The coronary arterial sequelae due to Kawasaki disease have been treated surgically in five children ranged from 6 to 9 years old. The procedures were aortocoronary bypass surgery in all cases, coronary artery aneurysmectomy in one case and left ventricular aneurysmectomy in one case. The early results of operated cases have been good with the graft patency of 86% confirmed by angiography one month after surgery. The characteristic features of coronary artery damage in patients with Kawasaki disease are coronary artery aneurysms, which manifest wall irregularity, thrombus, calcification and stenosis. The significant stenosis of coronary artery could often be observed at the inlet or outlet of the aneurysm in major coronary artery branches. Although the early results of aortocoronary bypass surgery in the children with Kawasaki disease have been good, long-term follow up is mandatory to investigate the status of autogenous saphenous vein grafted in children.

Angiocardiography↗

PubMedDate not supplied

Low density lipoprotein apheresis during cardiopulmonary bypass of hypercholesterolemic patients.

Ischemia-reperfusion injury in open heart surgery can cause atherosclerotic changes in both bypass grafts and native coronary arteries by increasing endothelial permeability and allowing excessive influx of LDL into the subendothelium. The authors used LDL apheresis during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) to actively remove serum LDL before reperfusion, minimizing LDL influx. They evaluated the efficacy and safety of this new procedure in eight hypercholesterolemic patients. The control group consisted of 41 patients. Mean LDL cholesterol (LDL-C) level on admission was 180 +/- 41 (SD) in the LA group and 139 +/- 32 mg/dl in the control group (p = 0.02). After 105 +/- 27 min of apheresis, the LDL-C level in the LA group decreased to 62 +/- 25 mg/dl (reduction rate: 59 +/- 18%). In contrast, in the control group, the LDL-C level was reduced to 117 +/- 41 mg/dl (reduction rate: 16 +/- 9.5% [P = 0.0001]) after CPB. No significant difference was observed in intraoperative blood loss, postoperative blood loss, platelet count, prothrombin time, activated partial thromboplastin time, incidence of wound complications, or early patency rate of bypass graft between groups. Low density lipoprotein apheresis during CPB is a safe and effective method for lowering serum LDL level sufficiently before reperfusion, and can adequately reduce LDL influx into the vessel wall.

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