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Ricardo de Carvalho Lima

Publications and source records attributed to Ricardo de Carvalho Lima.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

How much myocardial revascularization can we do without extracorporeal circulation?

OBJECTIVE: The main goal of this study is to present a technical alternative that allows myocardial revascularization to be performed on the marginal branches of the circumflex coronary artery without the use of extracorporeal circulation (ECC). METHODS: The technique for exposing the coronary vessels is performed by placing a stitch in the posterior pericardium. The surgeon lifts the heart using his or her left hand with the aim of exposing the posterior pericardium. A single polypropylene "O" stitch on a #4 needle is threaded into a cardiac ribbon folded back on itself and run twice through the region between the inferior pulmonary vein and the inferior vena cava. The suture thread is run along a tourniquet-type rubber tube and the latter is then directed down to the pericardium, bringing the cardiac ribbon with it. Handling the thread by means of such a tourniquet and the two parts of the ribbon makes it possible to maneuver the heart into different positions in order to expose the coronary arteries: anterior interventricular, diagonal, circumflex, and right coronary. In the present study, the position exposing the coronary arteries was adopted. The circumflex artery was exposed by separating the two legs of the ribbon and pulling one of them +/- 90 degrees to the right and the other +/- 90 degrees to the left of the patient's main axis, with the polypropylene thread being pulled in the direction of the patient's main axis and fixed in the inferior angle of the surgical wound. RESULTS: From August 1981 to June 1999, 609 patients had their arteries revascularized without the use of ECC. Among this group, 147 patients (24.14%) had the circumflex artery revascularized. Of the 609 patients, 48 (7.88%) presented serious complications and 21 (3.44%) died. CONCLUSIONS: It was possible to modify the anatomical position of the heart by exposing the circumflex artery with its marginal obtuse branches and performing anastomosis in a simple manner with no loss of quality or hemodynamic involvement, permitting a complete revascularization without the aid of extracorporeal circulation.

Anastomosis, Surgical↗

Patient selection in off-cardiopulmonary bypass revascularization.

BACKGROUND: The last few years have been marked by striking advances in off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCABG), thanks mainly to developments in instrumentation and technical progress in the revascularization of the posterior arteries of the heart. In 2001, OPCABG was performed on approximately 20% of patients who underwent surgical myocardial revascularization in the United States. This retrospective study aims to evaluate our experience with this procedure over the past 10 years, emphasizing the rapid and increasing progress of the method, indications, contraindications, and results. METHODS: Between August 1991 and December 2001, 2,759 patients suffering from angina pectoris underwent OPCABG. The patients' ages ranged from 13 to 93 years with a mean of 63 years +/- 12 years. The over 80-year-old group accounted for 3.5% of the patients. Males represented 58% of the patients. RESULTS: Intraoperative mortality in OPCABG was low. In the intraoperative period 0.4% of patients died, and the figure for the postoperative period was 2.5%. It was noted that 7.9% of the patients presented serious, nonfatal complications. CONCLUSIONS: OPCABG is a reproducible procedure with results similar to those obtained in revascularization of the myocardium using extracorporeal circulation (ECC). We believe that over 90% of patients can be operated upon without the aid of extracorporeal circulation (ECC). In our experience, all patients are potential candidates for myocardial revascularization surgery without ECC.

Adolescent↗