Zeitschrift für Kardiologie
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Case Reports Comparative Study
[Congenital tubular supravalvular aortic stenosis with massive coronary artery dilatation in a 35-year-old man].
Supravalvular aortic stenosis is a rare cause of left ventricular outflow obstruction in adults. It occurs as an isolated defect sporadically or on a hereditary basis with an autosomal dominant trait without further phenotypical anomalies, or as part of the Williams syndrome with mental retardation and multiple other anomalies. This lesion was proved to result from a defect of the elastin coding gene. ⋯ The coronary arteries are subject to an increased perfusion pressure leading to dilatation, tortuosity and accelerated arteriosclerosis. We give details of a 35-year-old patient in whom a previously asymptomatic supravalvular aortic stenosis is associated with an excessive dilatation of the right coronary artery and the left anterior descending coronary artery as well as an ostium stenosis of the left common carotid artery. The patient did not present any phenotypical anomalies of the Williams syndrome.
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The pulmonary sling or aberrant left pulmonary artery has an incidence of 3% to 6% of all anomalies of the aortic arch system. We report a boy with coexistence of a normal and an anomalous left pulmonary artery. Associated congenital anomalies were coarctation, mitral stenosis, and imperforate anus. ⋯ There are only three reports of partial anomalous origin of the left pulmonary artery, and only one had a similar course of the accessory artery. This report is the first to present selective angiography and echocardiographic findings of the partial anomalous left pulmonary artery. The development of the partial anomalous pulmonary artery can be explained by the plexiform nature of the primary pulmonary vascular bed and can help to understand the embryology of the pulmonary arteries.
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Comparative Study
Surgery of acute type A dissection: what have we learned during the past 25 years?
Every acute dissection involving the ascending aorta (Stanford type A) must undergo emergency surgical repair. However, the surgical techniques must vary according to the clinical presentation of the patients or the anatomical patterns observed. Furthermore, surgery is generally difficult because of the poor condition of the aortic tissues. ⋯ During CPB, perfusing the aorta in the regular antegrade manner seems to dramatically reduce the rate of malperfusion. The quality of the first emergency operation seems to have a major influence on the late results, especially concerning the rate of late reoperations and aortic ruptures. However, those late results depend also on the patient's basic condition, particularly in Marfan patients.
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Comparative Study
[Percutaneous myocardial laser revascularization (PMR), a new therapeutic procedure for patients with refractory angina pectoris].
In patients with severe angina pectoris due to coronary artery disease, who are not candidates for either percutaneous coronary angioplasty or coronary artery bypass surgery, transmyocardial laser revascularization (TMR) often leads to improvement of clinical symptoms and increased exercise capacity. One drawback of TMR is the need for surgical thoracotomy in order to gain access to the epicardial surface of the heart. Therefore, a catheter-based system has been developed, which allows creation of laser channels into the myocardium from the left ventricular cavity. ⋯ Six months after PMR, the majority of patients reported significant improvement of clinical symptoms (CCS class at baseline: 3.3 +/- 0.4; after 6 months: 1.6 +/- 0.9) (p < 0.001) and an increased exercise capacity (baseline: 349 +/- 138 s; after 6 months: 470 +/- 193 s) (p < 0.05); however, thallium scintigraphy failed to show increased perfusion in the PMR treated regions. PMR seems to be a safe and feasible new therapeutic option for patients with refractory angina pectoris due to end-stage coronary artery disease. The first results indicate improvement of clinical symptoms and increased exercise capacity; evidence of increased perfusion in the laser-treated regions is still lacking.