A 67-year-old man had angina pectoris due to left main trunk stenosis of coronary artery was transferred to our hospital. Anticoagulation was achieved with a continuous intravenous infusion of 625IU/h heparin. Sixteen days after admission, his platelet count decreased to 14×10⁴/μl, and further decreased to 9.1×10⁴/μl 4 days later. Since we suspected HIT, heparin administration was immediately discontinued, and was substituted with argatroban. A definitive diagnosis of type II HIT was made by a serologic test confirming positive antibodies to the heparin-platelet factor 4 (PF4) complexes. After the platelet count recovered, we performed off-pump CABG (OPCAB) using argatroban. The postoperative course was uneventful and platelet counts was normal. The patient was discharged on the 13th postoperative day. Heparin-induced thrombocytopenia, which causes thrombosis, is a serious side effect of heparin therapy. It is not rare, and in such case argatroban can be useful as an anticoagulant during OPCAB.

We report a rare case of concomitant coronary artery disease, abdominal aortic aneurysm, and bile duct cancer. A 65-year-old man, who had been recognized to have jaundice in late November 2005, was found to have bile duct cancer, an abdominal aortic aneurysm with a diameter of 70mm, and coronary artery disease (with two severely diseased branches). To avoid extended operation, a two-stage operation was performed; at the first operation, off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery (LITA to LAD and Ao-SVG to 4 PD) and replacement of the abdominal aortic aneurysm by an artificial blood vessel with minimal incision were implemented. In 21 days after the cardiovascular surgery, the patient underwent pylorus-preserving pancreatoduodenectomy (modified Child method) in the second operation. After the two-stage operation, the patient showed a favorable outcome without any major complications. On the basis of the outcome of two-stage operation we successfully applied, we discuss the strategy for treatment of patients having both cardiovascular and abdominal malignant diseases, with reference to the literature.

A 46-year-old man who developed fever and general fatigue was referred to our hospital with suspicion of infective endocarditis. A ventricular septal defect had been previously diagnosed. Transthoracic echocardiography revealed vegetation on the aortic, mitral, and pulmonary valves, and each valve had significant regurgitation. An emergency operation was performed because of congestive heart failure. The aortic and mitral valves were replaced with mechanical valves. The pulmonary valve was repaired ; the anterior leaflet was resected and replaced by glutaraldehyde-treated autologous pericardium. The patient's postoperative course was uneventful. Recurrence of infection was not observed for 3 years after the operation. Triple-valve endocarditis, especially that involving a combination of the aortic, mitral, and pulmonary valves, is rare. Involvement of multiple valves on both sides of the heart may be attributed to a congenital intracardiac shunt. Early surgical intervention may be useful to control infection and heart failure, as in the present case.

Cardiac papillary fibroelastoma (CPF) is a rare benign cardiac tumor. It commonly arises from the left side heart valve. We present two rare cases of CPF that originating from the right side of the heart confirmed by surgical resection. Case 1 : A 67-year-old man was admitted for surgical resection of a cardiac tumor located in the right atrium. Transesophageal echocardiography revealed a mobile mass attached on the anterior leaflet of the tricuspid valve. The tumor was resected by open heart surgery. Histopathologic examination confirmed the tumor to be a CPF. Case 2 : A 68-year-old man was admitted for surgical resection of a tumor occurred from the tricuspid valve. Transthoracic echocardiography revealed a tumor attached to the medial leaflet. The tumor was resected. Histopathologic examination confirmed it to be a calcified mass. However, the surface of tumor had many papillary projections macroscopically. We redo the histopathologic examination, and confirmed the tumor as a CPF finally. In both cases, postoperative courses were uneventful.

A 62-year-old man had been given a diagnosis of atrial septal defect (ASD) 20 years previously, but the condition was left untreated. A heart murmur was detected on a routine health examination, so he visited our institution where a diagnosis of type II ASD and moderate tricuspid regurgitation was given. Cardiac catheterization revealed a pulmonary to systemic flow ratio (Qp/Qs) of 2.9, pulmonary vascular resistance of 3.1 units, and systolic pulmonary artery pressure of 90 mmHg. The patient underwent open surgery consisting of a patch closure of the ASD, and tricuspid annuloplasty. His pulmonary arterial pressure rose and his blood pressure dropped, and left cardiac failure developed on postoperative day (POD) 2. The administration of catecholamines and a phosphodiesterase (PDE) III inhibitor failed to correct the left cardiac failure. We performed intra-aortic balloon pumping (IABP) immediately, and his hemodynamic condition stabilized. The IABP catheter was removed on POD 10. The postoperative development of circulatory failure suggested that it was almost too late for surgery for ASD. It has been believed that surgery for ASD is relatively safe. However, it seems that, the considering the possible occurrence of postoperative cardiac failure in elderly patients with accompanying pulmonary hypertension, careful postoperative management is necessary.

