We report a rare case of surgical repair of an aneurysm of the membranous septum and mitral valvoplasty. A 57-year-old man suffered from an aneurysm of the membranous septum and mitral regurgitation. We resected the aneurysm completely, closed the defect with a patch in order to prevent further enlargement and consequent complications, and performed mitral valvoplasty using a flexible Duran ring. A postoperative cardiac catheterization indicated that there was no aneurysm of the membranous septum, ventricular septal defect or mitral regurgitation.

Reconstruction of the right ventriclar outflow tract (RVOT) in congenital heart disease often requires implantation of a valved conduit. A hand-made expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (ePTFE) trileaflet Dacron graft conduit has been used at our center since 1997, and has been implanted in 31 patients. Midterm results of this conduit were investigated in 30 of the patients who have been followed at our outpatient clinic. There were 16 males and 14 females. The mean age and body weight were 16.4±7.2 (range, 3.4-33.4) years and 41.7±13.3 (range, 13.0-64.0)kg, respectively. Diagnoses were tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary atresia in 14 patients, RVOT reconstruction associated with Ross procedure in 8, transposition with pulmonary stenosis in 3, pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum in 2, tetralogy with absent pulmonary valve syndrome in 1, pulmonary regurgitation developed after tetralogy repair in 1, and hemitruncus in 1. The median size of the graft was 22 (range, 20-26)mm. All patients were in NYHA functional class I at the time of the latest follow-up. The pressure gradient across the conduit was 11.0±5.8mmHg during the same hospitalization and 13.8±6.5mmHg on the latest echocardiogram (Interval, 2.4±1.5 years, p=0.85). The valve function was well maintained in all patients, with the regurgitation graded as non-trivial in 22 patients, mild in 7, and moderate in only 1. Midterm results of hand-made ePTFE trileaflet valved cunduit was satisfactory. A longer follow-up is mandatory to assess its actual durability.

We examined the surgical procedure and long-term results in patients who underwent intraoperative re-do for the completion of mitral valve repair. Between March 1993 and July 1996, 81 patients underwent mitral valve repair for pure MR using TEE evaluation. Of these, 12 patients that were judged to have more than mild residual regurgitation (MRA≥2.0cm² or MRL≥1.0cm) underwent intraoperative re-do. All of the patients were type 2, according to Carpentier's classification. Seven patients had degenerative disease and 2 had infective endocarditis. If the cause of residual MR was localized discoaptation, 5-0 suture plication with beating heart that increased the coaptation zone and resulted in decrease in the residual MR was useful. If the cause of residual MR was leaflet prolapse or dehiscence, intraoperative re-do was performed the cardiac re-arrest. Two patients of billowing valve underwent MVR and the other needed additional resection of leaflet, artificial chorda or suture. After intraoperative re-do, every procedure resulted in a reduction of MR except for 2 patients underwent MVR during the early postoperative stage, and of those all but one remaine no-to-mild MR in the late term (mean follow-up 26.2 months). In conclusion, 5-0 suture plication was effective for intraoperative re-do procedures, and basic mitral valve repair modification was necessary in about half of the cases. Intraoperative re-do was safely performed with no mortality or morbidity and it yielded good long term results. Intraoperative TEE evaluation was considered to be important.

The use of the radial artery (RA) for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) is increasing. This study describes mid-term results of the use of RA for CABG. Between March 1996 and March 1999, we performed 134 CABGs using RA or saphenous vein graft (SVG) for the left circumflex branch area or diagonal branch area. The mean age was 62.6±9.6 years in the RA group and 65.0±7.8 years in the SVG group. The average number of anastomoses was 2.7per patient. RA was anastomosed with the postero-lateral branch (PL) in 69 cases, with the obtuse marginal branch (OM) in 29 cases and with the diagonal branch (DB) in 10 cases. SVG was anastomosed with PL in 26 cases, with OM in 14 cases and with DB in 2 cases. The proximal anastomosis was made with the ascending aorta in all cases. No sequential bypass anastomosis was used in any case. The early patency rate of the grafts was 97.9% (93/95) in RA and 91.7% (33/36) in SVG. The clinically negative rate in the treadmill test (TMT) performed later was 99.0% (102/103) in RA and 90.9% (30/33) in SVG. The late patency rate of the grafts was 92.9% (13/14) in RA and 50.0% (3/6) in SVG. Perioperative death occurred in 5 cases. Late cardiac death occurred in 2 cases (0.02%) of the RA group and 1 case (0.03%) of the SVG group. The 3 year-survival rate free of cardiac events was 92.8% in the RA group and 80.9% in the SVG group. The use of RA for CABGs is not only effective for myocardial revascularization, but also can be expected to bring about good patency as a late result.