The authors report the case of a man operated by coronary artery bypass graft using the right gastro-epiploic artery. Laparoscopic cholecystectomy had to be performed postoperatively because of cholecystitis. Surgeons must be aware of the possibility of coeliotomy in the context of coronary artery surgery: this is a small incision, the sternotomy incision is only slightly lengthened towards the epigastrium. A history of such surgery requires certain precautions during subsequent abdominal incisions, particularly laparoscopic, and during dissection of the porta hepatis.

Among 57 neonates undergoing repair of total anomalous pulmonary venous return with severe pulmonary venous obstruction from 1980 through 1989, date of operation (1980 to 1984), preoperative hemodynamic instability, and failure to monitor pulmonary artery pressure postoperatively were risk factors for death. Thus, among the 30 patients having repair between 1985 and 1989, the 55-month survival rate including hospital deaths was 83%.

Between January 1982 and October 1988, 25 infants with Tetralogy of Fallot underwent total correction, total primary repair was carried out in 22 cases; 3 underwent correction after a palliative anastomosis. The average age was 3.7 +/- 1.6 months; the average weight was 5.06 +/- 1.41 kg and average body surface area was 0.30 +/- 0.06 m2. Nineteen patients had a regular anatomic form and 6 had an irregular form of the condition. The hospital mortality was 8% (2 cases): the mortality was nil in the regular anatomic form but 33% in the irregular anatomic forms. Twenty-one patients have been followed up for an average of 50.8 +/- 19.2 months. There were no late deaths; two patients were reoperated for a residual pulmonary stenosis; 19 patients are well and asymptomatic. Doppler echocardiography shows a residual pressure gradient between the right ventricule and pulmonary artery of 17.8 +/- 22.7 mmHg associated with a grade 1-2/4 pulmonary regurgitation. There are no residual ventricular septal defects or cases of atrioventricular block requiring permanent pacing.

Between January 1982 and October 1988, 25 infants with Tetralogy of Fallot underwent total correction, total primary repair was carried out in 22 cases; 3 underwent correction after a palliative anastomosis. The average age was 3.7 +/- 1.6 months; the average weight was 5.06 +/- 1.41 kg and average body surface area was 0.30 +/- 0.06 m2. Nineteen patients had a regular anatomic form and 6 had an irregular form of the condition. The hospital mortality was 8 % (2 cases): the mortality was nil in the regular anatomic form but 33 % in the irregular anatomic forms. Twenty-one patients have been followed up for an average of 50.8 +/- 19.2 months. There were no late deaths; two patients were reoperated for a residual pulmonary stenosis; 19 patients are well and asymptomatic. Doppler echo-cardiography shows a residual pressure gradient between the right ventricule and pulmonary artery of 17.8 +/- 22.7 mmHg associated with a grade 1-2/4 pulmonary regurgitation. There are no residual ventricular septal defects or cases of atrioventricular block requiring permanent pacing.

From Jan. 1, 1983, to Jan. 1, 1988, 66 consecutive neonates with coarctation and severe hypoplasia of the transverse arch underwent coarctation repair by resection of the coarctation and reconstruction of the aortic arch. Mean age at operation was 14 +/- 8 days, ranging from 2 to 30 days; 63% of the newborn infants were less than 2 weeks of age. The coarctation was isolated in 23%, associated with a ventricular septal defect in 39%, and associated with complex anomalies in 38%, including 16 cases of transposition of the great arteries or doublet-outlet right ventricle plus ventricular septal defect, two cases of simple transposition, two of corrected transposition plus ventricular septal defect, and five cases of "hypoplastic" left ventricle. The surgical technique comprises a wide resection of the coarctation extended to the contiguous ductal tissue followed by the reconstruction of the aortic arch in bringing the descending aorta into the concavity of the aortic arch. This technique is able to relieve the obstruction of the aortic arch provided that (1) the descending aorta is widely dissected to allow mobilization and (2) the incision of the transverse arch is extended proximal to the ostium of the left carotid artery. The operation was performed through a left thoracotomy in 62 patients and through a sternotomy in four additional neonates with transposition and ventricular septal defect who underwent a one-stage repair with aortic reconstruction, closure of the defect, and arterial switch. The overall early mortality rate (less than 30 days) was 14% (9/66; 95% confidence limits = 5% to 22%), including four deaths occurring within the first month, at a concomitant or subsequent repair of the associated anomaly. There were six late deaths, all related to the associated lesions. The overall mortality rate was 23% (15/66; 95% confidence limits = 13% to 33%). The mean follow-up was 21 +/- 10 months, ranging from 6 to 66 months. Actuarial survival rates at 5 years are 72% +/- 10% for the overall group; 87% +/- 17% for simple coarctation; 88% +/- 12% for coarctation and ventricular septal defect; and 52% +/- 18% for complex coarctation. The rate of recurrent coarctation was 12.5% (95% confidence limits = 2% to 23%), leading to five reoperations with no deaths. Freedom from reoperation was 89.5% +/- 9% at 5 years. This technique of coarctation repair offers several advantages: low operative mortality, complete relief of the left ventricular obstruction, wide resection of the ductus tissue, absence of prosthetic material, and preservation of the left subclavian artery.

