A 62-year-old woman with idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura (ITP) was admitted to undergo cardiac surgery for aortic stenosis, angina pectoris, and paroxysmal atrial fibrillation. A bleeding tendency was expected due to the dramatic decrease in platelets during cardiopulmonary bypass. We performed high-dose transvenous gammaglobulin infusion (400mg/kg/day) for 5 consecutive days immediately before surgery. The gammaglobulin therapy caused steady increase of thrombocytes from 4 days after surgery, even though the platelet count showed no significant change preoperatively. The postoperative course was satisfactory with neither a bleeding tendency nor wound infection. High-dose transvenous gammaglobulin therapy is thus useful for perioperative patients with accompanying ITP, who are often under medication with steroids. This therapy is also effective for prevention of infection.

A 64-year-old woman with dyspnea on exertion was referred to our hospital. CT revealed type B aortic dissection with 7cm of aneurysm including a thrombus in the false lumen at the distal aortic arch. Four intimal tears at the distal aortic arch were closed directly during hypothermic circulatory arrest, and the descending thoracic aorta was tailored without a prosthetic graft after fixation of the dissecting adventitia to the intima at the distal portion of the false lumen. The postoperative course was uneventful and this patient was discharged on the 22nd postoperative day. Three years after surgery, the postoperative CT revealed no evidence of dilatation of the descending thoracic aorta as far as the abdominal aorta although the dissection of thoracoabdominal aorta remained. This technique is effective as an surgical option for chronic type B aortic dissection to minimize operative stress and complications.

We employed vacuum-assisted closure (VAC) as a treatment modality for wound complications after cardiovasular surgery. Between March and December 2004, 9 patients were treated with VAC, 8 of whom were men, and the mean age was 69.6 years old. Seven patients underwent off-pump coronary artery bypass, and 2 underwent a valve replacement. Six of them had diabetes, 5 had renal dysfunction (4 were dialysis patients), and 2 had chronic obstructive lung disease. Six cases were classified as superficial sternal infection (Superficial) and 3 as a deep sternal infection (Deep). Superficial cases were healed with wound closure after a short period of VAC treatment. However, Deep cases required long duration of VAC treatment and wound closure with a myocutaneous flap in 2 cases, although all of them did not develop mediastinitis requiring closed irrigation and drainage. In 9 cases, with numerous risk factors for poor healing, we found that VAC treatment facilitated wound healing and reduced frequent painful wound care.

There were 3,129 consecutive patients who underwent CABG by only one operator at Kishiwada Tokushukai Hospital between January 1991 and December 2010. These patients included 236 patients requiring chronic renal hemodialysis at the time of operation. They consisted of 181 men and 55 women, with an average age of 64.1±9.7 years. The mean duration of hemodialysis was 10.1±20.4 years. Diabetic nephropathy (133 cases, 56.4%) was the most common disease leading to required for hemodialysis. The operative mortality and the hospital mortality were 3.4% and 6.4% respectively. The 1-year survival rate, the 3-year survival rate, the 5 year survival rate and the 10-year survival rate were 72.4%, 48.3%, 32.4% and 14.3%. Multivariate logistic analysis revealed that only peripheral artery disease (PAD) was a significant risk factor for mortality (p<0.05). The infectious diseases were the most common cause of long term death (24.1%). The mortality rates of CABG in patients with dialysis-dependent renal failure are still higher than those for non-hemodialysis patients. Our data suggest that PAD is a great risk factor for mortality following CABG in hemodialysis patients.

The case presented is a 76-year-old woman with a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm. We tried to pass a Fogarty balloon catheter from the left subclavian artery for proximal occlusion of the ruptured aneurysm but failed to inset the balloon into the descending aorta. Although the aneurysm was safely replaced with a gelatine coated dacron graft, she developed cerebral embolism and never regained consciousness and died two months later. Balloon insertion through the subclavian artery may cause complication through dislodgement of atheromatous plaque and may induce cerebral embolism.

We present a rare case of acute type A dissection which developed compression of the true lumen after starting cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) with femoral arterial return. In this case, the entry was located in the proximal descending thoracic aorta, and the dissection expanded up to the ascending aorta in a retrograde direction. After starting CPB, the false lumen suddenly enlarged and the true lumen was compressed. We observed those changes by intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography, so the perfusion was stopped immediately. A long arterial cannula (Wessex) was inserted from the left ventricular apex with the tip of the cannula remaining in the true lumen of the ascending aorta, and antegrade perfusion was restarted. After that we could maintain adequate extracorporeal perfusion and the replacement of the total aortic arch was completed uneventfully.

Ten patients, aged 3 to 43 years, with the tetralogy of Fallot underwent in situ pulmonary valve replacement (PVR) 13 times. The implanted valves were a St. Jude Medical prosthesis (3 times) and a bioprosthetic valve (10 times). In 5 patients PVR was performed at the time of radical repair and in the remaining 5 patients PVR was performed after radical repair. Three patients underwent re-PVR at 6 to 13 years after the first PVR. There was one operative death in re-PVR 14 years after the first PVR and one patient died from congestive heart failure 4 years after PVR. In the patients with the tetralogy of Fallot, the rate of PVR in those who had undergone open Brock's operation were significantly higher than that of the patients without open Brock's operation (p<0.05). Actuarial survival rates at 5 years and 10 years were 88.9% and 88.9%, respectively. Rates of freedom from reoperation at 5 years and 10 years were 88.9% and 59.3%, respectively. Although the early operative results are satisfactory, re-PVR is mandatory in the future. Thus the indications of PVR should be considered carefully.

The objective of this study was to assess the long-term outcomes of aortic valve replacement (AVR) for aortic valve stenosis (AS) in patients undertaking chronic renal hemodialysis at the time of the operation. Seventy five hemodialysis patients who underwent AVR between January 1993 and September 2012 were taken into account in this study. Operations included 40 isolated AVR and 35 concomitant AVR and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Other combined AVR (mitral valve operation and aortic root operation) and emergency operations were excluded. Mean patients' age was 66.7 (±8.5) years and 53 out of 75 (70.6%) were male. The etiology of renal failure consisted of diabetic nephropathy (22 cases, 29.3%) and non-diabetic renal failure (53 cases, 70.7%). The mean duration of hemodialysis was 8.1 years. The operative mortality was 6.6%. The 1-year, 3-year, 5 year, and 10-year survival rates were 74.5, 42.1, 29.9, and 6.8%, respectively. Statistical analysis revealed that aortic valve area of less than 0.9 cm² and serum cholinesterase of less than 200 IU/l lead to significant risk for mortality (p<0.05). There was no clear difference between the outcomes of isolated AVR and concomitant AVR and CABG. This study suggests that earlier surgical intervention for AS in hemodialysis patients can improve the long-term outcomes, and serum cholinesterase can be a useful preoperative marker to assess operative results.