Aortocoronary Bypass Grafting Research Articles

Influence of graft anastomosis and graft morphology on long-term patency of the saphenous vein after aortocoronary bypass.

Several factors are involved in the preservation of graft function after surgical myocardial revascularization. This follow-up study aimed to evaluate the effects of vein graft anastomosis and graft morphology on long-term graft patency a minimum of 10 years after aortocoronary bypass grafting. Setting and Cohorts. This was a sub-analysis of a study that enrolled patients after isolated bypass surgery at the University Hospital Ostrava in order to evaluate the long-term graft patency of the saphenous vein after endoscopic harvest, a minimum of 10 years after aortocoronary bypass grafting. Fifty angiograms, with a total of 90 grafts, after isolated myocardial revascularization were visualized using coronary computed tomography angiography, with 50% luminal stenosis or greater considered significant. The overall graft patency rate was 72.3%. The differences in occlusion rates between sequential and individual grafts were not statistically significant (P=0.156). All y-grafts were totally occluded. Graft and target artery diameters had a statistically significant influence on patency (P=1.000 and 0.381, respectively). Longer graft length and higher calcium scores were associated with statistically significant graft occlusion (P=0.033 and 0.005, respectively). Sequential grafts can be constructed safely, especially when the goal is complete myocardial revascularization.

Use of concomitant anesthesia (endotracheal anesthesia and femoral nerve block) in cardiac surgery: a prospective, cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Regional anesthesia reduces pain impulse transmission, which reduces hormonal and metabolic responses to operational stress. No studies have reported on the use of combined anesthesia, such as endotracheal anesthesia and femoral nerve block, in cardiac surgery.
 OBJECTIVE: To determine the efficacy of combined anesthesia by analyzing the cortisol, glucose, and lactate levels in cardiac surgery.
 MATERIALS AND METODS: Prospective cross-sectional study was conducted. The study included 60 cardiac surgery patients. The patients were divided into two groups: group 1, with endotracheal anesthesia and femoral nerve blockade, and group 2, with endotracheal anesthesia (control group). All patients underwent aortocoronary bypass grafting under artificial circulation conditions. Cortisol, glucose, and lactate levels at the five stages of the perioperative period were investigated.
 RESULTS: Data analysis showed that the cortisol level of patients with combined anesthesia was significantly 1.2 times lower (p=0.042) than that in the control group in step 2. Glucose levels were significantly lower in the combined anesthesia group by 1.28 times (p=0.0017) than in the control group in step 4 and significantly lower by 1.2 times (p=0.0016) in step 5. Additionally, lactate level was significantly lower in the combined anesthesia group than in the control group in step 4 by a factor of 1.3 (p=0.03) and in step 5 by a factor of 1.35 times (p=0.005).
 CONCLUSION: The determination of cortisol, glucose, and lactate levels can be used as a component of endocrine-metabolic anesthesiological monitoring when performing cardiac surgery under artificial circulation conditions. Stable parameters of endocrine-metabolic monitoring were established using both anesthesia methods. The use of femoral nerve block in combined anesthesia reduces stress response to surgery.

Thirteen Years of Impactful, Minimally Invasive Coronary Surgery: Short- and Long-Term Results for Single and Multi-Vessel Disease

Objectives: Minimally invasive coronary surgery (MICS) via lateral thoracotomy is a less invasive alternative to the traditional median full sternotomy approach for coronary surgery. This study investigates its effectiveness for short- and long-term revascularization in cases of single and multi-vessel diseases. Methods: A thorough examination was performed on the databases of two cardiac surgery programs, focusing on patients who underwent minimally invasive coronary bypass grafting procedures between 2010 and 2023. The study involved patients who underwent either minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass grafting (MIDCAB) for the revascularization of left anterior descending (LAD) artery stenosis or minimally invasive multi-vessel coronary artery bypass grafting (MICSCABG). Our assessment criteria included in-hospital mortality, long-term mortality, and freedom from reoperations due to failed aortocoronary bypass grafts post-surgery. Additionally, we evaluated significant in-hospital complications as secondary endpoints. Results: A total of 315 consecutive patients were identified between 2010 and 2023 (MIDCAB 271 vs. MICSCABG 44). Conversion to median sternotomy (MS) occurred in eight patients (2.5%). The 30-day all-cause mortality was 1.3% (n = 4). Postoperative AF was the most common complication postoperatively (n = 26, 8.5%). Five patients were reoperated for bleeding (1.6%), and myocardial infarction (MI) happened in four patients (1.3%). The mean follow-up time was six years (±4 years). All-cause mortality was 10.3% (n = 30), with only five (1.7%) patients having a confirmed cardiac cause. The reoperation rate due to graft failure or the progression of aortocoronary disease was 1.4% (n = 4). Conclusions: Despite the complexity of the MICS approach, the results of our study support the safety and effectiveness of this procedure with low rates of mortality, morbidity, and conversion for both single and multi-vessel bypass surgeries. These results underscore further the necessity to implement such programs to benefit patients.

