Valve Replacement Performed on the Beating Heart with Continuous Retrograde Coronary Sinus Isothermic Blood Perfusion Combined with Coronary Bypass

Abstract

An operation on the beating heart was planned for a 60-year-old woman who applied to our clinic with aortic stenosis, three vessel coronary artery disease and poor left ventricular function. There are reports about beating heart valve surgery perfomed alone or combined with coronary artery bypass operations using continuous retrograde coronary sinus isothermic blood perfusion in patients with poor ventricle. We performed a coronary revascularization process for three-vessel disease on the pump beating heart and aortic valve replacement under cross-clamp using continuous retrograde coronary sinus isothermic blood perfusion in the same session. She was discharged on the sixth postoperative day after an uneventful recovery. She is well and active 24 months after the operation. Valve replacement using the retrograde coronary sinus isothermic blood perfusion technique due to its protective effect on the already borderline myocardial functions in patients with poor ventricles is a useful and clinically successful method.