Traumatic tricuspid regurgitation is a rare cardiovascular event that can follow blunt chest trauma. We report 2 cases of successful repair of traumatic tricuspid regurgitation. Case 1 : a 22-year-old man. At 18 years of age, he was involved in a falling accident. At the age of 19, he had an abnormal electrocardiogram and a cardiac murmur pointed out on a medical examination in his university. Echocardiography revealed severe tricuspid regurgitation, and he was referred to our institution for surgery. The operative findings showed some fenestrations in the anterior leaflet of the tricuspid valve. The fenestrations were sutured directly and ring annuloplasty was performed. Case 2 : a 54-year-old man. At age 18, he was involved in a falling accident. At age 31, he complained of fatigue and dyspnea. Echocardiography revealed severe tricuspid regurgitation. At age 54, liver dysfunction was discovered. He was referred to our institution for surgical treatment. In the operative findings, the chordae tendineae of the anterior and septal leaflets of the tricuspid valve were ruptured. Tricuspid valvuloplasty was performed using chordal replacement with 2 expanded polytetrafluoroethylene (CV-52^®) sutures, edge-to-edge sutures and ring annuloplasty.

A 74-year-old man presenting with general fatigue and dyspnea was admitted to another hospital. He was transferred to our hospital because his symptoms deteriorated and pericardial fluid increased. The symptoms did not improve even after percutaneous pericardial drainage. On a diagnosis of heart failure due to pericardial constriction, he underwent pericardiectomy. No hemodynamics improvement was found despite subtotal pericardiectomy. Multiple longitudinal and transverse incisions like a waffle were made in the thickened epicardium and improved the hemodynamics. The symptoms improved after sugery. Steroid therapy was effective after pathological examination of the excised epicardium that confirmed an emerging manifestation of hyper-IgG4 disease. We report a waffle procedure with good results for a constrictive pericarditis with hyper-IgG4 disease.

We performed redo coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) using lateral MIDCAB for 3 patients with severe symptomatic ischemia in the left circumflex system alone. When the descending thoracic aorta had no atherosclerotic lesions on chest CT, it was selected as the inflow of the bypass. According to the location of the target artery, we undertook sequential or T-composite off-pump bypass using the radial artery through a left lateral thoracotomy. On the other hand, when the descending aorta was diseased, the left axillary artery was chosen as the inflow of the bypass. We selected the saphenous vein as a conduit to obtain sufficient graft length. A proximal anastomosis was made through a left infraclavicular incision, and then a distal anastomosis was done through a left lateral thoracotomy without cardiopulmonary bypass. Moreover, care was taken not to kink the grafts. The postoperative course was uneventful in all patients. Lateral MIDCAB technique was useful for redo revascularization to the circumflex system. We believe that selection of bypass conduits, routes, and bypass inflow according to the individual patient is essential for the procedure.