When too much closeness harms: circumflex artery injury during mitral valve surgery.

Occlusion of the left coronary circumflex artery (LCX) during surgical procedures of the mitral valve is an infrequent but potentially life-threatening complication (1-3). Due to its close anatomical relationship to the posterior mitral valve annulus, there is a relevant risk of causing a stenosis or an occlusion of the left circumflex artery, especially by surgical annular sutures. The perioperative clinical course is heterogeneous, ranging from-initially-asymptomatic or solely electrocardiographic abnormalities to cardiogenic shock. Both severely impaired ventricular contractility or malignant arrhythmia may potentially lead to a weaning failure from cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and eventually result in chronic heart failure with persistently reduced ejection fraction. Possible therapeutic strategies include the immediate reopening of causal sutures, aortocoronary bypass grafting or percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI), yet PCI seems to be the preferred method at present.

Graft Patency of No-Touch Saphenous Veins Used as Aortocoronary Bypass Grafts.

This study evaluated the early, 1-year, and 3-year graft patency rates and mid-term clinical outcomes after no-touch saphenous veins (NT-SVs) were used as aortocoronary grafts in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). In total, 101 patients who underwent CABG using NT-SVs as aortocoronary grafts were included. The 2 most common indications for performing aortocoronary grafting with NT-SVs were unavailability of the left internal thoracic artery (n=36) and moderate lesions where flow competition was expected (n=27). Early (median, 1 day; interquartile range [IQR], 1-2 days), 1-year (median, 13 months; IQR, 11-16 months), and 3-year (median, 34 months; IQR, 27-41 months) graft angiography was performed in 98 (97.0%), 84 (83.2%), and 40 patients (39.6%), respectively. The median follow-up duration was 43 months (IQR, 13-76 months). Overall survival rates and the cumulative incidence of major adverse cardiac events were evaluated. The operative mortality rate was 2% (2 of 101 patients). Early postoperative patency rates for overall and aortocoronary NT-SV grafts were 98.2% (223 of 227 distal anastomoses) and 98.2% (164 of 167), respectively. The 1- and 3-year patency rates for aortocoronary SV grafts were 94.9% (131 of 138) and 90.6% (58 of 64), respectively. The overall survival rates at 5 and 10 years were 81.7% and 59%, respectively. The cumulative incidence of major adverse cardiac events at 5 and 10 postoperative years was 20.7% and 39%, respectively. The feasibility of using NT-SVs as aortocoronary grafts in CABG was shown in this study, based on the graft patency rates up to 3 years and the mid-term clinical outcomes.

Chronic or Changeable Infarct Size after Spontaneous Coronary Artery Dissection.

Spontaneous coronary artery dissection (SCAD) could be the cause of acute myocardial infarction (AMI) and sudden cardiac death. Clinical presentations can vary considerably, but the most common is the elevation of cardiac biomarkers associated with chest discomfort. Different pathological etiology in comparison with Type 1 AMI is the underlying infarct size in this population. A 42-year-old previously healthy woman presented with SCAD. Detailed diagnostical processing and treatment which were performed could not prevent myocardial injury. The catheterization laboratory was the initial place for the establishment of a diagnosis and proper management. The management process can be very fast and sometimes additional imaging methods are necessary. Finding predictors of SCAD recurrence is challenging, as well as predictors of the resulting infarct scar size. Patients with recurrent clinical symptoms of chest pain, ST elevation, and complication represent a special group of interest. Therapeutic approaches for SCAD range from the "watch and wait" method to complete revascularization with the implantation of one or more stents or aortocoronary bypass grafting. The infarct size could be balanced through the correct therapeutical approach, and, proper multimodality imaging would be helpful in the assessment of infarct size.

