Effective therapies for preventing perioperative complications such as thrombosis and inflammation after coronary endarterectomy (CE) are lacking. Electrocoagulation electrotomes have been routinely used in surgery for their cutting, clotting, and hemostatic properties. As strong flattening tools, their electrocautery function may prevent mechanical intimal-adventitial injury to arterial circul...

OBJECTIVES To determine if Chlamydia pneumoniae (C. pneumoniae) is more prevalent in atherosclerotic compared with normal blood vessels of patients requiring redo and first time coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG). BACKGROUND Serological and pathological studies have associated atherosclerosis with C. pneumoniae infection. As atherosclerosis is one of the causes of graft failure follo...

OBJECTIVE To determine the outcome of Coronary Endarterectomy (CE) in patients undergoing Coronary Artery Bypass Graft (CABG) surgery for diffuse Coronary Artery Disease (CAD), in terms of postoperative mortality and morbidity, relief from angina and survival at one year. STUDY DESIGN A case series. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY Department of Cardiac Surgery, Armed Forces Institute of Cardiol...

BACKGROUND Management of patients with co-existent coronary and carotid disease is a controversial and challenging issue. The risk for stroke after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) in patients with hemodynamically significant carotid stenosis is up to 30%. In these patients a common practice is to proceed first with the restoration of cerebral perfusion and then perform the coronary revas...

The best surgical approach for the treatment of patients with severe cerebral artery disease and simultaneous serious coronary artery disease still remains controversial. In this report we present a case of a 72-year-old female patient admitted to the hospital with unstable angina. Triple coronary artery obstructive disease and severe bilateral carotid artery stenosis were diagnosed. A combined...

Kimura disease (KD) is an immune-mediated chronic inflammatory disease of unknown etiology. KD has many complications associated with hypereosinophilia, including various forms of allergic reactions and eosinophilic lung disease. Additionally, hypereosinophilia is associated with hypercoagulability, which may lead to thromboembolic events. A 36-year-old man with KD presented with acute limb isc...

A best evidence topic in cardiac surgery was written according to a structured protocol. The question addressed was whether off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting with coronary endarterectomy (OPCAB-CE) is a safe and feasible method of myocardial revascularization in patients presenting with diffuse coronary artery disease. Seventy-one papers were identified by a systematic search, of which n...

The coronary and extracranial carotid vascular beds are often simultaneously affected by significant atherosclerotic disease, and stroke is one of the potential major complications of coronary artery surgery. As a result, there is no shortage of reports in the vascular surgery literature describing simultaneous coronary and carotid artery revascularizations. Generally these reports have found t...