Surgical Management of Ebstein Anomaly: The Australia and New Zealand Experience.

BACKGROUND: Ebstein anomaly is a rare congenital anomaly of the tricuspid valve which presents challenges to cardiac surgeons due to the spectrum of the disease and the technical difficulty of valve repair. The natural history of the anomaly differs between patients presenting in the neonatal period to those presenting in adulthood. METHODS: A retrospective review of all patients >15 years of age with Ebstein anomaly, undergoing surgery on the tricuspid valve at 6 centers across Australia and New Zealand was performed. Patients from 1985 to 2019 were included in the study. RESULTS: A total of 125 patients were included in the study, 76 patients (60%) undergoing tricuspid valve repair, of which 23 patients underwent a Cone repair and 49 (40%) had a tricuspid valve replacement. The mean follow-up was 7.9 ± 7.3 years. Postoperatively, early mortality was 3 patients (2%) and 10-year survival was 91.5%. A postoperative pacemaker was required in 24 patients (19%). Reoperation was required in 21 patients (17%). There was no statistically significant difference in survival or reoperation between patients who underwent repair or replacement of the tricuspid valve; however, with a small number of patients in long-term follow-up. CONCLUSION: Older children and adult patients undergoing surgery for Ebstein anomaly in Australia and New Zealand experience good medium-term postoperative survival. Repair of the valve is achieved in a significant proportion of patients with increasing use and success with the Cone repair technique.

Early to midterm results with the radial artery in coronary artery bypass grafting following autotransplantation without pharmacological manipulation.

BACKGROUND: In our unit when the radial artery is used as a conduit for myocardial revascularization routine, postoperative calcium-channel blockade is not practised. To preserve the radial artery, it is freed from the surrounding structures together with its venae commitantes and then left, in situ, in circulation, until needed for grafting. We evaluated the early to midterm patency of the radial artery using this strategy in our patients. METHODS: We analysed prospectively collected data on 690 consecutive patients who had isolated primary coronary artery bypass grafting performed between June 1999 and February 2003 with at least one conduit being a radial artery. RESULTS: Radial arteries were used for 851 of 2150 distal anastomoses (39.6%). Median follow-up was 399 days (range 20-1323) and was 99.9% complete. Early mortality was 2.0% (14). Late mortality was 3.0% (21), 12 late deaths were not cardiac related. Nine patients (1.4%) had angiography on clinical grounds a mean of 238 days (range 0-511) postoperatively. Six coronary artery territories were inadequately supplied by their radial artery grafts. Kaplan-Meier event-free survival was 94% and 90% at 1 and 3 years, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The results of coronary artery bypass grafting using the radial artery in our institution compare favourably with those of other contemporary workers. It is safe to leave the radial artery in situ in the circulation until it is required for grafting. The absence of postoperative pharmacological manipulation of the radial artery does not appear to affect early or midterm outcome.

A prospective randomized controlled trial of suction versus non-suction to the under-water seal drains following lung resection.

OBJECTIVE: Practice varies as to whether or not suction is applied to under-water seal drains following lung surgery. We tested the null hypothesis that there is no difference with respect to air leak duration. METHODS: Patients undergoing thoracotomy or video assisted thoracoscopic surgery for lobectomy or wedge resection had either low-pressure suction or no suction applied to their underwater seal bottles postoperatively. Patients were allocated using minimization, a method of unbiased allocation ensuring balance between the arms of a trial with respect to known or suspected confounding factors. The trial was powered for duration of air leak. If an air leak persisted on the 7th post-operative day, the surgeon determined further management. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis of air leak duration and a log rank test were performed on an intention-to-treat basis, with observations censored at 144h (6 complete days). RESULTS: Of the 254 patients that entered the trial, data were available for analysis for 239 (123 no-suction and 116 suction). There was no significant difference in the cumulative persistence of air leaks between the two groups (P=0.62) and inspection of the Kaplan-Meier curves suggests that any difference is negligible. CONCLUSIONS: Applying suction to the underwater seal drains following lung surgery makes no difference in terms of air leak duration. In the light of this finding we have adopted a uniform policy of no suction being applied to the underwater seal, from the time of surgery, unless a specific clinical judgment is made to use it. The anticipated gains are that this will reduce work and cost and aid mobilization.

