Left ventricular noncompaction (LVNC) is believed to represent an arrest in the normal process of myocardial compaction, resulting in persistence of both hyper-trabeculation and intratrabecular recess within the left ventricle. High mortality is the important clinical feature of this disease. LVNC in adult cases has been rarely, but occasionally, reported, however, LVNC with insufficiency of both the aortic and mitral valves has not been reported to our knowledge. Herein, we describe a 62-year-old man with LVNC and the severe insufficiency of the aortic and mitral valves, who was successfully operated upon with aortic and mitral valve replacement using mechanical valves. Although the postoperative course was uneventful, careful attention is mandatory for the possible left ventricular dysfunction due to LVNC.

Primary cardiac malignant lymphoma (PCL), which is defined as an extra-nodal malignant lymphoma involving only the heart and/or pericardium, is extremely rare. Its prognosis is reported to be very poor because the PCL grows rapidly and frequently causes fatal heart failure or arrhythmias. We report a 65-year-old woman with PCL accompanied with superior vena cava (SVC) syndrome 6 weeks following a pacemaker implantation for complete atrio-ventricular block. She underwent a partial resection of the tumor to release the SVC syndrome and subsequent systemic chemotherapy. This combined therapy successfully induced complete remission, and improvement of the atrio-ventricular conduction disturbance was also observed.

A 76-year-old man received implantation of sirolimus-eluting stent for total occlusion of the left circumflex artery causing an acute myocardial infarction of posterolateral wall on May 21st, 2005. Off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting was performed on June 9th for a residual 90% stenosis on the proximal segment of his left anterior descending artery. Ticlopidine and aspirin were discontinued 7 days and 2 days before the operation, respectively. Continuous intravenous drip of heparin had been given for 5 days until just prior to the operation. Though the left internal thoracic artery was successfully grafted onto the left anterior descending artery, he developed an acute myocardial infarction after the operation. An emergency angiography, performed on the 1st postoperative day showed thrombotic occlusion of the sirolimus-eluting stent in the circumflex artery and patent internal thoracic artery to the left anterior descending artery. Percutaneous catheter intervention restored the stent patency. Antiplatelet therapy including ticlopidine or clopidogrel is mandatory to prevent subacute thrombosis in drug-eluting stent. Hemorrhagic complication or major surgery may hinder continuing antiplatelet regimens and trigger acute thrombosis. Alternative antiplatelet and/or anticoagulant therapy is essential to prevent acute stent occlusion in such clinical settings.

We report a case of emergent redo-mitral valve replacement during pregnancy at 23 week and 4 days of gestation. A 23-year-old woman, who underwent mitral valve replacement with a bioprosthetic valve (Carpentier-Edwards Perimount^® 27 mm) for infective endocarditis 5 years ago, was transferred to our hospital due to severe congestive heart failure. Echocardiography revealed structural valve deterioration of the mitral prosthesis and severe mitral stenosis. Emergent redo-mitral valve replacement with a bioprosthetic valve was performed to save the patient with top priority. Cardiopulmonary bypass was operated under normothermic, high flow, high pressure and pulsatile fashion. Fetal heart rate was continuously monitored during the operation. Although her baby was delivered vaginally just after operation weighing only 520 g, she was treated by the neonatologists successfully.

We herein describe the findings of a 32-year-old female was known to have had an electrocardiogram abnormalities and had avoided excessive exercise since her high school student days. She suddenly lost consciousness due to ventricular fibrillation (Vf) in July 2007. As a result she was taken to our hospital by ambulance. Emergency coronary angiography demonstrated an anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery (Bland-White-Garland Syndrome). She therefore underwent surgery. During the operation, the main pulmonary artery (PA) was transected while on the cardiopulmonary bypass and the left main coronary trunk (LMT) ostium was detected. Antegrade cold blood cardioplegia was induced, and retrograde continuous cold blood cardioplegia was subsequently applied to the coronary sinus, thus obtaining a complete cardiac standstill. The LMT ostium was excised with a cuff of the main PA wall as a button. During further dissection of the LMT distally to the bifurcation, the LMT wall was injured, thus resulting in the need to repair it under deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (DHCA) in order to obtain a bloodless surgical field. During core cooling, the LMT was anastomosed to the left posterolateral wall of the ascending aorta, then the LMT was repaired with a patch consisting of a non-treated autologous saphenous vein (SV) under DHCA. Several surgical techniques for BWG syndrome have been reported. Among these techniques, the direct implantation of the left coronary artery to the ascending aorta is the most physiological and therefore is considered to be the best technique. In this case, direct implantation was accomplished, however, the LMT also had to be repaired.

We evaluated risk factors for prolonged pleural effusion after surgery in 35 children who underwent total cavopulmonary connection (TCPC). Duration of their chest tube drainage was 5.4±7.0 days (1-41, median 3). In univariate analysis, significant risk factors for prolonged pleural drainage over 7 days were preoperative body weight (p=0.03), preoperative cardiothoracic ratio (p=0.03), cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) time (p=0.02), homologous blood transfusion (p=0.03), serum protein concentration at CPB weaning (p=0.04), central venous pressure (CVP) averaged during 3 postoperative days (p=0.01) and body weight change during 3 postoperative days (p=0.01). However multivariate analysis showed only CVP averaged during 3 postoperative days was a significant risk factor for prolonged chest tube drainage (p=0.03, odd's ratio 3.3). In conclusion, to keep the central venous pressure as low as possible during the early postoperative period might decrease the duration of pleural drainage.

A 37-year-old man presented with extensive myocardial infarction due to total occlusion of the left main trunk, complicated with near-fatal heart failure. An extracorporeal left ventricular assisted system LVAS (NIPRO-Toyobo LVAS) was implanted in our hospital. Although his postoperative course was relatively good, acute cholecystitis occurred on the 31st postoperative day, and emergeney cholecystectomy was indicated. His PT-INR was 4.13 because of taking Warfarin orally, and the cannulas of LVAS passed through his skin at the subxiphoid region. Therefore, we preoperatively transfused fresh frozen plasma quickly to reverse the PT-INR (approximately 2.0) and performed open cholecystectomy via the right side of the para-rectus abdominal muscle. His postoperative course was uneventful, and he is waiting for heart transplantation in our hospital.

Bleeding control during aortic surgery is one of the most important issue. The well-known fibrinogen-based hemostat contains the blood product, which means the potential risk of the blood-related infection. Recently, the newly-designed hemostat “Hydrofit”, which is assembled with urethane-based polymer without blood product (Matsudyte : Sanyo-chemical industry, Kyoto, Japan). Hydrofit is applicated for the hemostasis of thoracic aortic surgery. In sealing of the Hydrofit gel to the anastomosis site of aorta, water-contact initiation boosts the chemical change to the forming elastomer and adheres around anastomosis site rapidly. We experienced the extirpation of the Hydrofit which was used over 4 years ago. The patient is 42 year-old female who was operated aortic valve replacement and graft replacement of ascending aorta using a Hydrofit as a hemostat at 4 year 8 months ago due to the aortitis syndrome. Re-sternotomy and re-AVR was performed because of the prosthetic valve dehiscence due to the active aortitis syndrome. Hydrofit left around suture line without infection, and functioned very well as the elastic sealant for the long-term period.