Adequate exposure is a prerequisite for open valve surgery. The mitral valve can rarely be very challenging to expose. We describe a redo double valve replacement in a patient with nephrogenic systemic fibrosis in whom exposure of the mitral valve was achieved with cardiac autotransplantation.

OBJECTIVES The purpose of this study was to determine whether the number of operated valves affects early and late outcomes in redo valvular surgery. METHODS We analysed 328 consecutive patients who underwent a total of 431 redo valvular surgeries from January 1990 to December 2010. The mean age was 61.5 ± 13.0 years. The main indication for redo surgery was structural valve deterioration (66...

BACKGROUND Postoperative bleeding after cardiac reoperations is among the most complicating problems, both for the physicians and for the patients. Many modalities have been used to decrease its adverse effects and the need for blood products administration. OBJECTIVES In a randomized double-blinded clinical trial of redo cardiac valve surgery in adult, the effect of active recombinant factor...

Redo mitral valve (MV) surgery via sternotomy in the presence of dense adhesions can be associated with significant complications:including injuries to the heart:great vessels and patent coronary artery grafts:that can increase morbidity and mortality. Although less likely to occur during minimally invasive MV surgery:adhesion-related injuries can be more difficult to repair because of limited ...

Different minimally invasive approaches have been proposed for cardiac surgery. Between those, the ministernotomy finds wide consensus for the treatment of the aortic disease, being both the upper reversed T and the upper J the mostly used type of incisions. The authors review the literature on the use of ministernotomy in the treatment of the ascending aorta and arch pathology. The scientific ...

BACKGROUND Goitre recurrence is a common problem following subtotal thyroid gland resection for multinodular goitre disease. The aim of the present study was to evaluate morbidity rate in relation to the side of initial and redo-surgery for recurrent disease. METHODS A total of 1699 patients underwent consecutive thyroid gland surgery between 1997 and 2010 at our institution. One hundred and ...

Surgery for refractory gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) and hiatal hernia leads to recurrence or persisting dysphagia in a minority of patients. Redo antireflux surgery in GERD and hiatal hernia is known for higher morbidity and mortality. This study aims to evaluate conventional versus robot-assisted laparoscopic redo antireflux surgery, with the objective to detect possible advantages f...

OBJECTIVE(S) We evaluated our experience to investigate if the use of bilateral internal mammary artery (BIMA) grafting, with or without complementary saphenous vein grafts (SVGs), if compared to the use of single IMA and SVG(s), increases the quality of the results of coronary bypass grafting in patients younger than 75 years who undergo first myocardial revascularization. METHODS From Septe...