Myocardial Work Evaluation—A Useful Non-Invasive Method to Predict Coronary Artery Sub-Occlusion in a Patient with Unstable Angina and Multiple Myocardial Revascularization Interventions

While lifestyle changes, management of coronary artery disease (CAD) risk factors, myocardial revascularization procedures, and medication can improve a patient's prognosis, de novo native coronary lesions and in-stent restenosis (ISR) remain significant clinical concerns. ISR is more frequent with a bare-metal stent than with a drug-eluting stent and has been documented in around 12% of DES patients. Acute coronary syndrome (ACS) manifests as unstable angina in about 30% to 60% of ISR patients. Myocardial work imaging is a modern, non-invasive technique able to identify individuals with critical coronary artery lesions with high sensitivity and specificity. We present the case of a 72-year-old Caucasian gentleman with multiple cardiovascular risk factors, admitted to the Cardiology Clinic of Timișoara Municipal Hospital with unstable angina. From 1999 to 2021, the patient experienced two myocardial infarctions, a double aortocoronary bypass graft, and multiple percutaneous coronary interventions with 11 stent implantations, including 6 for ISR. Using two-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography and myocardial work assessment, we detected that the lateral wall of the left ventricle had a severely impaired deformation pattern. Angio-coronarography was performed, and sub-occlusion of the posterolateral branch of the right coronary artery was found. Angioplasty was performed and a DES was inserted, with a good final angiographic result and complete release of symptoms. In patients with a history of multiple myocardial revascularization interventions and ISR, it is challenging to identify the critical ischemia region by non-invasive methods. Myocardial work imaging was beneficial in the detection of the altered deformation patterns indicating significant ischemia, its accuracy being superior to that of LV strain, as proven by coronary angiography. Urgent coronary angiography followed by angioplasty and stent implantation resolved the issue.

Surgery for gastric cancer in patients with coronary heart disease (clinical cases)

The importance of a multidisciplinary approach in the surgical treatment of patients with severe combined oncological and cardiovascular pathologies is shown. In modern surgery, there is a place for both simultaneous and staged surgical treatment of this category of patients, which should be determined in each specific clinical case and requires an individual multidisciplinary approach with the inclusion in the discussion of such specialists as an oncosurgeon, a chemotherapist, a radiation therapist, a cardiologist/therapist, cardiovascular surgeon, anesthesiologist and resuscitator.
 Two clinical cases of a two-stage and one-stage surgical approach in the treatment of patients with competing gastric cancer and coronary heart disease are presented. One 47-year-old patient underwent two-stage surgical treatment: stage 1 aortocoronary bypass grafting from mini-thoracotomy (MICS CABG); stage 2 robot-assisted distal subtotal resection of the stomach (Balfour modification) with D2 lymphadenectomy, formation of intracorporeal gastroenteroanastomosis and interintestinal anastomosis according to Brown. Another 74-year-old patient underwent a one-stage surgical intervention: autovenous coronary artery bypass grafting of the anterior interventricular artery, posterior descending coronary artery on a beating heart, without cardiopulmonary bypass + extended-combined gastrectomy with resection of the distal esophagus, resection of the diaphragm, and D2+ lymphadenectomy. The postoperative period proceeded without complications.

AORTOCORONARY SAPHENOUS VEIN GRAFT ANEURYSM: A SILENT COMPLICATION

AORTOCORONARY SAPHENOUS VEIN GRAFT ANEURYSM: A SILENT COMPLICATION

Mechanical Strain Induces Transcriptomic Reprogramming of Saphenous Vein Progenitors.

