Coronary injury in mitral and aortic valve surgery: a case series using optical coherence tomography.

Coronary occlusion is a rare but well-described complication of heart valve surgery. The left circumflex coronary artery, especially when it is dominant, is particularly at risk owing to the proximity of the mitral valve annulus. We report three cases of acute coronary complications of different valvular surgical procedures diagnosed and treated in the cardiac catheterization laboratory. Intra-coronary optical coherence tomography was used to identify the cause of coronary flow impairment and provided important insights into the mechanism of intra-operative vascular damage. (C) 2020 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons