A 42-year-old man noted a left hypothenar mass about one week after hitting the palm of his left hand. Although he did not seek treatment, numbness and cyanosis of the left 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th digits appeared suddenly about one year later. A computed tomography scan revealed an ulnar artery aneurysm with a mural thrombus, with a maximal diameter of 20mm, at the site where the ulnar artery passed near the hamate bone. The aneurysm was excised, and the ulnar artery was reconstructed with direct end-to-end anastomosis. Traumatic ulnar artery aneurysm is commonly seen in workers who use the hypothenar eminence of their hands as a hammer, and is usually accompanied by finger ischemia.

In two cases of thromboangitis obliterans (TAO) a popliteal-posterior tibial-peroneal artery sequential bypass was attempted through a median approach. The 1st case underwent the operation successfully with non-reversed saphenous vein graft. However, only popliteal-peroneal bypass was carried out in the 2nd patient because the posterior tibial artery was severely affected. In surgery of TAO patients, careful assessment of preoperative angiographic findings is important to select the site of distal anastomosis. We found that the posterior tibial artery and the peroneal artery are easily accessible through the medial route in the proximal half of the lower leg and that peroneal artery revascularization was effective for limb salvage.

A 61-year-old man underwent thoracic aortic graft replacement and abdominal aortic graft replacement because of a dissecting aneurysm. He presented with a ruptured residual dissecting thoraco-abdominal aortic aneurysm and underwent emergency thoraco-abdominal aortic graft replacement in February 2007. An inverted bifurcated graft was fashioned by cutting one of the two graft legs and creating an elliptical patch, like a cobra-head. In order to prevent paraplegia after the operation, it was necessary to shorten the duration of spinal cord ischemia. Once the elliptical patch was sutured to the orifices of the internal costal arteries with running sutures, selective intercostal arterial perfusion was initiated by using a cardiopulmonary bypass. After the operation, he did not suffer paraplegia.

Thoracic graft infection is a serious complication and has high mortality. We report a case of successful treatment of graft infection after ascending thoracic aortic reconstruction. A 66-year-old woman underwent surgery for DeBakey type I aortic dissection in June 2007. The ascending aorta was replaced with a prosthetic graft. Although her postoperative course was complicated with Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) mediastinitis, the infection was conservatively controlled by mediastinal lavage and antibiotics. However, she was readmitted in April 2008 due to lumbar pain and high fever, and was diagnosed with infectious spondylitis. Lumbar plastic surgery was performed. During hospitalization, she underwent total systemic examination. The results indicated aneurysm of the ascending aorta. MRSA was detected from culture fluid of her blood. Taken together, the presence of an infected aortic aneurysm was considered possible. Consequently, reconstruction of the ascending aorta using two allografts was performed after removing the prosthetic graft. The postoperative course was uneventful, and she was discharged on the 71st postoperative day. The patient continues to thrive 9 months after the operation. This case of an infected aortic aneurysm repaired with the use of allografts will be reported together with references to the literature.

We describe a 77-year-old woman with severe aortic stenosis, porcelain aorta and coronary artery disease, who underwent apicoaortic bypass with coronary artery bypass grafting. The patient, who had a history of aortitis syndrome had dyspnea. Cardiac echocardiography showed severe aortic valve stenosis (aortic valve pressure gradient (max/mean) = 115/74.4 mmHg, aortic valve area = 0.48 cm²). Coronary angiography showed severe stenosis of right coronary artery orifice (#1.90%) . Computed tomography showed severe calcification of the thoracic aorta and surgical manipulation for ascending aorta was impossible. We did not perform ordinary aortic valve replacement. Instead, apicoaortic bypass with coronary artery bypass grafting was performed. We approached by a left anterolateral thoracotomy at the 6th intercostal level. Apicoaortic valved conduit (valved graft : Edwards Prima Plus Stentless Porcine Bioprosthesis 19 mm + UBE woven graft 16 mm) was implanted. Saphenous vein graft was harvested and coronary bypass grafting (valved conduit-#4AV) was performed in the same operative field. Postoperative cine MRI showed that most of the cardiac stroke volume flowed through the conduit (44.4 ml/beat, 92.3%), with the flow via the aortic valve accounting for 3.69 ml/beat, 7.7%. Postoperative enhanced CT showed that the coronary artery bypass graft was patent. Apicoaortic bypass is a good surgical option for aortic stenosis with severe calcification aorta and coronary artery bypass grafting can also be performed in the same view.

