A 55-year-old man developed severe mitral regurgitation with persistent fungal infective endocarditis 8 months after coronary artery bypass grafting with a left internal mammary artery and 2 saphenous veins, as well as mitral valve repair with a prosthetic ring. Echocardiography demonstrated severe mitral regurgitation and a valvular vegetation. Computed tomography coronary arteriography indicated that all grafts were patent and located intimately close to the sternum. Median resternotomy was not attempted due to the risk of injury to the bypass grafts, and therefore, a right anterolateral thoracotomy approach was utilized. Mitral valve replacement was performed with the patient under deep hypothermia and ventricular fibrillation without aortic cross-clamping. The patient`s postoperative course was uneventful. Thus, right anterolateral thoracotomy may be a superior approach to mitral valve surgery in patients who have undergone prior coronary artery bypass grafting.
POINT: Efficacy of adding mitral valve restrictive annuloplasty to coronary artery bypass grafting in patients with moderate ischemic mitral valve regurgitation: A randomized trial
