheumatic heart disease.

BACKGROUND: Valvular heart disease in developing countries resulting from rheumatic fever is disabling and if untreated leads to congestive heart failure and death. Valve replacement has remained the procedure of choice for advanced valve disease. METHODS: Between 1973 and 1997, 456 patients underwent combined mitral and aortic valve replacement. In light of our favorable earlier experience the Starr-Edwards ball valve prostheses were implanted in 90% and 72.8% of mitral and aortic positions, respectively. Follow-up ranged from 1 to 24 years with a median of 8.5 years. RESULTS: The 30-day hospital death rate was 9.2% and late death occurred in 10.1%. A low-intensity anticoagulant regimen was followed to maintain the target prothrombin time at 1.5 times the control value. The actuarial survival at 5, 10, 20, and 24 years was 90.4%, 85.6%, 84.4%, and 82.4% per year, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: In view of the acknowledged advantage of superior durability, increased thromboresistance in our patient population, and its cost effectiveness the Starr-Edwards ball valve is the mechanical prosthesis of choice for advanced combined valvular disease. The low-intensity anticoagulant regimen has offered sufficient protection against thromboembolism as well as hemorrhage.

Surgical management of right atrial myxomas. A 15 year experience with review of the literature.

BACKGROUND: A retrospective study to evaluate the clinical symptoms, signs, investigations, surgical technique and follow-up of an uncommon cardiac tumour. METHODS: Experimental design and setting: this retrospective study was carried out in a tertiary care hospital in South India on patients treated from 1981 to 1996. Duration of follow-up has been for a maximum period of 9.5 years. PARTICIPANTS: all patients who were diagnosed to have right atrial myxoma were included in this study. There were seven patients (4 males, 3 females) with ages ranging from 16 to 52 years. INTERVENTIONS: six of these patients underwent complete excision. One patient who presented with SVC obstruction had locally invasive tumour and only a biopsy was done. In order to reduce the risk of intraoperative pulmonary embolism in the last two cases, we crossclamped the pulmonary artery as soon as cardiopulmonary bypass was initiated. RESULTS: There was one postoperative death due to refractory right ventricular failure (14.3%). Four patients have been followed-up for a mean of 40.7 months. All of them are free of recurrence and most of them are asymptomatic. CONCLUSIONS: Right atrial myxoma is a rare usually benign cardiac tumor whose definitive diagnosis is made on the basis of 2D echocardiography. The crucial aspects of surgery are measures for prevention of intraoperative embolism, en-bloc excision of the tumour with a wide cuff of normal tissue and inspection of all four chambers in order to avoid missing tumour emboli or an occasional multicentric lesion. Patients with myxomatous emboli into the pulmonary artery require simultaneous pulmonary embolectomy.

Mechanisms of cardiac perforation leading to tamponade in balloon mitral valvuloplasty.

Mechanisms of cardiac perforation in 10 cases of cardiac tamponade encountered in a single-center series of 903 balloon mitral valvuloplasty procedures were elucidated by precise localization of the site of perforation at subsequent surgery. These mechanisms were perforation of the aortic root and adjacent right atrium by sliding up of the transseptal set (2), apical tears by straight-tip balloon catheters driven distally during mitral valve dilatation (3), apical perforations by guidewires introduced through catheters wedged in the apex (2), tear of the posterior right atrial wall by dilatation of the track produced by very low septal punctures (2), and right ventricular perforation by a pacing catheter (1). Multivariate analysis showed cardiac perforation to be significantly related to the total experience at the center (inversely) and to patient age (directly). Left ventricular perforation occurred exclusively in patients > 40 yr of age. Understanding these mechanisms has enabled formulation of effective strategies to prevent cardiac perforation.

Use of aspirin as the sole antiplatelet agent following prosthetic valve replacement in rheumatic heart disease.

