Venugopal P

Total correction of tetralogy of fallot in adults-surgical experience

A total of 100 patients of tetralogy of Fallot aged 13 years and over were operated upon at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi, India between January 1991 and December 1996. There were 69 males (69%) and 31 females (31%). Age ranged from 13 years to 43 years (mean 19.66 years). Twenty % of patients had preoperative complications like haemoptysis, cerebrovascular accidents, brain abscess and infective endocarditis. Twenty-two patients had previous palliative shunts. Fifteen patients had coil embolisation of major collaterals prior to surgery. In hospital mortality rate was 4%. Follow-up ranged from 1 month to 5 years (mean 3.4 years). There was one late death due to infective endocarditis. Postoperatively 93.6% patients were in NYHA class I. Significant residual defects warranting re-operation were present in three patients. Total correction of tetralogy of Fallot in older patients can be performed with acceptable results.

Septal course of the left main coronary artery from right aortic sinus and ventricular tachycardia

A 42-year-old man with resistant ventricular tachycardia was found to have an anomalous origin of the left main coronary artery from the right aortic sinus that pursued an intramyocardial course through the ventricular septum. The tachycardia resolved after coronary artery bypass graft to otherwise normal left anterior descending and circumflex coronary arteries. Septal course of an anomalous left main coronary artery from right aortic sinus should not always be considered benign.

Univentricular repair. Early and midterm results.

A total of 202 patients (62 with tricuspid atresia and 140 without tricuspid atresia) underwent univentricular repair at our unit from January 1990 to September 1994. Of these patients, 182 had nonfenestrated and 20 had fenestrated interatrial baffles. Early mortality was 15.9% (29/182) in the group with nonfenestrated baffles and 5% (1/20) in the group with fenestrated baffles. The follow-up period ranged from 2 to 58 months. Seven late deaths occurred, and five patients were lost to follow-up. Of 160 patients who have been evaluated in the outpatient department in the past 3 months, 142 (88.75%) required no cardiac medicines and were in functional class I. Risk factors analyzed for early mortality and significant effusion were age, preoperative diagnosis, type of Fontan modification, cardiopulmonary bypass time, aortic crossclamp time, pulmonary artery size, associated pulmonary arterioplasty, takedown of systemic-pulmonary artery shunt, and pulmonary artery debanding, along with the Fontan operation. Bypass time exceeding 120 minutes was associated with a higher early mortality (12/47 vs 18/155; p = 0.0187). Bypass time exceeding 120 minutes (p = 0.0456) and aortic crossclamp time exceeding 60 minutes (p = 0.0278) were associated with significant postoperative effusion. Other factors were not associated with any significantly increased risk for early mortality or postoperative effusions. Fenestration of the interatrial baffle appeared to decrease early mortality, although the numbers are too small to be statistically significant. The prevalence of effusions did not differ significantly between the group with fenestrated baffles and the group without fenestrated baffles.

Profile of coronary arterial disease in diabetic patients undergoing coronary arterial bypass grafting

Diabetics are believed to have more extensive and diffuse lesions of the coronary arteries in presence of coronary arterial disease. We studied prospectively 52 diabetics with coronary arterial disease who underwent coronary arterial bypass grafting and evaluated their pre-operative symptomatology, angiographic appearance of coronary arteries, coronary arterial dimensions as assessed at surgery, and the post-operative complications. These were compared to 52 age and sex matched non-diabetic controls undergoing surgery during the same period. There was no statistically significant difference in the incidence of pre-operative symptomatology or frequency of myocardial infarction in the two groups. Left ventricular angiographic findings were also comparable, as was the observation on the extent and severity of coronary arterial disease as assessed by angiography and at surgery. Hence, we recommend coronary arterial bypass grafting to diabetics with the same criteria as are applied to non-diabetics, confident that there will be no added morbidity and mortality.

