Open-heart surgery and Jehovah's Witnesses.

The religious community of Jehovah's Witnesses holds that blood transfusion is against God's law. Therefore, surgical treatment of Jehovah's Witnesses is a great challenge for every surgeon, especially for cardiac surgeons because blood transfusion is frequently needed during such operations. In this study we summarize the experience with Jehovah's Witnesses who have undergone open-heart surgery in Debrecen from 1989 to 1999 due to various cardiac diseases. Applying a complex surgical procedure developed by the authors to minimize blood loss during operation, preserved blood products were omitted. Three patients out of twenty-four died during the postoperative period. The twenty-one longtime survivors showed significant improvement in their clinical stage during the mean follow up of 37.6 months. More and more operations are done successfully without blood or preserved blood products worldwide, so it could be said that nowadays surgical treatment of Jehovah's Witnesses has a lower risk than before.

Radial artery grafts: surgical anatomy and harvesting techniques(1).

At present more and more surgeons are using the radial artery as a graft for coronary bypass. The statistics until now show that the patency of radial grafts exceeds that of the venous grafts used up to the present. In our department we used radial artery for coronary bypass in 515 patients between January 1990 and December 2000. The radial artery harvesting with minimally invasive technique developed by us was applied in 50 of these patients while the rest were performed with the traditional method. No ischemic complications occurred in forearm or hand following either of the methods. One year after the operation we carried out control examinations on 197 consecutive patients. Our surveys showed that following the traditional technique of radial artery harvesting neurological complications (temporary dysaesthesia) occurred in 16.5% of the patients. After the minimally invasive procedure, temporary dysaesthesia occurred in one case (2%). These complaints ceased within 1-12 months (an average of 3.8 months). Definitive neurological complications did not occur in any of the patients. In summation, we experienced that both operating techniques can be safely applied. The proportion of temporary neurological complications is higher following the traditional procedure, therefore, further development and application of the minimally invasive procedure should be considered.

Direct ostioplasty of the left main coronary artery using the right internal thoracic artery as patch material.

Three female patients underwent operations for nonatherosclerotic isolated left main coronary artery stenosis. Transaortic patch angioplasty was performed via an anterior approach using the most proximal segment of the right internal thoracic artery as patch material. Six months after surgery coronary angiography revealed good results in all three cases. The internal thoracic artery can be used to enlarge the left coronary ostium safely, if heavy calcification is not present.

[Open heart surgery with extracorporeal circulation during pregnancy]. / Szívmútét extracorporalis keringéssel és terhesség.

The incidence of heart disease in pregnancy has been gradually falling during the last three decades. Cardiopathy still remains a prominent cause of maternal and fetal morbidity and mortality. Most patients know about their heart disease long before conception, even though the potential risk factors of deteriorating cardiac function during pregnancy are generally not emphasized. These women when pregnant may develop heart failure due to the increased cardiorespiratory requirements. When medical therapy proves insufficient heart surgery becomes mandatory to save the patient's life. The pregnant state is not optimal for cardiac surgery as the principle interest of the mother and the fetus is different. We report on two pregnant patients who underwent unavoidable heart surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass and review the literature regarding the optimal management of open-heart operation in pregnancy aiming to decrease the feto-maternal mortality. The successful outcome of the cardiac surgery on pregnant women is determined by the severity of the preexisting disease, the surgical techniques, and the circumstances of the cardiopulmonary bypass. The best possible results can be achieved by providing preconceptional counseling for the cardiopathic patients regarding the relation between the preexisting risk factors and the adverse maternal and neonatal outcome. When heart surgery is mandatory in pregnancy the careful technical precautions and the continuous cardiotocography help to minimize fetal complications during the cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB).

[Early and long-term results of treatment for infected deep sternotomy wounds]. / Szívmútétet követó mély sternotomiás sebfertózések kezelésének korai és hosszú távú eredményei.

