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The authors report the case of a man operated by coronary artery bypass graft using the right gastro-epiploic artery. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy had to be performed postoperatively because of cholecystitis. Surgeons must be aware of the possibility of coeliotomy in the context of coronary artery surgery: this is a small incision, the sternotomy incision is only slightly lengthened towards the epigastrium. A history of such surgery requires certain precautions during subsequent abdominal incisions, particularly laparoscopic, and during dissection of the porta hepatis.

Methods: Between April 1991 and November 1995, 38 patients mean age 65 (6 females, 32 males) were treated by cervical puncture for isolated cervical carotid stenosis (33 internal, 1 external, and 6 common carotid). All patients but 5 were symtomatic (19 TIA, 7 amarosis, 2 strokes and 4 VB symptoms). Complex lesions involving the carotid bifurcation and heavy calcifications were treated by conventional surgery. Two different groups of patients were considered. A first group of 19 patients (17 restenosis, 1 primary, 1 FM dysplasia) was treated by simple balloon angioplasty (BA). A second group of 19 patients was treated by primary stenting (16 DF NOVO, 2 radio-induced, and 2 recurrent stenosis)., Results: No hematoma required surgery. In the first group one patient died from an intracerebral hemorrhage, one presented a reversible stroke and 3 others a TIA. In the second group there was no complication or silent infarction on the CT SCAN:, Conclusions: Balloon angioplasty appears to be associated with a high neurologic risk. While primary stenting seems much more reliable. A longer follow-up to deal with restenosis. Conventional surgery remains the gold standard.

Purpose: To report the results of balloon angioplasty in recurrent carotid occlusive disease and evaluate the potential for stent implantation., Methods and Results: Between April 1991 and September 1995, 15 patients with carotid restenosis underwent 17 endoluminal procedures in 3 common carotid and 14 internal carotid arteries. Two postdilation complications (dissection and acute occlusion) required prompt stenting; one common carotid artery was stented for postdilation residual stenosis. One recurrent lesion was also stented 6 months after initial angioplasty. One stroke, 1 silent cerebral infarction, and 3 transient ischemic attacks occurred in the balloon angioplasty patients (33% neurological complication rate). The common carotid stent patient died 3 days postoperatively due to hyperperfusion syndrome. Long-term follow-up in two stent patients showed no restenosis at 18 and 48 months, respectively. The 11 balloon angioplasty patients likewise have not demonstrated restenosis., Conclusions: Balloon angioplasty alone appears too risky for treating recurrent carotid disease. Stents may offer a safer alternative, particularly when implanted primarily.

Objective: Evaluate endovascular treatment of vessels irrigating the brain. Assess risks and indications of balloon angioplasty and stents., Methods: Retrospective study in 38 patients (6 females, 32 males) who underwent revascularization from December 1990 to July 1995: 47 balloon angioplasties and 17 stents (36%). Three patients were asymtomatic, 17 had a past history of transient ischaemia, 5 had amauraosis, 9 signs of vertebrobasilar insufficiency and 2 had an ischaemia of the upper limbs. Endoluminal treatment was performed in 4 brachiocephalic trunks with implantation of 1 stent, in 7 common carotid arteries with 4 stents, in 24 internal carotid arteries with 9 stents, 2 osteal stenosis of the vertebral artery and one external carotid., Results: There were no complications in patients treated for lesions of the brachiocephalic trunk, the subclavian artery and the vertebral arteries. Among the 7 patients with a stenosis of the common carotid artery, there was one death after reperfusion due to cerebral oedema. For the carotid internal, two groups of patients could be distinguished. In one group of 13 patients with restenosis of the internal carotid artery who were treated by balloon angioplasty, there were 3 transient episodes of ischaemia, one reversible hemiplegia and one silent infarction. A second group of 8 patients had atheromatous stenosis. One was treated by balloon angioplasty with one transient episode of ischaemia and the 7 others were treated with a stent without complications. The rate of neurological complications was 15.7% (6 deficits in 38 patients). The permeability after revascularization was verified at mid-term with repeated echo-Doppler examinations and by angiography one year after operation. Restenosis occurred early after one subclavian stent covered with a patch. Among the 16 Palmaz stents, one implanted in a post-irradiation common carotid occluded after 2 months. The other 15 stents were patent at a mean follow-up of 18 months (2-56), i.e. 93%. There were 2 restenoses after balloon angioplasty in the group of carotid restenosis, i.e. 15%., Conclusions: Risk in balloon angioplasty of arteries irrigating the brain is a serious problem. Stenosis of the subclavian artery and the vertebral arteries appears to be a good indication. Lesions of the carotid bifurcation should not be treated with balloon angioplasty due to the risk of neurological complications. Among the restenosis after endarterectomy, only those lesions situated in the distal internal carotid are good indications. Stents have greatly improved treatment possibilities. They should be implanted whenever there is a risk of supra-aortic lesions and in certain lesions of the carotid bifurcation in high-risk, patients. Their application in all situations cannot be proposed yet before long-term outcome is established.

