Redo mitral valve replacement using valve-on-valve technique in a patient with severe posterior mitral annular calcification

Redo mitral valve replacement surgery due to bioprosthetic valve failure can carry serious surgical challenges. In addition to the usual redo sternotomy risk, there is risk of circumflex coronary artery injury or atrioventricular disruption from explanting the prosthesis. Alternatives to prosthesis explantation may be needed in some cases.We report a case of mitral bioprosthetic valve failure in a young patient who had a history of atrioventricular disruption during the first surgery and had pericardial patch repair of the defect. The risk of explanting the bioprosthesis during redo surgery was very high. Therefore, we performed valve replacement using valve-on-valve technique in which the new valve is implanted within the sewing ring of the previous bioprosthesis without explanting the valve. This technique converted a very highly futile surgery to a conventional redo surgery risk. The patient had a successful surgery with no intraoperative or postoperative complications.

Autologous Pericardial Patch Repair for Papillary Fibroelastoma on an Aortic Valve Leaflet

A 50-year-old man with no history of cardiovascular disease was referred to our hospital because of an abnormal electrocardiogram. Echocardiograms and computed tomograms revealed a 9-mm mass on the underside of an aortic valve leaflet. We chose surgical treatment, to prevent embolic events. The tumor's appearance and intraoperative frozen section were consistent with myxoma. We resected the tumor and its attachment, including the free margin of the aortic valve leaflet, and repaired the defect with use of a glutaraldehyde-treated autologous pericardial patch. The postoperative histopathologic diagnosis was papillary fibroelastoma. Six months later, echocardiograms showed mild aortic regurgitation and no recurrence of the aortic valve mass. Papillary fibroelastoma and myxoma can be difficult to distinguish intraoperatively, yet the diagnosis has considerable influence on the surgical strategy, including whether valve-sparing excision is an option. Therefore, it is necessary to at least suspect both entities if the tumor characteristics are unusual. This case is instructive for surgeons and pathologists.

Delayed aorto-right atrial fistula following percutaneous closure of atrial septal defect

We present the case of a 27-year-old man who underwent percutaneous atrial septal defect (ASD) repair using the Amplatzer® (St Jude Medical, St Paul, MN, US) septal occluder (ASO). Six weeks later, he presented with heart failure and was found to have an aorto-right atrial fistulation. He required urgent surgical device explantation and repair of the existing ASD using a pericardial patch repair technique. This is the first case to be reported from the UK describing a delayed aorto-right atrial fistula following percutaneous closure using ASO.