Innominate artery pseudoaneurysm from a Salter-Harris fracture of the sternoclavicular joint

Fractures and dislocations of the sternoclavicular joint (SCJ) are uncommon, accounting for <5% of all shoulder girdle injuries. They are relatively more common in the pediatric population than in the adult population and can often present concurrently as a posteriorly displaced medial clavicular dislocation with a fracture through the unfused physis. It is especially important to recognize this injury, because its management and potential sequelae are very different from those for fractures of the clavicle shaft. This type of injury frequently requires closed or open operative management because fracture-dislocation of the SCJ can be associated with potentially serious complications such as pneumothorax, brachial plexus injury, vagus nerve injury, tracheal injury, and vascular compromise. Few case reports describe fracture-dislocation of the SCJ resulting in vascular injuries. We describe the case of a 17-year-old boy who sustained a blunt hockey injury resulting in a right physeal fracture-dislocation of the SCJ causing an innominate artery pseudoaneurysm. This was treated with excision of the pseudoaneurysm, bovine pericardial patch angioplasty repair of the innominate artery, and open reduction and internal fixation of the medial clavicular physeal fracture.

Angioplasty of the inferior vena cava with a bovine pericardial patch by the modified open-chest dorsal approach for Budd-Chiari syndrome: A case report

INTRODUCTION AND IMPORTANCE

Surgical treatment of Budd-Chiari syndrome (BCS) includes endovenectomy followed by angioplasty of the inferior vena cava (IVC). Herein, we report a case of surgery using an open-chest approach in a patient with BCS. We modified the technique reported by Kuniyoshi et al. CASE PRESENTATION: A 45-year-old male, was diagnosed with BCS and referred to our hospital. We used an open-chest approach to remove stenosis in the IVC and angioplasty with a bovine pericardial patch. Endovenectomy and angioplasty were performed by clamping the stenosis above and below it with Pringle's clamping under extracorporeal circulation. The patient is currently undergoing outpatient follow-up 14 months after the surgery, and his liver function and blood test results were normal, with no symptoms.

CLINICAL DISCUSSION

The main advantage of this technique is that the liver is not mobilized from the diaphragm, which allows for the preservation of collateral blood flow between the diaphragm and liver, reducing the amount of intraoperative blood loss and damage to the liver parenchyma due to intraoperative congestion. In addition, no mobilization of the liver from the diaphragm will prevent future surgical difficulties due to adhesions during total hepatectomy when liver transplantation becomes necessary.

CONCLUSION

The techniques described in this article include procedures that cardiovascular surgeons usually perform such as thoracotomy, pericardiotomy, and extracorporeal circulation. Collaborative work by hepatobiliary surgeons and cardiovascular surgeons can achieve successful outcomes with this procedure in patients with BCS.

Patch angioplasty during carotid endarterectomy using different materials has similar clinical outcomes

OBJECTIVE

Patch angioplasty during carotid endarterectomy (CEA) is commonly used to treat carotid artery stenosis. However, the choice of which patch to use remains a matter of debate. Autologous venous material has disadvantages such as wound-related problems at the harvest site and a prolonged intervention time. These limitations can be bypassed when synthetic or biological patches are used. Both materials have been associated with divergent advantages and disadvantages. Therefore, the aim of our study was to compare the long-term follow-up outcomes in patients who underwent CEA and closure with either a bovine pericardial patch (BPP) or polyester patch.

METHODS

A retrospective cohort study was conducted including all patients who underwent primary CEA and closure with a BPP or a polyester patch between January 2010 and December 2020 at our tertiary referral center. In 2015, the BPP was introduced as an alternative for polyester. The primary outcome was the occurrence of transient ischemic attack (TIA) or cerebrovascular accident (CVA) during follow-up and secondary outcomes included restenosis, reintervention, all-cause mortality, and patch infection. Cox proportional hazard models were used and hazard ratios with 95% confidence intervals were used to predict these outcomes.

RESULTS

We included 417 CEA patients; 254 patients (61%) received a BPP and 163 received (39%) a polyester patch. The mean age was 70.2 ± 8.7 years and 67% were male. The median follow-up time was 15 months (range, 12-27 months) for BPP and 42 months (range, 16-60 months) for polyester (P < .001). Postoperative hematoma (≤30 days) was significantly lower in the BPP cohort (2% BPP vs 6% polyester; P = .047). No other significant differences on short-term outcomes were found. Univariable Cox regression analyses showed no significant differences between the effect estimates of polyester and BPP on TIA or CVA (P = .106), restenosis (P = .211), reintervention (P = .549), or all-cause mortality (P = .158). No significant differences were found after adjusting for confounders in the multivariable analyses: TIA or CVA (P = .939), restenosis (P = .057), reintervention (P = .193) and all-cause mortality (P = .742). Three patients with a polyester patch had patch infection compared with none of the patients in the group who received a BPP.

CONCLUSIONS

This large retrospective study showed comparable safety and durability of both BPP and polyester suggesting that both patch types can be safely applied for CEA with patch angioplasty. Patch infection was rare and was absent in the BPP group.

