• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.57 no.1
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• pp.70-78
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• 2024

Background: This study investigated the outcomes of biventricular repair using right ventricle to pulmonary artery (RV-PA) conduit placement in patients aged <1 year. Methods: Patients aged <1 year who underwent biventricular repair using an RV-PA conduit between 2011 and 2020 were included in this study. The outcomes of interest were death from any cause, conduit reintervention, and conduit dysfunction (peak velocity of ≥3.5 m/sec or moderate or severe regurgitation). Results: In total, 141 patients were enrolled. The median age at initial conduit implantation was 6 months. The median conduit diameter z-score was 1.3. The overall 5-year survival rate was 89.6%. In the multivariable analysis, younger age (p=0.006) and longer cardiopulmonary bypass time (p=0.001) were risk factors for overall mortality. During follow-up, 61 patients required conduit reintervention, and conduit dysfunction occurred in 68 patients. The 5-year freedom from conduit reintervention and dysfunction rates were 52.9% and 45.9%, respectively. In the multivariable analysis, a smaller conduit z-score (p<0.001) was a shared risk factor for both conduit reintervention and dysfunction. Analysis of variance demonstrated a nonlinear relationship between the conduit z-score and conduit reintervention or dysfunction. The hazard ratio was lowest in patients with a conduit z-score of 1.3 for reintervention and a conduit z-score of 1.4 for dysfunction. Conclusion: RV-PA conduit placement can be safely performed in infants. A significant number of patients required conduit reintervention and had conduit dysfunction. A slightly oversized conduit with a z-score of 1.3 may reduce the risk of conduit reintervention or dysfunction.

• International Journal of Vascular Biomedical Engineering
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• v.1 no.2
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• pp.20-29
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• 2003

A new treatment for coronary artery occlusive disease is being developed in which a shunt or conduit is placed directly connecting the left ventricle with the diseased artery at a point distal to the obstruction. To aid in assessing and optimizing its benefit, a computational model of the cardiovascular system was developed and used to explore various design conditions. Simulation results indicate that in complete LAD occlusion, flow can be returned to approximately 65% of normal if the conduit resistance is equal for forward and reverse flow, increasing to 80% in the limit in which backflow resistance is infinite. Increases in flow rate produced by asymmetric flow resistance are considerably enhanced in the case of a partial LAD obstruction since the primary effect of resistance asymmetry is to prevent leakage back into the ventricle("steal") during diastole. Increased arterial compliance has little effect on net flow with a symmetric shunt, but leads to considerable augmentation when the resistance is asymmetric. These results suggest that an LV-LAD conduit will be beneficial when stenosis resistance(Rst) > 27 PRU if resistance is symmetric.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.45 no.6
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• pp.351-367
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• 2012

This second report in the series on coronary artery bypass presents the authors experience and personal views on the internal thoracic artery (ITA) which date to 1966. There has been a very gradual evolution in the acceptance of this conduit which was initially compared with the saphenous vein and viewed as an improbable alternative to it. As is common with concepts and techniques which are 'outside the box' there was skepticism and criticism of this new conduit which was more difficult and time consuming to harvest for the surgeon who had to do it all. It was viewed as small, fragile, spastic and its flow capacity was questioned. Only a few surgeons employed it because of these issues and some of them would frequently graft it to the diagonal artery as it was thought not to supply adequate flow for the left anterior descending unless it was small. After a decade, angiographic data revealed superior patency to vein grafts. Even this evidence and survival benefit reported a few years later did not convince many surgeons that their concerns about limitations justified its use. Thus widespread adaption of the ITA as the conduit of choice for the anterior descending required another decade and bilateral use is only now expanding to more than 5% of patients in the US and somewhat faster in other countries.