Aspirin was administered as the sole antiplatelet agent in 147 patients following valve replacement, who were at low risk for thromboembolism. Of these, 67 underwent mitral valve replacement (MVR), 61 aortic valve replacement (AVR) and 19 combined aortic and mitral valve replacement (DVR). The mean follow up period was 6.63 years (range 1-14 years). The incidence of thromboembolic episodes (TEE) in patients following MVR, AVR, and DVR was 0.41, 0.80 and nil respectively. The TEE free survival at the first year follow-up was 98.4%, 99.3% and 100% in patients following MVR, AVR and DVR respectively. Fatal intracranial haemorrhage was not encountered. Valve thrombosis in this patient population was not seen. In conclusion, aspirin as the sole antiplatelet agent appears to be safe and effective following prosthetic valve replacement in selected patients. Further studies involving larger number of patients are necessary to confirm these results.

Tetralogy of Fallot: intracardiac repair in 840 subjects.

Since 1967, when the first intracardiac repair was performed in this centre, until 1991, 840 symptomatic subjects with tetralogy of Fallot have undergone corrective surgery. Cardiac catheterization and angiocardiography were carried out in all patients. Cardinal findings on the clinical status of these subjects are outlined. A substantial number of patients (244; 29.0%) were > 15 years of age. Historically, a transannular pericardial gusset has been utilized in 578 (68.8%), and in 423 (93.0%) during the past decade. The incidence of residual interventricular septal defects has been 0.68% and occurrence of complete heart block after surgery 0.4%. Death occurred in 86 patients (10.2%) within 30 days of operation and later in 40 subjects (4.8%). Long-term results have been excellent with good haemodynamic status in > 90% of subjects in the follow-up period. Associated features including absent pulmonary valve, absent left pulmonary artery, and previous palliative shunts did not alter the outcome; however, a raised haematocrit (> 0.65) was associated with an increased mortality rate.

Aortic valve replacement with concomitant open mitral valvotomy--early results and long term followup in 72 consecutive patients.

Experience with 72 consecutive subjects, who underwent aortic valve replacement with open mitral valvotomy is presented. Mean age was 30 years and history of rheumatic fever was forthcoming in 80%. 91.7% patients had aortic regurgitation--with or without aortic stenosis. 45% patients had pulmonary hypertension. Starr Edwards (51.4% and Bjork Shiley valves (45.8%) were commonly used. There were no early deaths. All patients were followed up for 1 to 19 years (mean = 9 years). There were 4 (5.5%) late deaths. 4.1% patients developed mild restenosis of the mitral valve over a mean period of 8 years and 1.04% developed mitral regurgitation mandating mitral valve replacement. A notable feature of this series is the low incidence of thromboembolism-free lives at upto 10 years followup despite receiving only aspirin in place of coumarin anticoagulation. We believe aortic valve replacement and open mitral valvotomy is a worthy alternative to double valve replacement in view of its zero hospital mortality, low late mortality, low incidence of restenosis, low thromboembolic episodes and the avoidance of coumarin anticoagulation.

Surgical management of coarctation of aorta.

Between 1961 and 1988, 68 patients underwent operation for coarctation of the aorta. The average age of presentation of these subjects was higher than in other series. 7.1 percent were asymptomatic, a finding which is not seen in reports from the west. Operative procedures included resection and end to end anastomosis, resection and graft interposition, bypass grafting, patch aortoplasty and subclavian flap aortoplasty. However, the technique of patch aortoplasty, routinely performed in the last 24 years of this series seemed by far the most satisfactory procedure. Subclavian flap aortoplasty was carried out in a selected group of younger children. Associated cardiac anomalies influenced the results adversely. The overall operative mortality was 5.8 percent. Hypertension did not regress in 11.7 per cent of patients inspite of a successful operation as judged by the return of peripheral pulses in the lower limbs. Re-coarctation was not seen in this series. The overall results of operation for coarctation of the aorta have been very satisfactory and comparable with those in other published series.

Valve replacement in the young patient with rheumatic heart disease. Review of a twenty-year experience.