A 67-year-old man suffered acute arterial occlusion caused by emboli from aneurysms in a right axillo-bifemoral graft using Cooley double velour knitted Dacron, which was inplanted 10 years and 10 months before the admission. The patient underwent urgent redo surgery; left axillobifemoral bypass with 6mm ringed PTFE graft and right femoropopliteal bypass with in situ saphenous vein were performed successfully. Several clinical experiences by others demonstrated that Cooley double velour knitted Dacron graft, manufactured before June, 1981, might have possible aneurysmogenic factors, therefore cases in which it has been employed should be followed up carefully.

A 36-year-old man was transported to our hospital with severe anterior chest and abdominal pain of sudden onset which was diagnosed as Stanford type B acute aortic dissection with visceral ischemia. Aortogram revealed occlusion of celiac, superior mesenteric and inferior mesenteric arteries with aortic dissection. At first, fenestration of the abdominal aorta above the inferior mesenteric artery was immediately carried out, but the abdominal pain continued. Therefore, bypass grafting for the superior mesenteric artery with saphenous vein was performed the next day. The patient's postoperative course was complicated with acute renal failure and paralytic ileus, which were treated medically and he was discharged in good condition.

Ninety patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm underwent endovascular stent grafting in our hospital between 2001 and 2006 and two patients required graft replacement of abdominal aortic aneurysms during the late postoperative phase. Case 1 was a 77-year-old man for whom endovascular stent grafting for an abdominal aortic aneurysm and thoracic aortic aneurysm had been performed concomitantly. Six months later, because the abdominal aortic aneurysm had expanded from 68mm to 75mm in diameter, due to a type I endoleak which was detected postoperatively, he underwent open surgery. An occlusion balloon was inflated at the proximal site of the celiac artery until the stent graft was extracted. After positioning the aortic clamp below the origin of the renal arteries, a bifurcated graft was implanted. The postoperative course was uneventful. Case 2 was an 86-year-old woman who had undergone endovascular stent grafting for an abdominal aortic aneurysm. The endovascular procedure was successful and no endoleak was detected postoperatively. However, 13 months later, a community hospital admitted her in a state of shock due to ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm. She was transferred to our hospital and underwent an emergency operation. Because insertion of an occlusion balloon into the brachial artery failed, we primarily performed supravisceral aortic cross clamping. After opening the aneurysm sac, the stent graft was removed and a bifurcated graft was implanted. After declamping, we found that the right common iliac artery was occluded, and therefore aorto-right external iliac bypass grafting was then also performed. The postoperative course was uneventful.

We reviewed the results of 14 patients who underwent the operation of thoracic aneurysms using a centrifugal pump. Nine patients had atherosclerotic aneurysms and 5 had aortic dissections. The autotransfusion system (ATS) was used to keep hemodynamic stability by rapid transfusion. The ATS consisted of a roller pump, a 2, 000ml reservoir and a heat exchanger. Two mg/kg of heparin was given to the patients to keep ACT over 400 seconds. All patients survived. Body temperature increased 0.08±0.59°C during bypass with the ATS, and no patients showed hemodynamic instability after aneurysmotomy under the help of the ATS. We conclude that 1) the centrifugal pump is a useful and safe assisting means for the surgery of thoracic aneurysms, 2) the autotransfusion system has advantages as follows: keeping stable circulation and preventing loss of body temperature during bypass.