Faculty Bibliography

OBJECTIVES: Ventricular resynchronization might be achieved in a minimally invasive fashion using a robotically assisted, direct left ventricular (LV) epicardial approach. BACKGROUND: Approximately 10% of patients undergoing biventricular pacemaker insertion have a failure of coronary sinus (CS) cannulation. Rescue therapy for these patients currently is limited to standard open surgical techniques. METHODS: Ten patients with congestive heart failure (New York Heart Association class 3.4 +/- 0.5) and a widened QRS complex (184 +/- 31 ms) underwent robotic LV lead placement after failed CS cannulation. Mean patient age was 71 +/- 12 years, LV ejection fraction (EF) was 12 +/- 6%, and LV end-diastolic diameter was 7.1 +/- 1.3 cm. Three patients had previous cardiac surgery, and five patients had a prior device implanted. RESULTS: Nineteen epicardial leads were successfully placed on the posterobasal surface of the LV. Intraoperative lead threshold was 1.0 +/- 0.5 V at 0.5 ms, R-wave was 18.6 +/- 8.6 mV, and impedance was 1,143 +/- 261 ohms at 0.5 V. Complications included an intraoperative LV injury and a postoperative pneumonia. Improvements in exercise tolerance (8 of 10 patients), EF (19 +/- 13%, p = 0.04), and QRS duration (152 +/- 21 ms, p = 0.006) have been noted at three to six months follow-up. Lead thresholds have remained unchanged (2.1 +/- 1.4 V at 0.5 ms, p = NS), and a significant drop in impedance (310 +/- 59 ohms, p < 0.001) has been measured. CONCLUSIONS: Robotic LV lead placement is an effective and novel technique which can be used for ventricular resynchronization therapy in patients with no other minimally invasive options for biventricular pacing.

The current recommendations for treating myasthenia gravis include surgical thymectomy for patients between puberty and 60 years of age. This is a report of a new method for surgical thymectomy using the robotic da Vinci surgical system for a totally endoscopic approach. This new procedure combines the potential advantages of minimally invasive methods with the efficacy of open procedures.

The diagnosis and management of mediastinal masses frequently necessitates biopsy and surgical resection. The use of videothorascopic techniques has broadened the surgeon's ability to evaluate and treat such tumors using a minimally invasive approach. We describe herein the use of the da Vinci Robotic Surgical System for evaluating a mediastinal mass in a young woman.

Our understanding of the pathophysiology of obstruction in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy has evolved since initial descriptions in the late 1950s. This review addresses the cause of obstruction, from early ideas that a muscular outflow tract sphincter was the cause, through the discovery of systolic anterior motion (SAM) of the mitral valve, to current understanding that flow drag, the pushing force of flow, is the dominant hydrodynamic mechanism for SAM. The continuing redesign and modification of surgical procedures to relieve outflow obstruction have corresponded to ideas about the cause of this condition. In this review we discuss the evolution of surgical procedures to relieve obstruction and review modern surgical approaches. Medical and nonsurgical methods for reducing obstruction are reviewed, as well as efforts to prevent sudden arrhythmic cardiac death. Echocardiography has become central to understanding this complex phenomenon, and for clinical diagnosis, operative planning and intraoperative management.

OBJECTIVES: We examined whether bilateral internal thoracic artery (BITA) revascularization is associated with any increased in-hospital mortality and complications compared with single internal thoracic artery (SITA) revascularization. BACKGROUND: Despite proven long-term benefits, BITA revascularization has been slow to be adopted because of fear of increased early morbidity. METHODS: We evaluated 1,697 consecutive patients undergoing BITA (n = 867) or SITA (n = 830) revascularization. We used propensity score analyses and adjusted risk models to address differences between arms. RESULTS: There were 20 (2.3%) deaths in the BITA group versus 26 (3.1%) in the SITA group (odds ratio 0.73, p = 0.30). Propensity analysis identified several parameters that affected the decision to use BITA. Adjusting for propensity score and all potential risk factors, the odds ratio for death with BITA versus SITA was practically 1. Bilateral internal thoracic artery revascularization did not increase the number of in-hospital complications with the possible exception of deep sternal wound infections (11 [1.3%] vs. 3 [0.4%], p = 0.057). In multivariate modeling BITA increased the risk of deep sternal wound infections only in emergent cases and in older patients; the excess risk was negligible among 1,206 patients (71.1% of total) who did not have emergent revascularization and were < or =70 years old (risk difference 0.3%, p = 0.74). There was no difference in length of stay after adjustment for propensity factors (mean 11.3 vs. 11.7 days, p = 0.66). CONCLUSIONS: Bilateral internal thoracic artery revascularization grafting confers no increased risk for early death and does not prolong hospital stay. The small increase in the risk of deep sternal wound infections does not affect the majority of patients.

A laser Doppler tissue perfusion monitor was used to measure sternal blood flow before, during, and after mobilization of the internal thoracic arteries in 24 patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting. To minimize chest wall injury, a narrow pedicle was mobilized. Bilateral flow data were available from 15 of the 24 patients. Analysis of these 39 studies showed no significant reduction of sternal blood flow as a consequence of mobilization of the internal thoracic arteries except in 2 patients who were both diabetic and obese.

Angiographic comparisons of late morphology of internal thoracic artery (ITA) and saphenous vein grafts (SVG) in the same patients established morphologic superiority of the ITA grafts (1983). 15-year clinical follow-up of 748 consecutive patients having ITA and SVGs (532) or SVGs alone (216) established the clinical advantages given to patients by ITA grafts (1986): (1) higher cumulative survival rate (P less than 0.01); (2) less early recurrence of angina (P less than 0.01); (3) fewer late myocardial infarctions (P less than 0.02); (4) lower reoperation rate (P less than 0.001). Benefits to patients having bilateral ITA grafts (38) exceeded even those of single ITA grafts: (1) operative mortality = 0%; (2) cumulative survival (10 years) = 89.0%; (3) annual recurrence of angina = 1.5%; (4) annual late myocardial infarction = 1.1%; (5) mortality rate = 0%; (6) annual reoperation rate = 0%. These data prompted routine use of bilateral ITA grafts for all patients requiring multiple bypasses, and use of each ITA for as many bypasses as seemed feasible. Since 1986, ITA anastomoses have accounted for two thirds of anastomoses in all patients requiring multiple bypasses (average 3.2 anastomoses/patient). Results have been gratifying. Potential technical pitfalls are emphasized, and means of avoiding them described.