During a 20-year period 303 young subjects between 9 and 20 years of age (mean, 16.2 +/- 2.72 years) with rapid and relentlessly progressive valvular disease from rheumatic fever underwent valve replacements. The Starr-Edwards ball valve prosthesis remains the device of choice, although other valves have been implanted. The overall hospital mortality rate was 9.6% in the mitral valve, 3.5% in the aortic valve, and 4.2% in the double valve replacement groups. Actuarial survival at 10, 15, and 20 years was 78.4% (+/- 3.3%), 70.0% (+/- 5.8%), and 59.3% (+/- 11.1%), respectively, for patients with mitral valve replacement. The rates for aortic valve replacement were 85.9% (+/- 4.6%) at 10 and 15 years and 72.7% (12.8%) at 20 years. In the double valve replacement group the survival rates after 5 and 10 years were 79.9% (+/- 5.1%). The incidence of thromboembolism was 0.41, 0.59, and 1.04 per 100 patient-years for the mitral, aortic, and double-valve prostheses, respectively. The prospect of childbearing seems promising in those young women who were subsequently married. Our favorable and gratifying experience in this review bears testimony to the physiologic advantages of the Starr-Edwards valve as the device of choice in the rehabilitation of patients with advanced and severe valvular disease after rheumatic fever.

Closed mitral valvotomy in the older subject. Results in 367 consecutive patients.

To determine the safety, efficacy, operative mortality, and long-term results, we reviewed 367 patients with mitral stenosis above the age of 40 who underwent mitral valvotomy. In this study, the majority of the subjects belonged to functional Class III and IV (97%) of the New York Heart Association (NYHA). Atrial fibrillation was associated in 38 percent and mitral valve calcification in 24 percent. The hospital mortality was 6.3 percent. Only 1 patient developed severe mitral regurgitation requiring emergency valve replacement. Early postoperative embolism occurred in only 1% of those who were in atrial fibrillation and had preoperative anticoagulation. Long-term results indicate an 85.6 percent survival at the end of 24 years with a very low incidence of restenosis. Late death occurred in 4.6%. These findings support our continuing experience and impression that closed transventricular valvotomy remains the most effective palliative operation in the treatment of most patients with mitral stenosis. With the increasing need for cost containment in health care, this technique of closed transventricular valvotomy assumes even greater importance.

The surgical management of aortopulmonary window using the anterior sandwich patch closure technique.

Between 1969 and June, 1986, 13 patients with aortopulmonary window were evaluated and operated upon with eleven survivors. All were children with ages ranging from 2 weeks to 2 1/2 years and had a typical aortopulmonary window (Type 1) with a connection between the ascending aorta and main pulmonary artery. Six of them also had associated cardiac anomalies. Operative techniques included both closed and open procedures. Simple ligation was carried out in two, while the remaining 11 patients were operated upon with the aid of extracorporeal circulation. "Sandwich" patch closure was the preferred method which was employed in 7 patients.

Early and late results of pericardiectomy in 118 cases of constrictive pericarditis.

The medical records of 118 patients (86 male, 32 female, age 10-50 (mean 27) years) who underwent pericardiectomy for constrictive pericarditis at the Christian Medical College Hospital, Vellore, from 1954 to 1985 were reviewed. All had appreciable pericardial constriction. Preoperatively 97 of the 118 were in class III or IV of the New York Heart Association classification and 100 had peripheral oedema or ascites. Tuberculosis was proved as the cause in 72 patients. Pericardiectomy was accomplished through a standard anterolateral thoracotomy (107 cases), median sternotomy (3 cases), or bilateral thoracotomy (8 cases). Postoperatively an apparent low cardiac output state was seen in 34 patients, 12 of whom died. Hospital mortality in the last 12 years was 11%. Mortality was higher in NYHA class III and IV patients. The improved surgical results recently may be related to increased use of inotropic support and prolonged ventilation. At follow up there were 72 patients in whom functional capacity could be assessed; 63 were in class I or II. The poor results of pericardiectomy in some patients are likely to be related to advanced preoperative disability and early pericardiectomy is therefore recommended.

Coexistent mitral valve disease with left-to-right shunt at the atrial level: clinical profile, hemodynamics, and surgical considerations in 67 consecutive patients.

Between January, 1963, and June, 1985, 67 patients underwent corrective surgery for this complex anomaly. Symptoms and signs of atrial septal defect were dominant in the majority of subjects. History of rheumatic fever (46%), paroxysmal nocturnal dyspnea (33%), presence of an opening snap, mitral diastolic murmur, or pansystolic murmur provided clinical clues to document associated mitral valve disease. Open mitral valvotomy was accomplished in 39 subjects, while in the remainder (28 subjects) the valve required replacement. Partial anomalous venous connection was encountered in 12 subjects. Recognition and attention to the associated tricuspid incompetence is a high priority, and 21 subjects underwent concomitant annuloplasty. The overall hospital mortality was 13.4%, with no deaths in the last 22 consecutive patients. The period of follow-up ranged from 1 year to 22 years, with a mean +/- SD of 9.34 +/- 6.61 years. We believe, with other authors, that since the hemodynamic and therapeutic considerations are very similar, both the stenotic and regurgitant lesions should be included in the same syndrome.

