Sandwich Technique to Manage Right Ventricular Perforation During Beating Heart Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting

Abstract

Identification of an intramyocardial left anterior descending artery remains challenging and many techniques have been proposed for its identification. The exposure technique depends on the surgeon's familiarity and experience with it, and inadvertent right ventricular perforation during exposure on off-pump surgery results in bleeding, which requires urgent cardiopulmonary support and repair. Inadequate repair may result in continued bleeding, closure of the left anterior descending artery, and myocardial infarction. We describe a sandwich technique using the native left anterior descending artery and the bypass graft to repair right ventricular perforation, avoiding closure of this main artery and preserving graft patency.