The“elephant trunk”operation, first described by Borst and associates, is a multistage operation for diffuse aneurysmal disease. We report a 59-year-old man complaining of hoarseness, who had a diffuse aneurysm extending from the ascending aorta to the upper abdominal aorta with occlusive disease in the neck branches. His aorta was replaced in two stages using the“elephant trunk”operation. The first stage operation, replacement of the ascending aorta and transverse aortic arch, was performed through a median sternotomy under selective cerebral perfusion. The second stage operation, replacement of the descending thoracic and upper abdominal aorta, was performed under F-F bypass. He had occlusive disease on bilateral carotid arteries with a history of brain infarction, had lost his left lower limb because of arteriosclerosis, and had undergone replacement of the infrarenal abdominal aorta because of an aneurysm. Despite a complicated preoperative general condition, the postoperative course was uneventful. The“elephant trunk” operation facilitates staged operation for diffuse aneurysmal disease as presented here, and thereby improves opeative result by reducing surgical stress.

In repair of the tricuspid valve (TV) due to Ebstein's anomaly, mobilization of the anterior leaflet associated with longitudinal right ventricle placation (Carpentier's procedure) has provided good results in both short- and long-term follow-up. However, if the anterior leaflet is small or severely deformed, such repair may be ineffective. We report two cases of Ebstein's anomaly (63 and 53 years old) with deformed anterior leaflets of the TV in whom Carpentier's procedure was not feasible. In one patient, the anterior leaflets were broadly plastered on the right ventricle and Carpentier's procedure was tried. However, the repair was converted to valve replacement because of significant residual regurgitation. The other patient had a cleft in the anterior leaflet, therefore Carpentier's procedure was not suitable. The repair restructured the valve mechanism below the true annulus by using the most mobile leaflets for valve closure (modified Hetzer's procedure). This method of repair could be an alternative method to repair of the TV in Ebstein's anomaly, particularly when the anterior leaflet is deformed.