Rapid evolution of right ventricular cardiomyopathy after surgical closure of a secundum atrial septal defect.

Rapidly developing diffuse right ventricular cardiomyopathy presenting with right heart failure in a 9-year-old boy within 2 months after surgical closure of a secundum atrial septal defect is reported. The child was treated by palliative surgery with partial exclusion of the right ventricle by bidirectional Glenn shunt.

Midterm results of the Ross procedure.

OBJECTIVE: The lack of durable bioprosthetic valves and the inherent risks associated with anticoagulation for mechanical valves have led to the continued use of the Ross procedure, particularly in the pediatric population. METHODS: We have reviewed our mid-term results retrospectively, following the Ross operation in both pediatric and adult groups. RESULTS: Over a 11-year period from August 1991 to August 2002, 60 patients underwent the Ross procedure. The median age was 15 years (6-804 months), of which 63% were males and 55% were under the age of 20 years. The main indications were: aortic stenosis in 47 patients; aortic insufficiency in 6 patients; and mixed aortic valve disease in 28 patients. Fifteen patients had previously undergone balloon dilatation of the aortic valve, 4 had open valvotomy and 3 had both valvuloplasty procedures. The pulmonary autograft was implanted as a sub-coronary implant until 1995 (30%) after which time it was implanted using a partial inclusion cylinder technique (70%). There have been no deaths reported in this series. Over a median follow-up period of 59 months (2-122 months), there have been four re-operations for repair of autograft leak, and 2 adult patients have had autograft replacements. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the increased technical complexity, the Ross procedure can be performed safely in both paediatric and adult populations with satisfactory medium term results.

Gerbode's defect resulting from infective endocarditis.

We present a report of a Gerbode's defect (left ventricular-right atrial communication) resulting from bacterial endocarditis in a 63-year-old man. Also presented is a brief overview of the literature and a possible preoperative echocardiographic diagnostic criterion relating to this unusual condition.

Complete thoracic ectopia cordis.

Thoracic ectopia cordis is a rare congenital defect with very few reported survivors after surgical correction. We report a case of complete thoracic ectopia cordis with double outlet right ventricle. The diagnosis was established antenatally and a repair was undertaken soon after birth. The child remained stable and was extubated on the fifth post-operative day. Forty-eight hours later the child succumbed to an unexplained respiratory arrest. Also presented is a review of the different surgical strategies for this unusual condition.

Recurrence of hepatitis B after single lung transplantation.

This study describes a patient who developed decompensated liver disease secondary to reactivation of hepatitis B infection 20 months after single lung transplantation following augmentation of immunosuppression to treat allograft rejection. Discussion focuses on the virologic and management issues of this case and reviews the approach taken when considering patients with chronic hepatitis B infection for lung transplantation.

Palliative surgery in malignant obstructive jaundice: prognostic indicators of early mortality.

A prospective analysis of 50 patients undergoing palliative bypass surgery for incurable malignant obstructive jaundice was carried out in an attempt to identify factors predicting post-operative mortality. Five clinical and nine laboratory parameters were studied. Fourteen patients died within 30 days of surgery. It was seen that levels of haemoglobin, hematocrit and serum albumin levels were significantly lower while serum bilirubin was significantly higher in patients who died compared with the survivors. Patients having Hb < 10 Gm/dL, serum bilirubin > 350 micromol/dL, serum albumin < 2.5 g/dL and prothrombin index < 60% exhibited a higher percentage of mortality. On multivariate analysis, levels of haemoglobin, serum albumin and serum bilirubin could be used to independently predict the outcome with an accuracy of 86%. This was validated by prospectively applying the regression equation derived from the first 30 patients to the next 20 patients. It was seen that the predicted outcome correlated with the actual outcome with a correlation coefficient of 0.5098 (P = 0.01). It is concluded that in patients with high bilirubin, low haemoglobin and low albumin levels palliative surgical procedures carry a high risk of post-operative mortality and non-surgical methods may be more suitable.