Between January 1982 and October 1988, 25 infants with Tetralogy of Fallot underwent total correction, total primary repair was carried out in 22 cases; 3 underwent correction after a palliative anastomosis. The average age was 3.7 +/- 1.6 months; the average weight was 5.06 +/- 1.41 kg and average body surface area was 0.30 +/- 0.06 m2. Nineteen patients had a regular anatomic form and 6 had an irregular form of the condition. The hospital mortality was 8% (2 cases): the mortality was nil in the regular anatomic form but 33% in the irregular anatomic forms. Twenty-one patients have been followed up for an average of 50.8 +/- 19.2 months. There were no late deaths; two patients were reoperated for a residual pulmonary stenosis; 19 patients are well and asymptomatic. Doppler echocardiography shows a residual pressure gradient between the right ventricule and pulmonary artery of 17.8 +/- 22.7 mmHg associated with a grade 1-2/4 pulmonary regurgitation. There are no residual ventricular septal defects or cases of atrioventricular block requiring permanent pacing.

The authors report the medico-surgical experience of Marie Lannelongue hospital of a rare condition: accessory mitral valve tissue. Seven patients aged 2 to 28 years (average: 8.7 years) had left ventricular outflow obstruction due to accessory mitral valve tissue. The diagnostic was not obvious clinically and was based on the association of echocardiographic and angiographic data. This condition was associated with another intra-cardiac malformation in 6 of the 7 patients. Surgical treatment included resection of the accessory mitral valve tissue by an aortic or combined aorto-left atrial approach, together with correction of the associated intracardiac abnormality. The postoperative results were excellent with the regression of the ventriculo-aortic pressure gradient and the physiological integrity of the mitral valve.

Of 107 patients operated for total anomalous pulmonary venous drainage (TAPVD) at Marie-Lannelongue Hospital between January 1980 and November 1989, 57 had severe pulmonary venous obstruction. The average age of the patients at operation was 13.6 days and their average body weight was 3.2 kg. Twenty eight patients had an infracardiac, 23 patients a supracardiac, 2 patients an intracardiac and 4 patients a mixed type of TAPVD. The diagnosis of pulmonary venous obstruction was made on the findings of low cardiac output and pulmonary hypertension exceeding the systemic blood pressure, and on the results of angiography and Doppler echocardiography. Seventy five per cent of patients were admitted in Class IV of the NYHA Classification. Since 1985, treatment has been directed towards prevention of pulmonary hypertension. Echocardiographic diagnosis is considered sufficient for posing the surgical indication. Surgery should be performed before degradation of the patient's clinical condition or after a short period of stabilisation. The prevention of hypertensive crises in the postoperative period depends on continuous monitoring of pulmonary pressures. This approach has considerably improved our surgical results as the mortality rate has fallen from 59 p. 100 (1980-1984) to 13.3 p. 100 (1985-1989) (p less than 0.005). In conclusion, obstruction of the pulmonary veins in TAPVD is no longer considered to be a poor prognostic factor, providing measures are taken to prevent pulmonary hypertension before, during and after surgery.

We present our 7 years' experience in the treatment of repeated stitch failure of the suture line on aortic valve replacements. We used a valved tube placed in the supra-coronary position. This technique prevented further stitch failure and also prevented postop infections. Of eight patients operated on, five had survived.