A 51-year-old man admitted to our hospital because of an ECG abnormality pointed out by his local doctor. He had been hospitalized for scarlet fever at age 10. A coronary artery CT scan showed coronary artery aneurysm of the left main trunk (LMT), and coronary angiography showed 3-vessel disease including a chronic total occlusion of the right coronary artery (RCA). We performed conventional coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) using an arterial graft and aneurysmectomy. The patency of the graft was confirmed by coronary angiography postoperatively. The pathological diagnosis of the coronary aneurysm was Kawasaki disease. CABG is a standard procedure for coronary artery aneurysms with Kawasaki disease. However, there are no established treatment guidelines on whether to perform aneurysmectomy. We chose CABG with aneurysmectomy because of the possibility of intra-aneurysmal thrombosis leading to peripheral occlusion, and the cause of the coronary artery aneurysm could not be determined. However, even if additional treatment by percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is not possible, it is important to avoid occlusion of the graft.

Distal anastomosis during total arch replacement (TAR) for thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA) is often difficult to perform because of the limited surgical view. The most common methods available are direct anastomosis of a 4-branched graft to the distal aorta, or stepwise anastomosis with the elephant trunk procedure. However, the stepwise technique requires graft-to-graft anastomosis, which is often associated with bleeding. In the present study, we developed a new approach, which we have termed the “Branched Graft Inversion technique”, which does not require anastomosis between grafts, and facilitates anastomosis with a view equal to that in the stepwise technique. A 65-year-old man with a diagnosis of saccular-type thoracic aortic aneurysm was admitted. Cardiopulmonary bypass was established by cannulating the ascending aorta and femoral artery via a median sternotomy. We performed distal anastomosis under selective cerebral perfusion during hypothermic circulatory arrest (25°C). An inverted branched graft was inserted into the descending aorta and anastomosed using mattress and running sutures together with outer reinforcement with a Teflon felt strip. The distal end of the inverted branched graft was then extracted, and reconstruction of the neck vessels and proximal anastomosis were performed. Our newly developed Branched Graft Inversion technique was useful during TAR for TAA.

Upper ministernotomy is frequently selected in aortic valve replacement by minimary invasive cardiac surgery. However, retrograde cardioplegia cannulae cannot be inserted to some sites. CT examinations in our department revealed that lower ministernotomy can be used for surgery of the aortic valve in many Japanese cases. The usefulness of 2 approaches was examined in 68 cases with aortic valve disease who received aortic valve replacement by minimary invasive cardiac surgery from January 1997 to March 2002: Those who received upper ministernotomy (U group) and those who received lower ministernotomy (L group). Retrograde cardioplegia is frequently used in aortic valve replacement for myocardial protection. Those in the L group showed effectiveness in myocardial protection and in securing the operation field except in cases who were switched to full sternotomy. In the L group, the MAZE operation was performed and no significant differences were observed in aortic cross-clamping time, artificial cardiorespiratory time, operation time, bleeding amount and other factors. Lower ministernotomy was more effective than upper ministernotomy in myocardial protection by retrograde cardioplegia and securing the operation field in aortic valve replacement by minimally invasive cardiac surgery.

A 46-year-old man who had been hospitalized for treatment of pneumonia was referred to our hospital with a diagnosis of acute pulmonary thromboembolism. Multi-detector row computed tomography revealed massive thrombi in the bilateral main pulmonary arteries. Transthoracic echocardiography showed dilated right heart chambers and a large floating thrombus in the right atrium. Emergency thromboembolectomy was performed. Although fresh thrombi were removed from the right atrium and left main pulmonary artery, organized old thrombi were present in the bilateral pulmonary arteries, leading to a diagnosis of chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. Because no instruments were available for pulmonary endarterectomy, the surgery was terminated with percutaneous cardiopulmonary support. Five days postoperatively, pulmonary endarterectomy was performed under deep hypothermic circulatory arrest. The postoperative course was uneventful, and the patient returned to his preoperative lifestyle without the need for oxygen support.