Of 107 patients operated for total anomalous pulmonary venous drainage (TAPVD) at Marie-Lannelongue Hospital between January 1980 and November 1989, 57 had severe pulmonary venous obstruction. The average age of the patients at operation was 13.6 days and their average body weight was 3.2 kg. Twenty eight patients had an infracardiac, 23 patients a supracardiac, 2 patients an intracardiac and 4 patients a mixed type of TAPVD. The diagnosis of pulmonary venous obstruction was made on the findings of low cardiac output and pulmonary hypertension exceeding the systemic blood pressure, and on the results of angiography and Doppler echocardiography. Seventy five per cent of patients were admitted in Class IV of the NYHA Classification. Since 1985, treatment has been directed towards prevention of pulmonary hypertension. Echocardiographic diagnosis is considered sufficient for posing the surgical indication. Surgery should be performed before degradation of the patient's clinical condition or after a short period of stabilisation. The prevention of hypertensive crises in the postoperative period depends on continuous monitoring of pulmonary pressures. This approach has considerably improved our surgical results as the mortality rate has fallen from 59 p. 100 (1980-1984) to 13.3 p. 100 (1985-1989) (p less than 0.005). In conclusion, obstruction of the pulmonary veins in TAPVD is no longer considered to be a poor prognostic factor, providing measures are taken to prevent pulmonary hypertension before, during and after surgery.

The authors report the medico-surgical experience of Marie Lannelongue hospital of a rare condition: accessory mitral valve tissue. Seven patients aged 2 to 28 years (average: 8.7 years) had left ventricular outflow obstruction due to accessory mitral valve tissue. The diagnostic was not obvious clinically and was based on the association of echocardiographic and angiographic data. This condition was associated with another intra-cardiac malformation in 6 of the 7 patients. Surgical treatment included resection of the accessory mitral valve tissue by an aortic or combined aorto-left atrial approach, together with correction of the associated intracardiac abnormality. The postoperative results were excellent with the regression of the ventriculo-aortic pressure gradient and the physiological integrity of the mitral valve.

Thirteen patients requiring emergency surgery for desinsertion of their aortic valve prostheses were treated by subcoronary aortic valve grafting, using a procedure based on Danielson's method. The particularity characterizing this technique consists in obtaining direct revascularization of the left coronary artery via a coronary sinus approach, thereby reducing the complexity of the surgical operation. All the patients presented valvular ring lesions, associated with aortic root degeneration accountable for failure of conventional artificial aortic valve replacements; in 8 patients, this had been their third aortic prosthetic surgery. The mean survival period for eight patients was 44 months. Considering the highly critical aspect of such lesions, this technique apparently constitutes a working solution, barring all chances for relapse.

We present our 7 years' experience in the treatment of repeated stitch failure of the suture line on aortic valve replacements. We used a valved tube placed in the supra-coronary position. This technique prevented further stitch failure and also prevented postop infections. Of eight patients operated on, five had survived.

Between 1982 and 1988, 194 infants under 6 months of age underwent surgical closure of a ventricular septal defect at the Marie Lannelongue Surgical Centre. The hospital death in this series was 6.7 p. 100. Mortality was influenced by the infant's age, by associated cardiac or extracardiac lesions and by the pre-operative ventilatory status. A residual ventricular septal defect was present in 11 infants (5.6 p. 100). Complete atrioventricular block occurred in 2 cases (1.1 p. 100). These results are in favour of a complete repair of simple ventricular septal defects at a very young age if medical treatment does not result in a satisfactory improvement.

The case of a 9-month old infant with congenital tracheal stenosis due to complete tracheal rings, associated with an aberrant left pulmonary artery is reported. Surgery was carried out under extracorporeal circulation to ensure adequate oxygen supply. Extubation, thus made possible, enabled the lesion to located accurately by bronchoscopy. Tracheoplasty by means of an autologus pericardial patch was performed. The quality of the repair was checked by a second bronchoscopy. The long-term result is satisfactory.

Interrupted aortic arch is a duct-dependent heart disease, and this is why the use of prostaglandins E, which keep the ductus arteriosus open to feed the descending aorta, has transformed its formerly sombre prognosis. The authors report the cases of 9 neonates and infants presenting with interrupted aortic arch associated with ventricular septal defect who underwent total repair of the malformations under extracorporeal circulation. Five children were less than 10 years' old. The aortic lesions were of type A in 2 cases (interruption distal to the left subclavian artery) and of type B in 7 cases (interruption between the left carotid and subclavian arteries). In the second group the lesions were of type B1 in 5 cases (without retro-oesophageal right subclavian artery) and of type B2 in 2 cases (right retro-oesophageal artery distal to the interruption). There was one death (11 p. 100). So far, no child has been reoperated upon for residual aortic obstruction or reopened ventricular septal defect. This technique of total repair in one stage, with closure of the ventricular septal defect, seems to be preferable to the two-stage technique in which stage one includes, in addition to aortic arch repair, cerclage of the pulmonary artery, a procedure with numerous disadvantages and a higher overall mortality rate.