The case of a 9-month old infant with congenital tracheal stenosis due to complete tracheal rings, associated with an aberrant left pulmonary artery is reported. Surgery was carried out under extracorporeal circulation to ensure adequate oxygen supply. Extubation, thus made possible, enabled the lesion to located accurately by bronchoscopy. Tracheoplasty by means of an autologus pericardial patch was performed. The quality of the repair was checked by a second bronchoscopy. The long-term result is satisfactory.

Between 1982 and 1988, 194 infants under 6 months of age underwent surgical closure of a ventricular septal defect at the Marie Lannelongue Surgical Centre. The hospital death in this series was 6.7 p. 100. Mortality was influenced by the infant's age, by associated cardiac or extracardiac lesions and by the pre-operative ventilatory status. A residual ventricular septal defect was present in 11 infants (5.6 p. 100). Complete atrioventricular block occurred in 2 cases (1.1 p. 100). These results are in favour of a complete repair of simple ventricular septal defects at a very young age if medical treatment does not result in a satisfactory improvement.

The cases of 75 consecutive patients operated for complete atrioventricular canal between 1/1/1978 and 1/1/1985 at Marie-Lannelongue Hospital were reviewed. The age ranged from 1.5 months to 16 years. Forty-nine per cent of patients were operated in the first year of life in the period 1982-1984. Seventy-eight per cent of patients were operated before one year of age. Certain anatomical characteristics enable regular and irregular forms of the condition to be distinguished. Regular forms are characterised by the association of a defect of the inter atrio-ventricular septum, of a common atrioventricular orifice and of ventricles of equal volume without other associated malformations. Irregular forms include the parachute mitral valve, the double mitral orifice, deficient mitral valvular tissue, ventricular hypoplasia, subaortic stenosis, abnormal right ventricular muscular bands, associated cardiac malformations and pulmonary obstructive vascular disease. Surgery comprises repair of the ventricular septal defect and the ostium primum with two separate patches, respecting the anterior and posterior valves and partial or complete closure of the cleft valve. The hospital mortality rate was 33 p. cent. It was 16 p. cent in regular forms and 58 p. cent in irregular forms (p less than 0.01). The hospital mortality of patients operated before 1 year of age with the regular form of the malformation was 22 p. cent. Six children were reoperated secondarily with 2 deaths. Four pacemakers were implanted for complete atrioventricular block. The secondary mortality was 10 p. cent. Thirty-nine patients were followed up for an average of 28 months (range 3 months to 5.5 years).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Interrupted aortic arch is a duct-dependent heart disease, and this is why the use of prostaglandins E, which keep the ductus arteriosus open to feed the descending aorta, has transformed its formerly sombre prognosis. The authors report the cases of 9 neonates and infants presenting with interrupted aortic arch associated with ventricular septal defect who underwent total repair of the malformations under extracorporeal circulation. Five children were less than 10 years' old. The aortic lesions were of type A in 2 cases (interruption distal to the left subclavian artery) and of type B in 7 cases (interruption between the left carotid and subclavian arteries). In the second group the lesions were of type B1 in 5 cases (without retro-oesophageal right subclavian artery) and of type B2 in 2 cases (right retro-oesophageal artery distal to the interruption). There was one death (11 p. 100). So far, no child has been reoperated upon for residual aortic obstruction or reopened ventricular septal defect. This technique of total repair in one stage, with closure of the ventricular septal defect, seems to be preferable to the two-stage technique in which stage one includes, in addition to aortic arch repair, cerclage of the pulmonary artery, a procedure with numerous disadvantages and a higher overall mortality rate.

Thirteen patients requiring emergency surgery for desinsertion of their aortic valve prostheses were treated by subcoronary aortic valve grafting, using a procedure based on Danielson's method. The particularity characterizing this technique consists in obtaining direct revascularization of the left coronary artery via a coronary sinus approach, thereby reducing the complexity of the surgical operation. All the patients presented valvular ring lesions, associated with aortic root degeneration accountable for failure of conventional artificial aortic valve replacements; in 8 patients, this had been their third aortic prosthetic surgery. The mean survival period for eight patients was 44 months. Considering the highly critical aspect of such lesions, this technique apparently constitutes a working solution, barring all chances for relapse.