A retrospective study and follow-up was undertaken to determine the optimal treatment of poststernotomy wound infections. Between January 1990 and April 2000 mediastinitis developed in 62 patients following 7458 heart operations (0.83%). Median age of 50 males and 12 females was 59.1 +/- 9.1 years (27-77). Mediastinal infections occurred within 14.2 +/- 10.9 days (3-90) following cardiac surgery. Most common symptoms and clinical findings were purulent wound drainage or dehiscence (50%), sternal instability (46.7%) and fever (35.5%). Most commonly isolated pathogens were Staphylococcus aureus and coagulase-negative Staphylococci which alone or together with other Gram-positive bacteria caused nearly 70% of all infections. Following the exploration and radical debridement, the wounds in two patients were left to heal by open granulation, 26 patients were initially treated by closed mediastinal suction--or irrigation, and 43 patients were treated with muscle and/or omental flap transposition (34 primarily, 9 following the failure of other methods). Recurrence of infections occurred in 16 patients: 10 from the "closed treatment" group (38.5%) and 6 from the "soft tissue flap" group (14%). Nine patients died during the hospital stay. The mortality rate was 15.4% following the closed method (4/26) and 14.7% following the treatment with flap reconstructions (5/34). There were 6 late deaths, non-related to recurrent infection. Healed wounds were obtained in 96.2% of all patients. About one third of patients noted continuous or intermittent chest pain or discomfort in the closed and the soft tissue flap transposition group. 22.6% of patients claimed sternal instability and 9.7% shoulder weakness--each of them underwent muscle and/or omental flap closure. Abdominal hernias or bulges were present in 4 patients (12.9%) following the use of abdominal flap for wound reconstruction. These results suggest that early debridement and closed method would be successful when employed soon after cardiac surgery. When reexploration is delayed for any reason or obvious extensive involvement of bone or cartilage is present, the wound should be reopened, debrided and treated with muscle and/or omental flaps. Patients in whom closed method fails could probably treated with soft tissue flap transposition soon after the reoperation. Long-term results of closed mediastinal drainage or lavage and flap closure are favourable to open granulation technique regarding wound healing and elimination of infection.

Minimally invasive harvesting of the radial artery as a coronary artery bypass graft.

We harvested radial arteries for coronary artery bypass procedures with a minimally invasive technique for 40 patients through two transverse 2-cm incisions in the forearm. With the help of instruments developed by us, the operation can be performed either with the use of an endoscope or with the naked eye. There were no complications in the forearm or the hand. The condition of the intima of the arterial grafts was checked by transmission and scanning electron microscopic methods and was found to be intact.

[Surgical treatment of sternal dehiscence after sternotomy using Ley prosthesis]. / Median sternotomiát követó sternumszétválás kezelése Ley-protézis alkalmazásával.

Median sternotomy is still the most commonly used approach in cardiac surgery. Closure of the sternal halves is usually performed with stainless wires. Usually this method proves efficient to achieve proper sternal stability without postoperative wound complications. On the other hand in a small number of patients this simple method is not efficient to resist the great spreading forces on the sternal halves leading to sternal instability and other serious complications. We describe successful application of a newly introduced device, the Ley-prosthesis, which may be a very useful treatment for postoperative sternal dehiscence even in complicated cases.

[Endoscopic harvesting of the radial artery at coronary artery bypass graft: a new surgical technique]. / Az arteria radialis nyerése endoszkópos eszközzel: új mútéti eljárás a koszorúér-sebészetben.

The radial artery as arterial graft is applied ever increasingly in coronary artery bypass grafting. With the endoscopic technique described by the authors, the radial artery can be lifted out extremely quickly and gently through transverse 2 cm incisions, using a so-called "spiral instruments for radial artery harvesting" and a 30 degrees endoscope. The ultrasonic knife used for incision and hemostasis does not cause thermic and mechanical damage. The radial artery and accompanying veins remain protected inside the spiral interior. The authors present a case where this method was applied successfully.

[Open-heart surgery in Jehovah's witnesses]. / Szívmútétek jehova tanúinál.

The religious community Jehovah's Witnesses was founded in 1870. They hold that blood transfusion is against God's law. Surgical treatment of a Jehova witness is a great challenge for every surgeon, especially for cardiac surgeons because blood transfusion is frequently needed during such operations. Authors have been trying to reduce the utilization of preserved blood for ten years. This study is about the experience with Jehovah's Witnesses who have undergone open heart surgery in Debrecen. Twenty-four patients underwent open heart surgery from 1989 till May 1999. 7 of them were males and 17 were females. The mean age was 53 years (40-70 yrs). Three patients had congenital heart disease, 11 had acquired valve disease and 7 had coronary stenosis. In 3 cases the patients had combined coronary and valve disease. Authors used a complete procedure for reducing blood loss during the operations. Two patients (8.3%) died during the early postoperative period. Preoperative mean haemoglobin level was 134.2 g/l (112-166) and haematocrit value varied between 36-50% (mean 38%). On the first postoperative day significant decrease was registrated in these values. From the second day a slow but significant increase of haemoglobin and haematocrit levels were detected. The mean follow up time was 37.6 months (2-144), and the NYHA classification of 21 longtime survivors improved from 3.06 to 1.62. At the Department of Cardiac Surgery in Debrecen as well as worldwide more and more operations are done without blood or preserved blood products, so it could be said that nowadays surgical treatment of Jehovah's Witnesses has lower risk than before.

