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A 43-year-old male, who had undergone coronary artery bypass grafting 11 years ago, developed exertional chest pain. Selective coronary angiograms revealed severe stenosis and a large aneurysm in the obtuse marginal branch of the circumflex coronary artery. Previous grafts to the left anterior descending coronary artery and diagonal branch were patent. Ligation of the aneurysm and internal mammary artery grafting were performed through a left anterolateral thoracotomy. This approach made it easy to reach the aneurysm and to minimize bleeding during dissecting the adhesions. The patient had an uncomplicated postoperative course, and postoperative coronary angiograms revealed an obstructed aneurysm and a patient internal mammary artery graft. He has done well without recurrence of symptoms.

To evaluate the development of an anomalous muscle bandle of the right ventricle (RV) and results of surgical intervention, responses of the RV to atrial pacing and the isoproterenol tests were examined in both the pre- and postoperative periods. Although cardiac output did not increase in proportion to the rate of atrial pacing or the dose of isoproterenol, the pressure gradient through the RV increased abnormally from 38 mmHg to 59 mmHg (atrial pacing) and 116 mmHg (isoproterenol). On the other hand, postoperative evaluation showed normal RV responses in these tests. Since the response of the right ventricle to these tolerance tests in patients with DCRV in pre- and postoperative periods has not been well elucidated, a precise evaluation is reported in this paper.

During the 13-year period ending in December 1987, 39 patients (pts) of penetrating thoracic injuries were treated. Thirty-five pts (89.7%) were male, and the age range was 21 to 56 years with average of 38.7 years. Thirty-one pts (79.5%) sustained stab wounds and eight (20.5%) had gun-shot wounds. 5 pts died in all (2 pts with stab wounds, 3 with gun-shot wounds). The wounds were limited on chest wall in 14 pts, and penetrated to thorax in 25. In these pts with penetrating wounds, lung injuries were found in 18, heart in 7 and esophagus in 1, respectively. Twenty-one pts had multiple injuries, and abdominal injuries were found in 20 pts (95.2%), limbs in 7 (33.3%), and neck in 2 (9.5%). All 5 dead pts had multiple injuries. Prognoses were fair in cases of simple chest wall injuries or lung injuries. In the cases of lung injuries, thoracotomy was performed in 8 pts (44.4%) and tube thoracostomy in 10 (55.6%). Thoracotomy was performed for massive bleeding (over 600 ml/1-2 hours) (6 cases) and the sites of the injuries suspecting of heart injuries (2 cases). Two pts undergoing tube thoracostomy and one pt done thoracotomy died, but the causes of the death were not related to lung injuries. Regarding the heart injuries, the injured sites were left ventricle in 1, right ventricle in 1, right atrium in 2, and pericardium in 3. All the 7 pts were in shock on arrival. In these pts with heart injuries, all the wounds were in and near the Sauer's danger zone. In all pts, emergent thoracotomy was performed, and 5 pts could be saved (mortality 28.6%). As the risk factors, heart injuries, multiple injuries, and gunshot injuries were noticed with mortality of 28.6%, 23.8%, and 37.5%, respectively.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Ischemic heart disease of elderly patients increased markedly and patients with high risk complications become to be candidates for CABG. Emergent CABG was undergone successfully on the high risk patient of 72 years with severe left ventricular dysfunction (EF 14%), old cerebral infarction, renal dysfunction, and Diabetes Mellitus. From this experience, CABG could be safely performed even in elderly patient with high risk, if the complications were avoided carefully. However, the long term problem may be the multifocal VPC due to left ventricular dysfunction including old myocardial infarction.

We evaluated operative results of emergency aortocoronary bypass grafting in 17 patients (surgical group) with impending myocardial infarction or acute myocardial infarction, and compared them to those of medical therapy in 16 patients (medical group) required IABP with same condition. Mortality in surgical group is significantly lower than that in medical group. In patients with severe coronary artery disease, mortality in surgical group is significantly lower than that in medical group. In patients with severe left ventricular dysfunction, mortality in surgical group is significantly lower than that in medical group. The period using IABP before the operation in expired patients is longer than that in survived patients. These data indicate that emergency operation should be performed immediately after IABP in patients with severe coronary artery disease or severe left ventricular dysfunction.

We experienced a surgical correction of isolated infundibular pulmonary stenosis (IIPS) of a 50-year-old male patient. The infundibular tissue was resected by the transpulmonary approach, and no trace of ventricular septal defect was found. There was a couple of pouch-like structure in the infundibular chamber of the right ventricle. The etiology of this structure was likely to be related turbulence as blood was ejected from the right ventricle to the infundibular chamber. Surgical correction of IIPS over 50 years old had been rarely reported. In addition, it was the first case report of IIPS with pouch of the infundibular chamber.