Intimal hyperplasia is the leading cause of graft failure in aortocoronary bypass grafts performed using human saphenous vein (SV). The long-term consequences of the altered pulsatile stress on the cells that populate the vein wall remains elusive, particularly the effects on saphenous vein progenitors (SVPs), cells resident in the vein adventitia with a relatively wide differentiation capacity. In the present study, we performed global transcriptomic profiling of SVPs undergoing uniaxial cyclic strain in vitro. This type of mechanical stimulation is indeed involved in the pathology of the SV. Results showed a consistent stretch-dependent gene regulation in cyclically strained SVPs vs. controls, especially at 72 h. We also observed a robust mechanically related overexpression of Adhesion Molecule with Ig Like Domain 2 (AMIGO2), a cell surface type I transmembrane protein involved in cell adhesion. The overexpression of AMIGO2 in stretched SVPs was associated with the activation of the transforming growth factor β pathway and modulation of intercellular signaling, cell-cell, and cell-matrix interactions. Moreover, the increased number of cells expressing AMIGO2 detected in porcine SV adventitia using an in vivo arterialization model confirms the upregulation of AMIGO2 protein by the arterial-like environment. These results show that mechanical stress promotes SVPs' molecular phenotypic switching and increases their responsiveness to extracellular environment alterations, thus prompting the targeting of new molecular effectors to improve the outcome of bypass graft procedure.

Radial artery vs saphenous vein grafts for sequential coronary bypass grafting as a second conduit for the left coronary territory.

Although the radial artery graft has an adaptive property to flow demand, its flow characteristics in aorto-coronary sequential bypass grafting are not well elucidated. We evaluated the differences between the vein and radial artery grafts in the patency and the transit time flow meter-derived parameters (flow and pulsatile index), according to the stenosis rate of terminal target vessels and the number of anastomoses, in sequential bypass grafting to the left coronary territories as a second conduit. We analyzed 222 patients who underwent isolated on-pump beating coronary artery bypass grafting with an aorto-coronary bypass to the left coronary territory. The patients were divided into radial artery group (n = 154) and vein graft group (n = 68). Sequential bypass was performed 1n 171 patients (127 radial arteries, 44 veins). Flow of the radial artery grafts was lower than that of the vein grafts (40.9 ± 22.3 vs 47.5 ± 23.8mL/min, p = 0.044), while it became higher as the number of anastomoses per graft increased (1: 28.9 ± 16.3 vs 2: 40.9 ± 19.9 vs 3: 55.8 ± 27.5, p < 0.001). The patency of radial artery grafts was better than that of vein grafts (98.0% vs 92.6%, p = 0.010; p < 0.001 after propensity score weighting). Although intraoperative flow rate of the radial artery graft is lower, it has sufficient flow reserve for sequential bypass grafting, and its early patency is high enough. Radial artery is suitable for sequential bypass grafting to the left coronary territories as a second arterial conduit.

Aortocoronary Bypass for a Patient with Achondroplasia Using the Son's Saphenous Vein Homograft

<h3>Introduction</h3> Congenital dwarfism (achondroplasia) in severe form does not allow materials to be used as a routine aortocoronary artery bypass graft when the limb is very short. A saphenous vein homograft may be an option, but a vein graft taken from a close family member may be used. The report to introduce such a rare case at Viet Duc University Hospital, Vietnam. <h3>Case Report</h3> A case report of a man, 55 years old, severe congenital dwarfism with very short limbs, obesity, lipid metabolism disorders, stenosis - occlusion of 3 coronary arterial trunks with no indication for endovascular intervention, unstable angina, severe mitral regurgitation due to posterior ligament rupture, heart failure with an EF of about 50%. Mandatory indication for aortocoronary bypass and mitral valve repair. The patient's sternum was also deformed unfavorably to harvest the internal thoracic artery as a graft. The patient has a 25-year-old son with normal body shape and health. At Viet Duc Hospital, homograft has been used routinely, but no saphenous vein is available. <h3>Summary</h3> The procedure for organ donation was carried out in accordance with the law to use his son's saphenous vein as the main graft. Two operations were performed in parallel on November 26, 2019. The large saphenous vein in the two legs of the son was harvesting in two 20cm long segments - the operation went smoothly, and the son was awake and safe in 2 hours after surgery. Surgery for the father included two aortocoronary bypass (LAD and Cx arteries) using the son's vein, and mitral valve reconstruction with a ring. The postoperative process was quite favorable with some respiratory disorders, the endotracheal tube was removed after 3 days, the cardiac function and postoperative bypass were assessed well, the patient was discharged 17 days after surgery. The patient's son is also stable and discharged after 5 days. Periodic examination of patients in 2 years after surgery has good results. <h3>Conclusion</h3> In clinical practice, treatment solutions are very diverse and it is possible to explore and create the most reasonable solution for each specific complex situation. The case of using homograft donor tissue from a close relative, with legal procedures in accordance with the provisions of tissue-organ donation, as a material for coronary artery bypass grafting is such a situational solution.

