BACKGROUND There is ongoing debate regarding the efficacy of the radial artery (RA) as an aortocoronary conduit, with few solid data regarding long-term clinical results. We sought to determine if the use of the RA as the second arterial conduit, beside left internal thoracic artery (LITA), would improve long-term clinical outcome after CABG as compared to saphenous vein graft (SVG). METHODS ...

-----------------------------------.... Retrograde coronary sinus perfusion may provide equal if not better myocardial protection than antegrade cardioplegia during certain heart surgeries. The coronary venous system can be divided into the greater and lesser systems and veno-venous and arterio-venous anastomoses. Venous drainage varies greatly and retrograde coronary sinus perfusion depends on...

Aorto-right atrial fistula: a rare complication of aortic dissection type A. A report of 2 cases. I read with great interest the paper by Pagni et al. concerning the management of a 69-year old female patient with acute type A aortic dissection complicated by a fistula to the right atrium [1]. This article has two interesting features that could be of use to all of us when faced with a similar ...

Coagulation is a complex physiological balancing mechanism that maintains haemostasis when blood vessels are injured. A hypercoaguable state as seen in early sepsis, cancer or pregnancy can cause arterial and/or venous obstruction with disruption of blood-flow and end organ damage. Similarly a hypocoaguable state can cause catastrophic haemorrhage and lead to death. Up to 20% of all blood trans...

Introduction: Infective endocarditis is well known to produce neurologic complications from septic emboli, which mandates a multidisciplinary approach between neurosurgery and cardiac surgery. However, literature is not clear as to the optimal interval length between neurosurgery and cardiac surgery.Presentation of Cases: The first case involves a 60-year-old woman with significant past medical...

Open surgical rerouting and proximal ligation of one or more supra-aortic vessels prior to endovascular stent-graft placement has become an alternative to major open thoracic surgery in the treatment of complex thoracic aortic disease. Complications owing to failed surgical ligation of the left subclavian artery are rare. In this report, 3 cases of failed ligation are presented. Diagnosis was m...