Electroconvulsive therapy in a patient with left main and triple vessel Coronary Artery Disease (CAD): Anaesthetic management.

Electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) is a safe and effective treatment for many psychiatric disorders. The passage of electrical current lead to hemodynamic alterations which may be detrimental to patients suffering from severe coronary artery disease. We describe perioperative anesthetic management of a patient having severe left main coronary artery stenosis (LMCAS) with severe triple vessel coronary artery disease (TVD).

Surgical retrieval of broken, inflated angioplasty balloon catheter within intracoronary stent: A real emergency.

A 54-year old, hypertensive female patient underwent percutaneous coronary angioplasty (PTCA) followed by stenting of calcified chronic totally occluded right coronary artery. The post dilation balloon catheter got stuck and snapped during manipulations in inflated position within the stent, which could not be retrieved by nonsurgical interventions. Emergency surgery was performed to retrieve the stent along with an inflated balloon, followed by vein patch closure of arteriotomy and reversed saphenous vein graft anastomosis to right coronary artery and left anterior descending artery on cardiopulmonary bypass.

Chylothorax after off-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery: Management strategy.

Chylothorax is a rare complication after cardiac surgery but is associated with morbidity and mortality. The most common cause of chylothorax is damage to or avulsion of thoracic duct by electrocautery during left internal thoracic artery harvesting for coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. We describe a case of chylothorax after off-pump CABG, which was successfully treated with thoracostomy tube drainage, withholding of oral intake, total parenteral nutrition and subcutaneous octreotide, a somatostatin analog, and chemical pleurodesis.

Biochemical changes associated with reperfusion after off-pump and on-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

A prospective study was performed to monitor the postoperative changes in biochemical markers associated with reperfusion injury following (i) cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) with aortic cross-clamping and cardioplagia (CABG); (ii) CPB with a tissue stabilizing device (SUP.CPB); or (iii) surgery on beating heart (off-pump CABG or OPCABG). Of the 48 patients, 16 were subjected to CABG, 16 to SUP.CPB, and 16 to OPCABG. Arterial and venous blood samples drawn 10 min preoperatively and 0.2, 4, 24, and 48 hr after surgery were assayed for plasma lactate, total calcium, and ionized calcium and erythrocyte glutathione peroxidase (GPX) and superoxide dismutase (SOD). Results revealed that ionized calcium, SOD, and GPX levels of all patients increased at 4 hr following surgery but returned to baseline levels at 24 or 48 hr after surgery. Increased postoperative GPX levels reflect a cellular defense mechanism against oxidative damage during reperfusion, while lactate levels during reperfusion reflect delayed recovery of aerobic myocardial metabolism. The postoperative release of lactate, GPX, and SOD in patients undergoing the CABG (on-pump) technique was significantly higher compared to those subjected to OPCABG or SUP.CPB. There were no significant differences in postoperative patterns of release of biomarkers in patients with OPCABG vs SUP.CPB, suggesting that these surgical techniques are equally acceptable.