• Journal of Mechanical Science and Technology
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• v.19 no.5
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• pp.1158-1168
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• 2005

A shunt from the left ventricle to the left anterior descending artery is being developed for coronary artery occlusive disease, in which the shunt or conduit connects the the left ventricle (LV) with the diseased artery directly at a point distal to the obstruction. To aid in assessing and optimizing its benefit, a computational model of the cardiovascular system was developed and used to explore various design conditions. Computational fluid dynamic analysis for the shunt hemodynamics was also done using a commercial finite element package. Simulation results indicate that in complete left anterior descending artery (LAD) occlusion, flow can be returned to approximately 65% of normal, if the conduit resistance is equal for forward and reverse flow. The net coronary flow can increase to 80% when the backflow resistance is infinite. The increases in flow rate produced by asymmetric flow resistance are enhanced considerably for a partial LAD obstruction, since the primary effect of resistance asymmetry is to prevent leakage back into the ventricle during diastole. Increased arterial compliance has little effect on net flow with a symmetric shunt, but considerably augments it when the resistance is asymmetric. The computational results suggest that an LV-LAD conduit will be beneficial when the resistance due to artery stenosis exceeds 27 PRU, if the resistance is symmetric. Fluid dynamic simulations for the shunt flow show that a recirculating region generated near the junction of the coronary artery with the bypass shunt. The secondary flow is induced at the cutting plane perpendicular to the axis direction and it is in the attenuated of coronary artery.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.46 no.1
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• pp.84-87
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• 2013

A 60-year-old man visited the outpatient clinic due to one month of recurrent exertional chest pain. Eleven years earlier he had undergone off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting using bilateral internal thoracic artery (ITA) Y-composite grafts based on the left ITA. Preoperative coronary angiography showed patent distal graft anastomoses and visualized the left ITA retrogradely. The arch aortography revealed near-total occlusion of the left subclavian artery at the level of the ostium. The patient underwent left carotid-to-subclavian artery bypass grafting using a 6 mm vascular conduit. Postoperative computed tomographic angiography revealed a patent bypass conduit between the left common carotid artery and left subclavian artery. The patient was discharged on postoperative day 4 with no symptoms or signs of myocardial ischemia.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.46 no.6
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• pp.413-425
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• 2013

Background: Graft vessel preservation solution in coronary artery bypass surgery is used to maintain the graft conduit in optimal condition during the perioperative period. Nafamostat mesilate (NM) has anticoagulation and anti-inflammatory properties. Therefore, we investigated NM as a conduit preservative agent and compared it to papaverine. Methods: Sprague-Dawley (SD) rat thoracic aortas were examined for their contraction-relaxation ability using phenylephrine (PE) and acetylcholine (ACh) following preincubation with papaverine and NM in standard classical organ baths. Human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) were cultured to check for the endothelial cell viability. Histopathological examination and terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end labeling assay were performed on the thoracic aortas of SD rats. Results: The anti-contraction effects of papaverine were superior to those of NM at PE (p<0.05). The relaxation effect of NM on ACh-induced vasodilatation was not statistically different from that of papaverine. Viability assays using HUVECs showed endothelial cell survival rates of >90% in various concentrations of both NM and papaverine. A histopathological study showed a protective effect against necrosis and apoptosis (p<0.05) in the NM group. Conclusion: NM exhibited good vascular relaxation and a reasonable anti-vasocontraction effect with a better cell protecting effect than papaverine; therefore, we concluded that NM is a good potential conduit preserving agent.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.13 no.4
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• pp.442-447
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• 1980

A 8-year-old boy underwent surgical correction of complete transposition S.D.D. of great arteries combined with subaortic ventricular septal defect and pulmonary stenosis [infundibular and valvular]. The operation consisted of an internal baffling connecting the left ventricle to the aorta through the ventricular septal defect. The pulmonary stenosis was corrected with the method of external connection, the right ventricle to the pulmonary artery using the conduit valve [20 mm] contained Hancock due to abnormal distribution of left coronary artery of which conduit due to abnormal distribution of left coronary artery of which the circumflex branch crossed the portion of right ventricular outflow tract. This case was suitable for corrective surgery-Rastelli operation-and the patient`s condition in very good until present [post-operative 5 months].