The clinical profile and surgical treatment of tetralogy of Fallot in the adult: results of repair in 200 patients.

This report describes our 17-year experience with intracardiac repair in 200 patients older than 14 years with tetralogy of Fallot. Congestive failure, hemoptysis, and cerebral abscess were present in 15, 10, and 3% of patients, respectively. Prior palliative shunts had been performed in 24.5% only. Polycythemia with a hematocrit greater than 60% was noted in 100 patients but was not considered an incremental risk factor (p greater than 0.05). A transannular gusset was utilized in 74% of patients in the last 5 years of the study. Hospital mortality was 1.3% in the last 5 years. Ninety-seven percent of survivors at follow-up are asymptomatic and leading an active life. Recatheterization data from 86 patients revealed excellent or good results in 88%. The incidence of residual ventricular defect was 1% overall, with a zero incidence in the last 12 years. On the basis of this review, we consider that easier and hemodynamically satisfactory repair has been achieved in the adolescent and older patient compared with the child. The ultimate longevity, however, must await the results of long-term functional and serial hemodynamic evaluation.

Closed mitral valvotomy: early results and long-term follow-up of 3724 consecutive patients.

Between 1956 and 1980 closed mitral valvotomies were performed in 3724 consecutive patients (male:female ratio 1.1:1) with mitral stenoses. Their ages ranged from 6 to 69 years, with a mean (SD) of 27.3 (9.3). Mitral stenosis in the younger age group is a unique condition and a great majority of these patients rapidly develop significant pulmonary hypertension and congestive cardiac failure. In this study a large number of subjects belonged to functional class IV (41.5%). Hospital mortality was 1.5% over the last 5 years. After valvotomy, 11 patients (0.3%) developed severe mitral regurgitation that made valve replacement necessary in the immediate postoperative period. Early postoperative embolism occurred in 0.4% of those who were in atrial fibrillation and had preoperative anticoagulation whereas it occurred in 0.95% of those in sinus rhythm who had no anticoagulation. Late postoperative embolism occurred at a rate of 0.3 to 1.6 per 1000 patients per year over a 20 year period. Rheumatic reactivity occurred at a rate of 1.3 to 2.2 per 1000 patients per year during the same period. Rate of occurrence of restenosis varied from 4.2 to 11.4 per 1000 patients per year between the fifth and fifteenth year of follow-up. Closed transventricular revalvotomy for restenosis was accomplished in 130 subjects with a 6.7% mortality. Excellent symptomatic improvement was evident in 86% of long-term survivors at the end of 15 years. Actuarial survival was 95%, 93.1%, 89.5%, and 84.2% at 6, 12, 18, and 24 years, respectively, after closed mitral valvotomy.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Mitral valve replacement in the young patient with rheumatic heart disease. Early and late results in 118 subjects.

During a 14 year period, 118 young patients between 9 and 20 years of age underwent mitral valve replacement. In view of the acknowledged advantage of durability and minimal thrombogenicity, we chose the Starr-Edwards valve prosthesis in the large majority of our subjects. Other prostheses have also been used. Hospital mortality has been only 3% in the past 5 years. Frail, severely incapacitated children and adolescents have had an impressive spurt in growth and weight and have returned to normal activities. Nine of the patients have had a normal pregnancy and have borne children. The remarkable clinical improvement has been corroborated by hemodynamic benefit. Follow-up over a period 1 to 15 years (mean 5.09 +/- 3.3) showed a very low incidence of embolic phenomena. In Third World countries, rheumatic heart disease continues to be a daunting challenge with pronounced disability resulting in death. Mitral valve replacement in the young subject with significant rheumatic valve disease should not be delayed until severe pulmonary vascular changes and myocardial damage pose a major deterrent.