Left ventricular aneurysm repair with use of a bovine pericardial patch

Unrecognized concomitant ventricular septal rupture and left ventricular aneurysm 10 months after myocardial infarction in a patient presenting with chronic heart failure

BACKGROUND

We report a rare case of concomitant inferior left ventricular aneurysm and ventricular septal rupture in a patient presenting with chronic heart failure.

CASE PRESENTATION

An 81-year-old man suffered from congestive heart failure. His symptoms were alleviated by medical management; however, heart failure symptoms continued according to the New York Heart Association Functional Classification III. Ten months after presentation, ventricular septal rupture was diagnosed using echocardiography. The left ventricular aneurysm was also complicated. Surgical repair of the ventricular septal rupture and left ventricular aneurysm was successfully performed. The ventricular septal rupture consisted of multiple holes, and the infarcted myocardium had already progressed to firm, fibrotic scar tissue. We closed the ventricular septal rupture with a small bovine pericardial patch and performed an aneurysmectomy with a liner technique.

CONCLUSIONS

Cases of ventricular septal rupture can have various clinical scenarios, and treatment should be optimized for each patient, especially with respect to the timing of surgery.

Use of Pericardium for Cardiac Reconstruction Procedures in Acquired Heart Diseases-A Comprehensive Review

BACKGROUND

Reconstruction of cardiac structures has been the goal of many surgeons even before the advent of open-heart procedures with cardiopulmonary bypass. Unsatisfactory results with synthetic materials has switched the attention to biological tissues, among which pericardium, either autologous or of animal origin, has been widely used as patch material.

METHODS

We have reviewed the literature to assess the effective role of pericardial tissue in the correction of various acquired cardiac lesions. Particularly, special attention was given not only to established techniques but also to detect any peculiar and unusual application of pericardium.

RESULTS

Autologous pericardium is frequently used as patch material particularly when limited valvular lesions must be corrected, while xenograft pericardium appears particularly useful in patients with endocarditis and extensive destruction of the intracardiac structures by infection and abscesses. Pericardium is an extremely versatile material owing to its pliability and strength; however, it tends to calcify in the long term when in contact with blood, although stability of the repair is maintained in most cases.

CONCLUSIONS

Pericardium plays an important role in various cardiac and aortic pathologies. Tissues resistant to fibrosis and calcification to be used as patch material are the ideal solution for more successful cardiac reconstruction procedures and will hopefully be provided by the ongoing research.

Comparative Cellular Local Response in Abdominal Defect Plastic Surgery with Bovine Pericardium and Bovine Fascia Preserved in Formaldehyde in Experimental Rabbits

In the present paper, we refer to a method of primary closure of congenital defects of the anterior abdominal wall with tensionless viscero-abdominal disproportion. The study group included 10 animals subjected to surgery of the abdominal wall defect closure with bovine pericardium graft preserved in 0.5% formaldehyde, and 5 rabbits of the same breed and weight, in which bovine fascia graft was used as implant, being preserved in 0.5% formaldehyde. The abdominal anterior wall defect was made surgically by excision of the musculo-fascial structures and peritoneum. Bovine pericardium graft and bovine fascia graft were placed and fixed posteriorly to rectus abdominals muscles, having direct contact with the intra-abdominal contents and protected by suturing skin and subcutaneous layer.

The purpose of the study was to perform a comparative postoperative evaluation of local macroscopic and microscopic changes that develop after reconstruction of the major abdominal wall defects experimentally induced in rabbits, using bovine pericardium and bovine fascia grafts preserved in 0.5% formaldehyde.

In cases of major fascial defects of the anterior abdominal wall, bovine pericardium graft has acceptable strength and biocompatibility, having stabilizing properties of the abdominal wall due to the development of the connective tissue layer located between the implant and the subcutaneous layer. Bovine fascia grafts preserved in formaldehyde have an insignificant irritating and inflammatory action on the intestinal loops compared with bovine pericardium, and do not induce the development of a significant abdominal adhesion process, this allowing their use in the abdominal fascial defects closure with placement in direct contact with the abdominal contents.