We present the case of a 56-year-old man who had undergone a total debranched TEVAR for a distal arch aneurysm in an other hospital 7 years eariler. One year after the surgery, a graft infection occurred and the left subclavian artery graft was removed and an axillo-axillary bypass was done. However, the infection persisted and two cutaneous fistulae at the left neck and median sternotomy were recognized. Preoperative FDG-PET CT revealed a high uptake of FDG in the left common carotid artery graft, the stent graft in the ascending aorta, and the left neck wound and median sternotomy site. After we exposed the left common carotid artery, the left chest was entered through a posterolateral thoracotomy. The cardiopulmonary bypass was initiated by cannulating the left common femoral vessels and main pulmonary artery, and core cooling was done to 23℃. The descending aorta was clamped at the Th10 level, and the proximal descending aorta to arch was opened to remove the infected stent graft. Selective antegrade cerebral perfusion was started and antegrade cardioplegia was given. The ascending-arch-descending aorta was replaced with a rifampicin-soaked Dacron graft, followed by left common carotid artery reconstruction using an 8 mm Gore-Tex graft. The new graft was wrapped with a pedicled omental flap. Postoperative antibiotic therapy was continued for 6 weeks and the fistulae were surgically closed. The patient was discharged and is back to the normal life.

A 47-year-old woman was incidentally found to have a thoracic aortic aneurysm by CT scan. There was an aneurysm in the ascending aorta and aortic arch, and the Valsalva sinus was enlarged. Echocardiography showed a severe aortic regurgitation. Valve-sparing aortic root replacement and total arch replacement was performed. The pathology of the ascending aorta was consistent with giant cell arteritis. Her postoperative course was straightforward, and she was discharged 23 days after surgery. In Japan, there are few reports of valve-sparing surgery for patients with giant cell aortitis, and we report our experience of a rare case.

We report a case of Marfan's syndrome in a patient who, 20 months after undergoing Cabrol's operation, underwent beating coronary artery bypass grafting without the aid of cardiopulmonary bypass for ostial stenosis of the left main coronary artery after acute myocardial infarction was diagnosed. The patient was a 31-year-old woman who had undergone Cabrol's operation for annulo-aortic ectasia at 29 years of age, and whose course thereafter was uneventful. On May 26, 2000, she complained of chest pain, and was admitted to our hospital with a diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction. On June 17 of the same year, a 90% ostial stenosis of the left main coronary artery was detected by coronary angiography. She subsequently underwent beating coronary artery bypass grafting without the aid of cardiopulmonary bypass, using left internal thoracic artery (LITA) anastomosis to the left anterior descending artery (LAD) via median sternotomy. The LAD was so much displaced laterally and pericardial adhesion was so dense on the apical aspect that good visualization of the LAD could not be obtained by the conventional percardiotomy. Therefore, the pericardium over the contemplated LAD anastomosis was resected circularly, and the LITA was anastomosed to the LAD through the pericardial opening. Postoperative angiography showed a widely patent LITA, although the stenotic lesion of the left main coronary ostium was totally occluded.