Determination of the influence of risk factors for coronary artery disease on the effectiveness of cardiac surgery by the method of myocardial scintigraphy

Background. Myocardial revascularization is a life-saving technology that not only increases life expectancy, reduces recurrences of myocardial infarction and repeated surgery, but also improves its quality in patients with coronary artery disease. Risk assessment, the complexity of coronary artery disease, the presence of comorbidities, the area of hibernating myocardium, the patient’s consent are the basis for choosing a method of treatment. Positive structural and functional changes of the myocardium (increase in the area of viable myocardium), restoration or improvement of left ventricular systolic function (increase in ejection fraction and decrease in end-diastolic volume), reduction of angina are the expected result of the surgical treatment. Purpose – determining the influence of risk factors for coronary heart disease on the outcome of surgical treatment by aorto-coronary artery bypass grafting with the help of diagnostic evaluation of myocardial scintigraphy. Materials and Methods. To achieve the clinical tasks, 62 patients with coronary artery disease were examined. The mean age of the subjects was (59.6 ± 8.2) years. Myocardial scintigraphy was performed in SPECT with ECG synchronization (Gated SPECT). 99mTc-MIBI with an activity of 555–740 MBq was used. Myocardial scintigraphy was performed over time of treatment (before and after coronary artery bypass grafting) according to the protocol – One Day Rest. Results. The influence of risk factors was assessed using dynamic and static integrated indicators. The dynamic integral indicator did not show statistically significant risk factors: smoking (p = 0.54), left ventricular contractility (p = 0.43), the presence of myocardial infarction in past (p = 0.4), heart failure stage (p = 0.53) and functional class of angina (p = 0.08). The static integrated indicator also did not show statistically significant effects from smoking (p = 0.13), left ventricular contractility (p = 0.58), the presence of myocardial infarction in past (p = 0.1), heart failure stage (p = 0.11) and functional class of angina (p = 0.6). Conclusions. The risk factors for coronary artery disease, such as: myocardial infarction in past, left ventricular contractility, heart failure stage, functional class of angina and smoking, in the study group of patients, had no reported effect on revascularization by the method of aorto-coronary artery bypass grafting (static and dynamic integrated indicators p &gt; 0.05).

Role and place of radiotherapy in neoadjuvant treatment of pancreatic cancer

Background. Myocardial revascularization is a life-saving technology, which contributes to increase in lifespan, reduction in myocardial infarction recurrences and repeated surgeries along with improved life quality of the patients with coronary artery disease (CAD). Estimation of the risks, severity of coronary bed lesion, presence of concomitant diseases, and area of hibernating myocardium, as well as patient’s agreement are the basis of treatment method selection. Positive structural and functional changes in myocardium (increase in area of viable myocardium), restoration or improvement of systolic function of left ventricle (increase in ejection fraction and decrease in end-diastolic volume), reduction of angina symptoms are the expected results from the surgical treatment.&#x0D; Purpose – to determine the influence of risk factors for coronary artery disease on the outcome of surgical treatment by the method of aorto-coronary artery bypass grafting with the help of diagnostic evaluation of myocardial scintigraphy parameters.&#x0D; Materials and methods. For the implementation of the clinical objectives, 62 patients with coronary artery disease were examined. The average age of the patients was 59.6 ± 8.2 years. Myocardial scintigraphy was performed in the SPECT mode with ECG synchronization (Gated SPECT). 99mTc-MIBI with an activity of 555-740 MBq was used. Myocardial scintigraphy was conducted over time of treatment (before and after coronary artery bypass grafting) according to One Day Rest protocol.&#x0D; Results. The influence of risk factors was assessed using dynamic and static integral indices. The dynamic integral index didn’t reveal statistically significant risk factors: smoking (p = 0.54), left ventricular contractility impairment (p = 0.43), history of myocardial infarction (p = 0.4), stage of heart failure (p = 0.53), and functional class of angina (p = 0.08). The static integral index didn’t reveal statistically significant influence as well: smoking (p = 0.13), left ventricular contractility impairment (p = 0.58), history of myocardial infarction (p = 0.1), stage of heart failure (p = 0.11), and functional class of angina (p = 0.6).&#x0D; Conclusions. The studied risk factors for coronary artery disease, namely: history of myocardial infarction, left ventricular contractility impairment, stage of heart failure, functional class of angina, and smoking in the study group of patients had no registered influence on the revascularization effect by coronary artery bypass grafting method (integrated static and dynamic indices p &gt; 0.05).