Five-year experience with a suture annuloplasty for mitral valve repair.

We present five years' experience with mitral plication annuloplasty, performed with a semicircular buttressed suture around the posterior leaflet in 130 patients (mean age 58 +/- 11 years) with primary mitral valve disease (n = 71) or functional mitral regurgitation (n = 59). In 65 cases the mitral valve itself was also repaired. Concomitant myocardial revascularization was performed in 40 cases and aortic valve replacement in 43. All but three patients were followed up (97.6%). Postoperative echocardiography showed acceptable mitral area (2.28 +/- 0.39 cm2) and good valve competence in all cases. Inhospital mortality was 3% and late mortality 4.8%. During the follow-up period (22.8 +/- 10.9 months) 8 patients (6.6%) required mitral valve replacement because of progression of native valve disease (n = 4), technical failure (2) or expansion of the annuloplasty suture (2). Mitral annuloplasty thus can be performed simply and with good results, using a strong, non-stretchable buttressed suture. This procedure can be an inexpensive alternative to ring implantation.

Minimal access aortic valve surgery.

OBJECTIVE: We report our experience with minimal access aortic valve surgery and discuss the three approaches used. METHODS: From June 1996 to October 1997, 18 patients underwent minimally invasive aortic valve surgery through three different incisions: right parasternal minithoracotomy (three cases), upper ministernotomy (11 cases), and transverse sternotomy (four cases). No special surgical instrumentation was used. Aortic valve replacement was carried out in 17 patients and aortic valve repair in one patient. The patients ranged in age from 42 to 86 years (mean 64 years). Concomitant procedures involving the aortic root and the ascending aorta were performed in five patients. RESULTS: There was no mortality and no complications related to the procedure or the access. There was no instability or paradoxical movement of the chest wall. One patient was reoperated for postoperative bleeding. All patients were discharged from hospital within the usual time. No attempts were made to discharge them earlier, even if they recovered quickly. CONCLUSIONS: Of the three incisions used, the upper ministernotomy seemed to be the safest and easiest to perform. Through this incision, both the aorta and the right atrium could be cannulated, the right ventricle was accessible, and concomitant procedures on the ascending aorta could be carried out. The drawback of minimal access aortic valve surgery in general is that it is difficult to de-air the heart and more difficult to master intra- and postoperative complications should they occur.

[Surgical treatment of mitral insufficiency using annuloplasty suture technic]. / A mitralis insufficientia mütéti kezelése annuloplasticás öltéssel.

In 1991 a simple and cheap technique was introduced for mitral valve repair at our department. After repairing the mitral leaflets, where indicated a posterior leaflet annuloplasty was performed with a semicircular suture and the annulus fixed for the appropriate size by tying the stitch. Between July 1991 and December 1995 86 patients underwent the above procedure (average age 56.8 +/- 10.4 years). 45 patients had primary mitral valve disease (myxomatous degeneration, rheumatoid disease, endocarditis), the other 41 had functional mitral regurgitation secondary to severe aortic valve or coronary artery disease. Echocardiography showed severe mitral regurgitation in 77% of the patients. In 45 cases the mitral valve itself was also repaired (valvotomy, quadrangular resection, wedge resection, etc.) in 29 cases the aortic valve was replaced as well, while 24 patients required additional revascularisation of the myocardium. The 30 day mortality was 3.5%. One week after surgery echocardiography was performed at all patients and showed acceptable mitral valve area (2.28 +/- 0.39 cm2). In 28 cases mild mitral regurgitation was found, the other valves were competent. All but 3 patients were followed up (96.4%). There were 6 late deaths (3 cardiac, 2 non cardiac, 1 embolic, 7.2% late mortality). During the follow up period (31.7 +/- 11.2 months) 5 patients required mitral valve replacement for severe recurrent mitral regurgitation (6.0%). In two cases new chorda rupture caused the recurrence, in an other case the suture had torn out of the annulus due to inadequate surgical technique. In the last two cases the annulus had dilated with intact Prolene annuloplasty stitch present, 86.8% of the survivors were in NYHA class I. or II. Our results suggest that mitral valve repair in selected cases can be performed without using expensive annuloplasty rings. The suture used for annuloplasty should be strong, non absorbable and non stretchable. Since 1994, when we started using GoreTex suture instead of Prolene no more patients required reoperation for annuloplasty failure.