The patient was an 18-year-old man with congenital cerebral palsy who had undergone a tracheotomy at the age of 12. He underwent 2 emergency operations for massive endotracheal bleeding due to a tracheoinnominate artery fistula. At the first operation, the tracheal and tracheoinnominate artery fistulas were each closed directly, with median sternotomy. The second operation was due to recurrence of bleeding on the 20th postoperative day. The innominate artery was transected to avoid recurrence of bleeding. We only used an autologous pericardium but no artificial materials other than sutures, because of operative field contamination. Although a subcutaneous abscess developed at the operative wound 2 years after the operation, it was cured by incisional drainage and administration of antibiotics. In the case of tracheoinnominate artery fistula, it is impossible to save life without surgical treatment. However, the surgery involves a risk of repeated hemorrhaging and infections, resulting in a very poor prognosis. In our case, transection should have been performed at the first operation to avoid a recurrence of bleeding. The surgical method, using an autologous pericardium but no artificial materials, appeared to be effective in preventing infections. The surgical method should be selected with careful consideration to prevent repeated hemorrhaging and infection.

Isolated cleft of the anterior mitral leaflet in the presence of an intact atrioventricular septum is a rare cause of mitral regurgitation. We report a surgical case with cleft of the anterior mitral leaflet and abnormality of papillary muscles. A 53-year-old man was admitted to our hospital because of congestive heart failure. Echocardiography showed severe mitral regurgitation, severe tricuspid regurgitation, abnormal direct connection of the anterolateral papillary muscle and the anterior mitral leaflet and adhesion of the base of papillary muscles. At the posterior portion of the anterior leaflet, a 1-cm cleft was found during surgery. The top of the anterolateral papillary muscle adhered to the anterior leaflet, but rheumatic changes were not noted. The cleft was sutured directly, and annuloplasty was performed with a 31-mm Duran flexible ring. Tricuspid annuloplasty was also performed with the DeVega method. His postoperative course was not eventful. Mitral regurgitation caused by mitral cleft associated with abnormal connection of papillary muscles and the mitral leaflet have not been previously reported.

A 75-year-old woman presented with chest pain on exertion. Cardiac catheterization revealed double vessel coronary artery disease. Echocardiographic examination showed the presence of an abnormal mass in the interatrial septum without any flow velocity signal within the mass. She was scheduled for elective coronary artery bypass grafting. The lesion appeared as a homogeneous mass on CT scan, with an attenuation coefficient of -122 Hounsfield units, suggestive of lipoma. A T1-weighted MRI scan demonstrated that the signal intensity of the interatrial mass corresponded to that of fatty tissue. On surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass a large mass was found to involve the right atrial wall, the interatrial sulcus and the interatrial septum. The mass could not be resected completely, because it adhered strongly to the septal myocardium. On histological examination, the tumor was composed of mature fatty tissues, was not encapsulated and was diagnosed as infiltrating lipoma. The postoperative course was uneventful. CT, MR imaging and color Doppler ultrasonography were very useful in making a tissue-specific diagnosis.

A 75-year-old man was referred to our hospital with dyspnea on effort, recurrent attacks of loss of consciousness and abnormal shadow on chest X-ray film. Computed tomographic scan confirmed a 1.5×2.0cm mass with slight spiculation in the right lower lobe (S6) and revealed an ovoid right atrial mass. Transthoracic echocardiography showed that the giant mass which filled most of the right atrium had no mobility. Coronary angiography revealed clusters of new vessels which originated from the atrial branches of the circumflex coronary artery. A T1-weighted MRI scan demonstrated that the mass was isointense relative to the adjacent myocardium. We considered that performing cardiac surgery prior to pulmonary resection, as in a staged procedure, would have advantages in morbidity. We first performed removal of the right atrial tumor which was a 6.8×5.5×4.5cm shiny mass attached to the interatrial septum. Histological examination of the mass confirmed the diagnosis of cardiac myxoma. Three months later, right S⁶ segmentectomy was carried out using thoracoscopy and the tumor was finally diagnosed as squamous cell carcinoma. We have followed the patient for about 10 months after the first operation and there is no evidence of tumor recurrence and no more syncopic attacks.