Techniques and Outcomes of the No-Touch Vein Conduit as a Y-Composite Graft.

Although the saphenous vein is a widely used conduit for coronary artery bypass grafting, revascularization using the saphenous vein as an aortocoronary bypass graft has shown disadvantages of lower long-term graft patency rates and subsequently worse clinical outcomes, compared with revascularization using the internal thoracic artery. Of the various efforts to overcome the limitations of vein conduit that are resulting from structural and functional differences from arterial conduit, recent technical improvement in no-touch vein composite graft construction and outcomes of revascularization using no-touch vein composite grafts based on the left internal thoracic artery will be discussed in this topic.

Intraoperative transit time flow measurement in patients with diffuse coronary artery disease in the prevention of aortocoronary bypass graft occlusion

Aim. To study the parameters of transit time flow measurement (TTFM) for coronary bypass grafts in patients with diffuse lesions with different diameter of target coronary arteries.Material and methods. The study included 150 patients with diffuse coronary artery disease. All patients underwent microscope-assisted coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG), during which the TTFM parameters were evaluated. Depending on the diameter of target coronary arteries, patients were divided into 3 groups: group 1 included grafts to arteries ≤1 mm (n=101), group 2 — 1-1,5 mm (n=138), group 3 — ≥1,5 mm (n=308). Comparative analysis of TTFM parameters was performed.Results. Mostly participants were male (76%); mean age was 62,9±7,6 years. During hospitalization, we recorded 1 death, 2 perioperative myocardial infarctions (1,3%) and 1 cerebrovascular accident (0,7%). TTFM analysis showed the worst hemodynamic parameters and a higher rate of suboptimal function in group 1; blood flow parameters were comparable in groups 2 and 3. The additional analysis in group 1 and combined groups 2 and 3 allows us to make an opinion about the negative impact of coronary artery diameter less than 1 mm on optimal blood flow through the grafts (odds ratio=2,1, 95% confidence interval, 1,2-3,8, p=0,011).Conclusion. Diffuse coronary atherosclerosis with a diameter of target coronary arteries less than 1 mm significantly increase the risk of suboptimal graft function that requires considering more aggressive secondary prevention. TTFM demonstrate high effectiveness of microscope-assisted CABG in target coronary artery diameter of 1-1,5 mm and higher.

СРАВНИТЕЛЬНОЕ ИЗУЧЕНИЕ ВЛИЯНИЯ ИНСУЛИНОЗАВИСИМОГО САХАРНОГО ДИАБЕТА 2-ГО ТИПА, ОТЯГОЩЕННОЙ НАСЛЕДСТВЕННОСТИ И КУРЕНИЯ НА ТЯЖЕСТЬ ИШЕМИЧЕСКОЙ БОЛЕЗНИ СЕРДЦА

Introduction. The presence of high-risk factors such as hereditary burdening, tobacco smoking, and diabetes mellitus significantly worsen the prognosis in potentially healthy individuals by increasing the incidence of coronary heart disease. Aim. To study the separate influence of insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus type 2, heredity and smoking on the severity and course of coronary heart disease. Material and methods. One hundred patients with coronary heart disease were enrolled in the study. The patients were divided according to the presence of the following high-risk factors: heredity, tobacco smoking, and insulin-dependent type 2 diabetes mellitus. The patients were examined at the beginning and 1 year after treatment. The results of echocardiography and electrocardiography were analyzed at the beginning of follow-up and one year later. The severity of coronary artery lesions was assessed using SYNTAX score analysis of coronarography protocols. The number of Q and QS waves on electrocardiogram, increased size and decreased left ventricular ejection fraction were also considered as criteria of coronary heart disease severity. The obtained data were processed using IBM Statistics SPSS-26 program. The differences were considered statistically significant at p&lt;0,05. Results and discussion. Patients with diabetes mellitus were more susceptible to aortocoronary bypass grafting, whereas coronary angioplasty was performed more frequently in patients with heredity (p&lt;0,05). Coronary vessels were more affected in diabetic patients and in tobacco smokers compared with patients with a burdened heredity [(20,4±2,7) points (21,9±1,39) and (12,9±1,8) points, respectively]. Severe heart failure prevailed among patients with concomitant diabetes mellitus. After one year, all patients had a reduction of clinical symptoms of angina and heart failure. The efficacy of medical treatment of angina in patients with heredity was lower compared to other groups. Conclusion. In patients with a history of diabetes mellitus development of coronary heart disease is manifested by severe myocardial and coronary lesions, which increases the risk of coronary artery bypass grafting. Despite this, patients with diabetes mellitus lend themselves well to drug treatment. The tobacco smoking group is not inferior to the diabetes mellitus group by the severity of heart and coronary artery lesions and is well amenable to drug therapy. The last place in the severity of coronary heart disease is occupied by patients with a hereditary burden, although they are more prone to acute coronary syndrome.