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.12 no.3
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• pp.274-280
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• 1979

A case of successful surgical correction of double-outlet right ventricle with situs inversus, dextrocardia, subaortic ventricular septal defect, and pulmonic stenosis is described. The great vessels were normally related but in mirror-image arrangement. Another coronary artery anomaly, single origin of coronary artery and a large anomalous coronary artery coursed across the right ventricular outflow tract, was accompanied. Intracardiac repair with a Dacron tunnel conduit and extracardiac jumping graft with a valved conduit gave an excellent result.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.24 no.2
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• pp.143-152
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• 1991

From 1983, until June, 1990, 10 patients with various type of truncus arteriosus underwent total surgical correction including Rastelli procedure at Seoul National University Hospital. The age at operation ranged from 1 month to 9 years [mean 2.1 years]. Six patients had truncus type I, 3 patients had truncus type II, and one patients had truncus type IIIc. Right ventricular pulmonary artery continuity was established with a porcine valved conduit in 6 patients, mechanical valved conduit in 1 patient, and bovine pericardial conduit in 3 patients. The postoperative right ventricular /left ventricular pressure ratio ranged from 0.4 to 0.71 [mean 0.51${\pm}$0.14]. The lung histology revealed grade II pulmonary obstructive disease even at 4 month of age. Five patients were dead in hospital [50%], and they were less than 2 year of age. One patient, who had severs congestive heart failure preoperatively, died of low output syndrome and the other died of low output syndrome with postoperative bleeding. There were three death, because of a pulmonary hypertensive crisis that might have been prevented. Two of the five survivors had conduit failure over a mean follow up of 42 months [range 1 to 78 months]. Obstructed conduit was removed and a new conduit constructed using the conduit bed as the posterior wall and the patch of bovine pericardium and Dacron as patch the roof of the conduit. One patient died of acute cardiac failure during the operation. Although results in infants less than 2 years old have not been good, current improvement of intra-and postoperative care suggested that prompt repair is indicated for infants with truncus arteriosus.

• Journal of Chest Surgery
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• v.28 no.6
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• pp.571-578
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• 1995

Rastelli operation in which right ventricle[RV and pulmonary artery[PA is connected with an artificial graft is effective in increasing the pulmonary blood flow in certain types of congenital heart disease but, in many, it requires a reoperation because of the relative stenosis of graft that develops as the patients become old. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the various factors which many influence the long term outcome of such patients following a Rastelli operation. A total of 47 patients underwent a Rastelli operation during a 15 year period between November, 1978 and October 1993. The mean follow-up period is 76.1 51.3 months.1 Among the 47 patients, a valved conduit was used in 30[63.8% , and non-valved conduit in 17[36.2% patients. In the 8 patients[17.0% who died postoperatively, a valved conduit was used in 5 [16.6% and a non-valved conduit in 3[17.6% . There was no statistical difference in mortality between the 2 groups. There was a good linear correlation between the body surface area[X and the conduit size[Y [Y=3.86X + 14.6, R=0.55, P=0.01 .2 Ten patients underwent replacement of the conduit during the follow-up period. The type of conduit used and the frequency of subsequent replacement were as follows: Ionescu-Shiley, valved-33.3%, Carpentier-Edwards, valved-30.8%, Hancock, valved-80% and non-valved conduit-9.1%. The median period free of reoperation was 110 months for the valved and 79 months for the non-valved group, there being no statistical difference between the 2 groups. 3 The patients who did not require reoperation are all doing well [New York Heart Association Functional Classification: Class I . Pressure gradient between the RV and the PA was 20 mmHg in 10 randomly selected patients who did not require reoperation and 92 9 mmHg in 10 patients who did require reoperation.4 In the 10 patients who underwent a conduit replacement procedure.5 Among patients undergoing reoperation, 2 died from endocarditis.The remaining 8 patients are doing well without limitation in physical activity at a mean follow-up period of 32.7 33.9 months [range 2 to 89 months . 6 At 5, 7, and 10 years, the reoperation-free rates among all patients were 96%, 91% and 29% and the survival rates were 82%, 82% and 71%. In conclusion, Rastelli operation is an effective procedure in ameliorating symptoms in a select group of patients with congenital heart disease. Because of the inherent nature of relative graft stenosis and degeneration, a long-term follow-up is required under the proper selection of the graft material.