Unprotected left main coronary artery disease. Surgical therapy.

Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) has been established as a safe concept in the treatment of unprotected left main coronary artery (ULMCA) disease and is considered the first-line treatment in current interdisciplinary guidelines. Regardless of the complexity of the lesion and the concomitant diseases, CABG is associated with excellent long-term results. Randomized controlled trials investigating the role of percutaneous coronary intervention in the setting of ULMCA lesions are frequently underpowered and suggest that, when restricted to less complex lesions, percutaneous coronary intervention is associated with results comparable to surgery. Thus, there is an urgent need for further randomized controlled trials RCTs with all-comers design to supply precise data under real-life conditions representative of the left main stem anatomy. Until then, an interdisciplinary approach to patients with ULMCA lesions is mandatory in view of the existing guidelines.

Stented bioprostheses in aortic position.

INTRODUCTION: Biological stented prostheses are currently the main type of prosthetic valve used for aortic valve replacement. The ratio of bioprotheses to mechanical prostheses has switched in the last 15 years; the percentage of biological  prostheses implanted has risen from 30 % to 85 %. Moreover the total number of implanted stented bioprostheses remained stable over the last years despite competing procedures like stentless prostheses or transcatheter aortic valve implantation. METHODS: A literature search of all published aortic valve replacement studies was performed from January 2000 through May 2012. RESULTS: The recommendations guiding the type of heart valve replacement have been revised in recent years. Of particular interest are the new generation of biological prostheses with extended durability, a decrease in mortality of reoperation and an increase in life expectancy. Comorbidities such as chronic renal insufficiency or chronic atrial fibrillation are no longer contraindications to bioprostheses. CONCLUSION: Overall, even in face of more innovative biological alternatives the implantation of stented bioprostheses is still a very interesting option and represents actually the most frequent valve implantation technique for aortic stenosis.

Surgical management of acute aortic root endocarditis with viable homograft: 13-year experience.

OBJECTIVE: Cryopreserved homograft valves have been used for acute infective aortic root endocarditis with great success but it is compounded by its availability in all sizes. The long-term clinical results of geometric mismatched homografts are not well defined and addressed. METHODS: Over a 15-year period (April 1986-June 2001), 816 patients presented with active infective endocarditis. One hundred and eighty-two of the patients aged between 9 and 78 years (mean: 51.0 +/- 1.13 years) consisting of 142 males and 40 females received homograft aortic valves. One hundred and ten patients were in NYHA functional class III and 72 in class IV and in cardiogenic shock. Of the patients, 2.7% suffered from septic embolism. One hundred and twenty-four (68.1%) patients presented with periannular abscesses and 58 (31.9%) with no abscess while 107 native valve (NVE) and 75 prosthetic valve (PVE) endocarditis were diagnosed preoperatively by transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) and confirmed intraoperatively. Freehand subcoronary implantation (FSCI) was used in 106 patients and root replacement in 76 patients. RESULTS: The operative death was 8.5% and for patients in NYHA functional class IV and in cardiogenic shock was 14.5%. Late mortality rate was 7.9%. Patient survival after discharge from hospital at 1 year was 97% and at 10 years was 91%, respectively. Thirty-one (22.1%) patients underwent reoperation after 1.7 years (mean) with two deaths (6.4%). Early (< or = 60 days) and late reinfection rate was 2.7 and 3.6%, respectively. Freedom from reoperation for matched and undersized homografts at 10-13 years was 85 and 55%, respectively. The univariate model identified undersized homograft (P=0.002), FSCI (P=0.09) and reinfection (P=0.0001) as independent risk factors for developing early and late valve dysfunction resulting in reoperation and homograft explant. CONCLUSION: Early aggressive valve replacement with homograft for active infective aortic root endocarditis with periannular abscesses is more successful than delayed last resort surgery. Homografts exhibit excellent clinical performance and durability with a low rate of reinfection, if properly inserted. Undersized homograft is an incremental risk factor for early and late reoperation.

Extent of myocardial tissue damage during transmyocardial laser revascularization with the CO2 Heart Laser.

OBJECTIVE AND BACKGROUND: Transmyocardial laser revascularization (TMR) is the only surgical treatment for patients with severe diffuse coronary artery disease, who are not candidates for bypass grafting or percutaneous angioplasty. However, vaporization of tissue during the creation of channels leads to a certain loss of viable myocardium during every TMR procedure. METHODS: We analyzed serum levels of creatine kinase and creatine kinase MB subtype in 163 patients after sole TMR with a CO2 laser (wave length 10.6 microm, 800-watt power). The control group consisted of 35 consecutive CABG patients and 30 consecutive redo-CABG patients. Additionally, in the TMR group we measured echocardiographically the left ventricular ejection fraction before and after TMR. We recorded the total amount of laser energy applied, average and maximum energy per channel, and the number of created channels, in order to calculate the correlation between these parameters and postoperative enzyme levels or changes in the LVEF. RESULTS: After TMR, we measured higher creatine kinase levels compared to those in CABG patients (607.8+/-558.4 U/L vs. 285.0+/-292.3 U/L, p < 0.01). The relative proportion of CK-MB of total CK, however, was significantly lower after TMR, compared to that of the control group (4.5+/-3.0% vs. 10.1+/-6.4%, p < 0.01). Patients with a pronounced postoperative increase in CK-MB levels or a higher percentage of CK-MB of total CK also after TMR operations show a decline in left ventricular contractility. In the laser group, the maximum enzyme levels were detected significantly later than in the control group (25.0+/-19.4 h postoperatively vs. 8.7+/-9.1 h, p < 0.01). There was no significant correlation between the technical laser parameters or the number of created channels and the percentage of CK-MB of total CK or changes in left ventricular ejection fraction. CONCLUSIONS: CO2 laser TMR does not result in significant injury to the myocardium. Cardiac enzymes play an important role in the detection of perioperative myocardial infarction in TMR patients.