[The internal thoracic artery of poor quality: was cardiac massage a cause of ITA stenosis?].

The case of stenotic left internal thoracic artery (LITA), with a very rare and interesting histological findings is reported. The patient, a 65-year-old man, fell into shock, due to acute myocardial infarction and received cardiopulmonary resuscitation at home immediately. Three months later, patient underwent coronary artery bypass grafting. The LITA was dissected from the chest wall with a tissue pedicle by usual manner. However, it was abandoned to use for grafting, because of extremely poor blood flow even after balloon dilatation was noticed. Histological study revealed a significant granulation of LITA media, led to severe stenosis of LITA lumen on it's portion. On other side, either proximal and distal portion of LITA remained intact. It seems that this unusual histological change of LITA media developed after LITA over stretching due to cardiac massage during cardiopulmonary resuscitation. If patient, scheduled for coronary bypass surgery, has in a personal history the presence of cardiac massage, traffic accident, some contact sport or any other chest trauma, it is recommended to perform LITA angiography preoperatively, if an intention to use the LITA for coronary artery bypass grafting exists.

[The effects of pharmacological autonomic blockade on the conduction system in patients with and without sinus node dysfunction].

Electrophysiological studies were performed in 26 patients with sick sinus syndrome (SSS) and 12 controls before and after pharmacologic autonomic blockade (PAB) with propranolol (0.15 mg/kg) and atropine (0.04 mg/kg). Sinus cycle length (SCL) shortened significantly after PAB in both groups. PA and HV intervals did not change after PAB. AH interval shortened and Wenckebach period increased after PAB in SSS group. Maximum corrected sinus node recovery time shortened in the control group but did not change in the SSS group after PAB. Calculated sinoatrial conduction time shortened after PAB in both groups. Refractory periods of the atrioventricular (AV) node and the ventricle shortened significantly, but those of the atrium did not change after PAB. Linear relations existed between the change of SCL and the change of AH interval and of the Wenckebach period. These results suggested that the autonomic nervous system had the same effects on the sinus and the AV nodes in patients with SSS, and that parasympathetic tone was predominant on the sinus node, the perinodal tissue and the AV node under resting conditions.