We describe an unusual case of a chronic pulmonary thromboembolism with right atrial thrombus. A 56-year-old man suffering from chronic pulmonary thromboembolism for 5 years complained of increasing dyspnea. Computed tomography revealed massive emboli in bilateral pulmonary arteries and a thrombus in the right atrium. Massive tricuspid regurgitation and atrial fibrillation were also recognized. We performed pulmonary thromboendarterectomy using a Jamieson rigid long miniature sucker with a rounded tip and our original flexible sucker under deep hypothermic circulatory arrest. Right atrial thrombectomy, tricuspid annuloplasty and a Maze procedure were also performed during the cooling, recirculating, and warming period. His postoperative cause was uneventful, and he was able to return to an ordinary lifestyle without acquiring oxygen inhalation. Tricuspid annuloplasty and Maze operation during pulmonary thromboendarterectomy contributed to the maintenance of stable homodynamics during and after surgery.

We report here a surgical case of sinus of Valsalva and right atrium fistula associated with acute infective endocarditis (AIE) without perivalvular abscess cavity or aneurysm of the sinus of Valsalva (ASV). A 51-year-old man, who had been given a diagnosis of rheumatic aortic stenosis and regurgitation (AsR) and mitral stenosis and regurgitation (MsR) and tricuspid regurgitation (TR) by echocardiography, had a high fever 2 months after removal of teeth and AIE was diagnosed. He was referred to our hospital because sinus of Valsalva and right atrium fistula were detected by echocardiography and congestive heart failure (CHF) deteriorated during medical treatment. Perivalvular abscess cavity and ASV were not detected by preoperative echocardiography. Medical treatment was continued after admission, and operation was done after amelioration of the CHF and infection were recognized. The aortic valve was removed together with vegetation, two areas of the aortic wall in which the tissue was fragile were cauterized by electrocautery, patch closure at the sinus of Valsalva was performed using a partial of e-PTFE graft and aortic valve replacement (AVR) and mitral valve replacement (MVR) were done. Though residual aortic-right atrium shunt was detected after the operation, the postoperative course was good with no CHF or signs of infection.

Adequate exposure is crucial for successful mitral valve surgery. We report simple techniques for optimizing mitral valve exposure via conventional left atriotomy. The right side of the pericardium is sutured to the chest wall after medial sternotomy and pericardiotomy. We mobilize both the superior and inferior vena cava by dissecting the pericardium on their right side. Tourniquets are placed around both venae cavae and hitched up to the left after bicaval cannulation. Then the right side of the left atrium is lifted up and exposed. A longitudinal incision of the left atrium allows excellent exposure of the mitral valve using a single retractor. We adopted these procedures for 38 consecutive patients for mitral valve plasty, and additional incisions were not required. Simple mitral plasty procedure in 18 cases required 212±32 min for operation, 120±22 min for extracorporeal circulation and 88±18 min for aortic cross clamp. We conclude that this method is simple and does not lengthen the procedure.

A 52-year-old man was referred to our institution because of a solitary aneurysm of the left common iliac artery. The presence of the aneurysm was demonstrated by CT and angiography. The aneurysm had a diameter of about 30mm. The walls of the bilateral external iliac arteries were irregular, like a string of beads. The aneurysm was resected and replaced with a vascular prosthesis. Histological examination of the aneurysm and a part of the left external iliac artery indicated a diagnosis compatible with fibromuscular dysplasia (FMD: medial fibroplasia). A solitary iliac aneurysm is rare, and is usually due to atherosclerosis. However, the aneurysm in this case was related to FMD. To the best of our knowledge, only one other case of a solitary common iliac aneurysm caused by FMD has so far been described.

Intravenous leiomyomatosis (IVL) is defined as the extension into the venous channels of histologically benign smooth muscle tumors originating either from a uterine myoma or from the walls of a uterine vessel. We report a case of IVL extending to the right atrium and right ventricle through the right internal iliac vein and the inferior vena cava. The patient was a 43-year-old woman. The tumor was extirpated by simultaneous median sternotomy and laparotomy with the use of cardiopulmonary bypass. It was necessary to use cardiopulmonary bypass in order to open the right atrium. However, it proved difficult to insert the venous cannulae into the inferior vena cava due to the presence of the tumors. In order to perform the cannulation, a trans-right atrial excision of this tumor was necessary. Nevertheless, hemodynamic deterioration tended to occur during the procedure because of unexpected bleeding. We believe that to safely carry out this operation, it would be better to ensure circulatory arrest before trans-right atrial excision of the tumor. We have been continuing preventive antiestrogen therapy because recurrence would be very likely if any tumorous tissue remained after surgery. Fortunately, no intravenous infiltration of the tumor has been detected by either pelvic computed tomography or ultrasonography during the 26-month follow-up period. Surgical excision of the tumors and postoperative medication are now believed to have been effective.