Cardiac surgery after heart transplantation: coronary artery bypass grafting and heart valve replacement.

INTRODUCTION: Due to increasing need for and a shortage of donor organs, therapeutic procedures such as heart valve replacement for valve insufficiency and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) for graft vasculopathy (GVP) must be performed to improve allograft function to avoid retransplantation. METHODS: We performed a retrospective analysis of patients who underwent surgical procedures after orthotopic heart transplantation. Since 1989, we have performed more than 1400 heart transplantation procedures. Valve replacement was necessary in 8 patients and CABG was necessary in 3 patients. Five patients received valve prostheses (3 bioprostheses and 2 mechanical valves) at the tricuspid position. Three patients received a Hancock bioprosthesis at the mitral position. One of the 3 received the valve 3 years after heart transplantation while suffering from mitral regurgitation grade IV, and another patient received the valve 1 year following heart transplantation while suffering from mitral insufficiency grade III due to infective endocarditis. Three patients underwent coronary artery revascularization, 2 patients underwent the procedure 1 and 7 years after heart transplantation because of GVP, 1 patient underwent the procedure simultaneously with heart transplantation because of donor coronary artery disease. One patient received concomitant CABG with heart transplantation because of 75% left anterior descending stenoses in the donor organ, and one patient received CABG 1 year after heart transplantation because of rapidly progressive GVP in the left anterior descending artery. The third patient had 3-vessel disease with 95% left stem and 75% ramus circumflex, ramus marginalis, and ramus diagonalis. RESULTS: Two patients who underwent CABG and 4 patients who underwent valve replacement are still alive and maintain good clinical performance. One patient with a graft at the mitral position died 9 years after heart transplantation and 6 years after mitral valve replacement. Two patients with a graft at the tricuspid position died 17 and 4 years after heart transplantation (6 and 3 years after valve replacement, respectively). One patient with a bioprostheses at the tricuspid position had to be retransplanted 2 years following valve replacement while suffering from a paravalvular leakage grade III. CONCLUSION: Cardiac surgical procedures can be safely performed after heart transplantation. To improve graft and patient survival, such procedures must be carefully performed after heart transplantation to avoid retransplantation. The shortage of donor organs will and must lead to an increase in the number of conventional procedures performed to improve allograft function in transplanted hearts.

Acute myocardial infarction in a young adult: a case report and literature review.

Sudden cardiac death related to sports in young patients can have many causes. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, congenital coronary abnormalities, and myocarditis make up about half of the causes of sudden cardiac death after sports. Screening for all athletes is important to prevent such episodes. This involves yearly examinations including clinical examinations, stress echocardiograms, echocardiography, and laboratory investigations. Also, behavioral follow up should be addressed, as cocaine administration and doping can both lead to cardiac problems and sudden cardiac death after sports. We present a case of a 17-year-old boy who collapsed after an ice hockey competition as a result of an acute myocardial infarction, which was first represented by ventricular fibrillation. We also review the main causes of sudden cardiac death in such young athletes and the main investigations that have to be performed to reach the proper diagnosis and etiology of the condition.

Extracorporeal life support in pediatric patients with congenital heart diseases: outcome of a single centre.

AIM: In pediatric patients with congenital heart disease low cardiac output (LCO) is the principal complication after corrective heart surgery. In LCO refractory to all therapeutic options, mechanical circulatory support is the final method to keep these patients alive. In this present study the authors reviewed the outcome of pediatric patients who required mechanical circulatory support after corrective surgery with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation or ventricle assisted devices (VAD). METHODS: A retrospective single centre consecutive cohort study was carried out in children who required different mechanical circulatory support indicated by postcardiotomy low output syndrome between 1991 and 2004. A total of 20 patients received extracorporeal life support. The indications for surgery were: 12 transposition of great arteries, 1 Bland-White-Garland syndrome, 3 tetralogy of Fallot, 1 hypoplasia of aortic arch, 1 total anomalous pulmonary vein connection, and 2 ventricle septum defect. RESULTS: Mean age was 1.29 years. Mean duration of assist was 8.87 days. Seven patients out of 20 survived, six could be discharged after myocardial recovery from LCO and one could be discharged after successful heart transplantation. The overall mortality in patients with extracorporeal life support was 65%. The causes of death were multiorgan failure and bleeding in one case was a VAD related complication. CONCLUSION: The use of extracorporeal life support (ECLS) shows a high mortality rate. However, ECLS can still help to keep some of those patients alive. Mechanical support devices are the ultimate chance to save time, to increase survival and to bridge the time until heart transplantation.

Aortico-left ventricular tunnel, an unusual congenital cardiac anomaly in adult: application of a new operative technique.

Aortico-left ventricular tunnel is a rare congenital cardiac anomaly. A 45-year-old man was referred to our clinic with unstable angina pectoris. The patient had an aortico-left ventricular tunnel that had been operated on 15 years before and that now showed a recurrence. We performed a new surgical technique, including closure of orifices of the tunnel by resection of the aorta at the left coronary ostium, reconstruction of the aorta with patch plasty, and formation of a neo-left main branch by applying a saphenous magna vein patch at the noncoronary cusp. In this technique, the possibility of aortic regurgitation caused by stretching and distortion of the aortic ring and leaflets by primary suture closure of tunnel is eliminated. The postoperative 2-D colored Doppler echocardiography and cardiac MRI showed an excellent result of the procedure. Coronary flow could be restored, and thus anginal symptoms disappeared.

Pediatric patients with Kawasaki disease and a case report of Kitamura operation.

Kawasaki disease (KD), also called mucocutaneous lymph node syndrome, is an acute, self-limiting, small-vessel vasculitis with an unknown cause that affects children between the ages of 6 months and 5 years. It is the most common cause of acquired coronary artery disease in childhood. Acute myocardial infarction and coronary artery aneurysm are major complications. We present a cohort of patients with KD who were followed up and treated in the Heart Center, North Rhine-Westphalia. Included is a review of important relevant items common to cases of KD, such as clinical data and management, including medical management of the acute condition and the diagnosis and management of coronary vasculitis and aneurysms as well as the application of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in those conditions. Between January 2002 and January 2006, we evaluated the findings and characteristics of 18 pediatric patients with a history of KD and their long-term outcome. The acute illness occurred between the ages of 4 months and 14 years of age. Anomalies of the coronary arteries were found in 6 patients ranging in age from 5 months to 10 years. One patient had acute myocardial infarction; another underwent CABG after 5 years from disease onset at the age of 15 years. Kitamura operation was performed successfully. The other patients are still under observation.Coronary artery aneurysms and stenosis requiring surgery are rare in KD; nevertheless, CABG is the standard therapy when myocardial ischemia is detected. Kitamura operation provides good growth potential and long-term graft patency.