右后外侧小切口剖胸治疗冠状动脉右心室和/或右心房瘘

目的:总结经右外侧腋下小切口入胸体外循环辅助直视下治疗冠状动脉右心室右心房瘘的手术经验及效果。方法:选取本院2002年1月至2018年12月,行冠状动脉右心室和/或右心房瘘矫治术患儿31例,其中经胸骨正中开胸完成手术矫治的患儿16例(正中组),男性9例,女性7例,中位年龄11.8个月(6～32)个月,中位体质量12.7 kg(7.5～29 kg)。其中右冠状动脉右心室瘘9例,左冠状动脉右心室瘘5例,右冠状动脉右心房瘘2例;经右外侧小切口剖胸(右侧组)行手术矫治的患儿15例,男性9例,女性6例。中位年龄10.8个月(5～28个月),中位体质量11.6 kg(5.6～18)kg。右冠状动脉右心室瘘9例,左冠状动脉右心室瘘4例,右冠状动脉右心房瘘2例。均在全身麻醉体外循环辅助下完成冠状动脉右心室和/或右心房瘘矫治术。结果:右侧组术后无死亡。术后残余瘘2例。正中死亡1例,死于低心排出量综合征(低心排);术后残余瘘2例。右侧组手术时间、切口长度、ICU停留时间、术后引流量、术后输血量、术后呼吸机辅助时间以及住院时间都显著低于正中组;主动脉阻断时间差异无统计学意义。随访3～38个月,心脏功能恢复良好。结论:经右侧腋下小切口直视下行冠状动脉右心室右心房瘘矫治手术,手术安全可靠,术野清晰,创伤小,术后恢复良好。     

Isolated right ventricular aneurysm following right ventricular infarction

A 78-year-old man with atherosclerotic heart disease developed extensive right ventricular infarction fibrosis with aneurysm formation following right coronary artery occlusion. No symptoms of right-sided heart failure were present. Postmortem examination revealed that 40% of the right ventricle, 11% of the septum and 7% of the left ventricular free wall were infarcted due to right coronary artery occlusion. This is the first documented case of isolated aneurysm of the right ventricle following infarction and it demonstrates that even extensive right ventricular destruction may be present without symptoms.     

Synovial sarcoma in the right atrium and right ventricle

A metastatic synovial sarcoma in the right atrium and ventricle is described. A 36-year-old man was admitted to our hospital with generalized fatigue, dyspnoea, and precordial pain. Transthoracic echocardiography demonstrated a metastatic tumour in both the right atrium and right ventricle and revealed obstruction of the inflow tract of the right ventricle caused by a metastatic right atrial tumour. Thoracic computed tomography revealed a pleural-based paravertebral mass in the left intrathoracic cavity and multiple pulmonary nodules in both lungs. Cardiac surgery was performed for palliative treatment due to right cardiac failure and a risk of fatal embolization. The patient died 12 months after the cardiac surgery.     

Giant right atrial aneurysm presenting as right heart failure

Idiopathic aneurysmal dilatations of the right atrium are rare anomalies. We report one such case of a young man presenting with fatigue, abdominal distension, pedal oedema, unremarkable cardiac examination except for raised jugular venous pressure, an electrocardiogram showing normal sinus rhythm with right bundle-branch block, and an radiograph of the chest showing cardiomegaly. The echocardiographic examination revealed a giant right atrium with low pressure tricuspid regurgitation. The computed tomography confirmed the findings of two-dimensional echocardiography. He was put on medical treatment and remained symptomatically controlled on follow-up.     

Usefulness of echocardiographic right ventricular measurements in estimating right ventricular hypertrophy and right ventricular systolic pressure

Right ventricular wall thickness (T) measurements were made in 111 patients by echocardiography to evaluate their usefulness in diagnossing right ventricular hypertrophy (RVH) and in predicting right ventricular peak systolic pressure (P). Anatomic and echocardiographic findings of RVH were compared in 36 of 111 subjects: diastolic T (dT) and systolic T (sT) had a sensitivity of 90 and 34% and a specificity of 94 and 100%, respectively, in the diagnosis of RVH. Echocardiographic and hemodynamic findings were compared in the remaining 75 of 111 patients undergoing cardiac catheterization: dt was 6.5 +/- 2.7 mm in 46 patients with elevated P (58.2 +/- 30.2 mm Hg) versus 3.8 +/- 0.9 in 29 patients with normal P (26.3 +/- 2.7 mm Hg) (p less than 0.01). The dT and P had a linear correlation (r = 0.92) in 40 patients with right ventricular end-diastolic dimension less than 13 mm/m2. Estimates of P in 22 patients with atrial septal defect and right ventricular end-diastolic dimension greater than 13 mm/m2 were fairly good (r = 0.83). It is concluded that echocardiographic measurements of T are useful in diagnosing RVH and in estimating P.     

Changes in right ventricular ejection fraction in right coronary angioplasty

In order to analyse the response of the right ventricule (RV) to transient myocardial ischaemia, the RV ejection fraction was measured using a new rapid response thermodilution catheter in 15 patients (14 men and 1 woman: average age 58 +/- 7 years) referred for percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty of a dominant right coronary artery. Only patients with single vessel disease with a proximal stenosis of the right coronary without a visible collateral circulation who had no previous history of myocardial infarction were included. Right heart catheterisation was performed with a rapid-response thermodilution catheter which enabled measurement of heart rate, cardiac index, RV end-diastolic and end-systolic volumes and RV ejection fraction. Angioplasty was carried out with the usual steerable balloon catheters. During balloon inflation, there was a slight increase in RV end-diastolic volume (from 78 +/- 11 ml/m2 to 85 +/- 13 ml/m2 at 60 seconds; p less than 0.01) and a large increase in RV end-systolic volume (from 29 +/- 8 ml/m2 to 35 +/- 8 ml/m2 at 30 seconds and 43 +/- 11 ml/m2 at 60 seconds, p less than 0.001) leading to a significant decrease in RV ejection fraction (from 62 +/- 8% to 56 +/- 6% at 30 seconds and 51 +/- 7% at 60 seconds; p less than 0.001). All parameters returned to basal values two minutes after the dilatation. Acute occlusion of the proximal segment of the right coronary artery is therefore associated with a marked change in right ventricular function which rapidly returns to normal after the coronary circulation is restored.     

Rupture of right coronary artery aneurysm into the right atrium

A 63-year-old man presented with acute congestive heart failure and was found to have a continuous murmur. Two years earlier, he had an inferior myocardial infarct, when no murmurs were heard. Angiography showed a right coronary artery aneurysm communicating with the right atrium. The distal vessel was occluded. The aneurysm was resected and the patient remains well. It is proposed that this was a congenital aneurysm which led firstly to the myocardial infarct and finally ruptured into the right atrium.