Speckle tracking ultrasonography as a new tool to assess diaphragmatic function: a feasibility study.

A reliable method of measuring diaphragmatic function at the bedside is still lacking. Widely used two-dimensional (2D) ultrasonographic measurements, such as diaphragm excursion, diaphragm thickness, and fractional thickening (FT) have failed to show clear correlations with diaphragmatic function. A reason for this is that 2D ultrasonographic measurements, like FT, are merely able to measure the deformation of muscular diaphragmatic tissue in the transverse direction, while longitudinal measurements in the direction of contracting muscle fibres are not possible. Speckle tracking ultrasonography, which is widely used in cardiac imaging, overcomes this disadvantage and allows observations of movement in the direction of the contracting muscle fibres, approximating muscle deformation and the deformation velocity. Several studies have evaluated speckle tracking as a promising method to assess diaphragm contractility in healthy subjects. This technical note demonstrates the feasibility of speckle tracking ultrasonography of the diaphragm in a group of 20 patients after an aortocoronary bypass graft procedure. The results presented herein suggest that speckle tracking ultrasonography is able to depict alterations in diaphragmatic function after surgery better than 2D ultrasonographic measurements.

Cegueira cortical transitória durante coronariografia e estudo de enxertos aortocoronarianos

The prevalence of cerebrovascular complications after cardiac catheterization is low. These include stroke, transient ischemic attack, and amaurosis fugax. Cortical blindness is a rare, bilateral clinical condition of largely ischemic etiology, characterized by damage to the cerebral cortex, which manifests with acute reduction of visual acuity. Usually, neuro-ophthalmic complications of cardiac catheterization are correlated with embolic phenomena or migraine. We report a case of transient cortical blindness during coronary and aortocoronary bypass graft angiography.

Infiltration of CD68+ cells correlates positively with matrix metalloproteinase 2 expression in the arteries used as aortocoronary bypass grafts. Possible clinical implications.

Late failure of arterial aortocoronary conduits may result from abnormal activity of cells found in the vessel wall, including macrophages. The purpose of this study was to assess if there are any associations between the number of macrophages and overexpression of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) in the wall of arterial grafts, as well as their clinical significance. This study involved 128 consecutive patients with a mean age of 64.9 ± 9.7 years who underwent elective surgery for coronary artery disease (CAD). The surplus segments of internal thoracic artery (ITA) and radial arteries (RA) were taken for immunohistochemical analysis of macrophage numbers and MMPs expression. The participants who reached the clinical primary end-point (cardiacrelated death, acute coronary syndrome or progression of CAD) had a follow-up angiography. The mean numbers of macrophages were higher on RA (70 [24; 112]) than ITA cross-sections (44 [24; 59]; p < 0.001). Median expression of both MMP2 and MMP9 were stronger in the ITA than RA cross-sections (p < 0.001). A significant positive correlation of MMP2 expression and a number of macrophages infiltrating the tunica media of arterial segments were noted on both ITA and RA cross-sections. In addition, the arterial segments of the 6 patients who reached clinical end-point had higher numbers of macrophages and stronger MMP2 expression when compared to the rest of the participants. Macrophage infiltration of arterial wall grafts prior to harvesting may be associated with higher risk of late occlusion and MMP2 might be facilitating this process.