Adenosine for Cardioplegic Induction: A Comparison With St Thomas Solution

OBJECTIVE To determine if quicker cardiac standstill obtained by adding adenosine to potassium crystalloid cardioplegia translated into better myocardial preservation and cardiac function in the early postoperative period compared with the same cardioplegia without adenosine. DESIGN A prospective study. SETTING Cardiac center of a teaching institute. PARTICIPANTS Sixty consecutive patients with left main vessel or triple-vessel disease undergoing coronary artery bypass surgery under moderate hypothermia. INTERVENTIONS The study comprised two groups of patients. Group N (n = 15) was the control group, given St Thomas cardioplegic solution after aortic cross-clamping, without adenosine; whereas group A (n = 45) received 250 microg/kg of adenosine into the aortic root after aortic cross-clamping, followed by the same St Thomas cardioplegia as in group N. The two groups were otherwise similar in all aspects of perfusion management. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS Time taken to achieve cardiac standstill after aortic cross-clamping was significantly greater, 18.7+/-3.1 seconds, in the control group compared with the adenosine group, 3.4+/-0.9 seconds (p<0.001). The quicker arrest of the adenosine group led to better postoperative function, in the form of higher cardiac index (p<0.01), lower filling pressures (pulmonary artery wedge pressure) (p<0.05), and lower mean pulmonary artery pressure (p<0.05) at 6 hours. In the adenosine group, only 3 of 45 (6.6%) patients had elevated creatine phosphokinase (CPK) (MB) values greater than 50 U/L over preoperative CPK values compared with 3 of 15 (20%) in the control group (p<0.01). CONCLUSIONS Injection of 250 microg/kg of adenosine into the aortic root before administration of cold crystalloid St Thomas cardioplegia solution after cross-clamping, in patients with severe coronary artery disease, produces significantly faster cardiac standstill, better myocardial preservation, and better cardiac function in the early postoperative period.

Clinical evaluation of giomer- and resin-modified glass ionomer cement in class V noncarious cervical lesions: An in vivo study.

Objectives: To evaluate and compare the clinical performance of Giomer (Beautifil II) and RMGIC (Fuji II LC) in noncarious cervical lesions. Materials and Methods: Thirty-two subjects with one or two pairs of noncarious cervical lesions were included in the study. Each pair of lesion was restored with either giomer or RMGIC assigned randomly. Clinical evaluation of restorations was done using USPHS criteria. Data was formulated in a predesigned format and subjected to statistical analysis using the chi square test. Results: Statistically significant difference was found between RMGIC and Giomer with respect to surface roughness with P value <0.001. Conclusion: Giomer showed superior surface finish compared to RMGIC. Both Giomer and RMGIC showed equal retention ability.

Severe hypoxic biventricular dysfunction in tetralogy of Fallot: is Blalock shunt the answer?

In a 4-year-old boy with tetralogy of Fallot, a right modified Blalock-Taussig anastomosis was created because of severe myocardial dysfunction and repeated hypercyanotic spells. Post-operatively, systemic oxygen saturation improved and also myocardial function. It is postulated that hypoxia was responsible for myocardial dysfunction previously, and its elimination has resulted in markedly improved cardiac performance.

Temporary atrial electrodes for diagnosis & treatment of post operative arrhythmias

In a prospective study, the utility of atrial epicardial wire electrodes in the diagnosis and treatment of postoperative cardiac arrhythmias was evaluated. Atrial electrograms were recorded in 50 patients who underwent open heart surgery. In 9 patients, the atrial electrograms provided diagnostic information during 19 episodes of arrhythmias where the surface electrocardiogram was inconclusive. In 11 patients atrial electrograms provided accurate confirmation of the nature of the arrhythmia as suggested by the surface electrograms during 17 episodes of arrhythmias. Atrial pacing was used to effectively treat abnormalities of rhythm or conduction on 23 occasions. The epicardial wire electrodes were also utilised to evaluate sinus node functions at the bed side. Six patients had prolonged sinus and corrected sinus node recovery times (snrt, csnrt). Three of these also had prolongation of sinoatrial conduction time (sact). These parameters normalised in all within 2–3 weeks. Five of the six patients with sinus node dysfunction experienced significant post-operative arrhythmias. Their post-operative stay was also significantly prolonged till their sinus node function normalised. Thus atrial epicardial wires provide a simple, safe bedside technique for the accurate diagnosis and successful management of early postoperative arrhythmias following open heart surgery and also aid in the prognostic evaluation of patients susceptible to arrhythmias based on electrophysiologic evaluation of their sinus node functions.