Case of left ventricular thrombus managed with thrombectomy with left ventricular reconstruction in a patient who had coronavirus disease 2019 infection

BACKGROUND

Intracardiac thrombus is relatively rare in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). However, if it occurs, thrombotic complications are likely to develop. In this case, we performed a successful thrombectomy on a patient who developed left ventricular thrombus after COVID-19 infection without complications.

CASE PRESENTATION

A 52-year-old man sought medical care due to fever, dyspnea, and abnormalities in the taste and smell that persisted for 2 weeks. The patient was diagnosed with COVID-19 and was treated with remdesivir, baricitinib, and heparin. Three weeks after hospitalization, electrocardiogram revealed angina pectoris, and cardiac catherization showed left anterior descending coronary artery stenosis. In addition, global hypokinesis and a thrombus at the left ventricular apex were observed on echocardiography. Left ventricular reconstruction concomitant with coronary artery bypass grafting was performed. A thrombus in the left ventricle was resected via left apical ventriculotomy, and the bovine pericardium was covered and sutured on the infarction site to exclude it. The patient was extubated a day after surgery and was transferred to another hospital for recuperation after 20 days. He did not present with complications.

CONCLUSIONS

Thrombotic events could be prevented via thrombectomy with left ventricular reconstruction using an intraventricular patch to exclude the residual thrombus.

Bovine pericardial patch: A good alternative in femoral angioplasty

OBJECTIVE

Bovine pericardial patch (BPP) is currently used in femoral angioplasty as an alternative for autologous vein patch (AVP), but studies comparing the results of the two methods are scarce. In this retrospective study, we aimed to discover the differences between BPP and AVP closure in long-term durability.

METHODS

This study consisted of all femoral endarterectomies with BPP closure performed in Helsinki University Hospital from January 1, 2014, to December 31, 2017. For comparison, the same number of consecutive patients who underwent femoral endarterectomy with AVP closure from January 1, 2014, to October 16, 2016, were reviewed. Follow-up ended December 31, 2020. The mean follow-up was 19 months (range, 0-74 months) in the BPP group and 22 months (range, 0-79 months) in the AVP group. The primary endpoint was primary patency. Secondary endpoints were restenosis at patch site detected by imaging or perioperatively, patch rupture, and deep surgical wound infection. Propensity score analysis was performed for adjustment of differences between the AVP and BPP groups.

RESULTS

Overall primary patency was superior in the AVP group compared with the BPP group: at 1 year, 96.5% vs 85.0% and at 5 years, 83.0% vs 72.3% (P = .04). In propensity score-matched pairs (n = 92), no difference was found between the groups in primary patency: 95.7% and 95.7% at 1 year and 92.5% and 78.6% at 5 years (P = .861) or in freedom from restenosis: 100% and 100% at 1 year and 89.1% and 84.0% at 5 years (P = .057). Deep wound infections occurred slightly more often after BPP closure (8%) than after AVP closure (4%), but the difference was not statistically significant (P = .144). There were no patch ruptures in the BPP group, but in the AVP group, there were five ruptures (3.5%) (P = .024).

CONCLUSIONS

BPP is compatible to AVP in femoral endarterectomy in patency and can be regarded as the safer choice considering the risk of patch rupture.

Tissue engineered indigenous pericardial patch urethroplasty: A promising solution to a nagging problem

Objective

Urethral stricture is a highly prevalent disease and has a continued rising incidence. The global burden of disease keeps rising as there are significant rates of recurrence with the existing management options with the need for additional repeat procedures. Moreover, the existing treatment options are associated with significant morbidity in the patient. Long segment urethral strictures are most commonly managed by augmentation urethroplasty. We explored the potential for the application of an acellular tissue engineered bovine pericardial patch in augmentation urethroplasty in a series of our patients suffering from urethral stricture disease. The decreased morbidity due to the avoidance of harvest of buccal mucosa, decreased operative time and satisfactory postoperative results make it a promising option for augmentation urethroplasty.

Methods

Nine patients with long segment anterior urethral strictures (involving penile and/or bulbar urethra and stricture length >4 cm) were included in the study after proper informed consent was obtained. Acellular tissue engineered indigenous bovine pericardial patch was used for urethroplasty using dorsal onlay technique.

Results

A total of nine patients underwent tissue engineered indigenous pericardial patch urethroplasty for long segment urethral strictures, mostly catheter injury induced or associated with balanitis xerotica obliterans. Median follow-up was 8 months (range: 2–12 months). Out of nine patients, eight (88.9%) were classified as success and one (11.1%) was classified as failure.

Conclusion

Our study brings a product of tissue engineering, already being used in the cardiovascular surgery domain, into the urological surgery operating room with satisfactory results achieved using standard operating techniques of one stage urethroplasty.

Rupture of the extracranial carotid artery caused by misdiagnosed infected pseudoaneurysm during deep cervical abscess drainage: A case report

Infected aneurysms or pseudoaneurysms of the extracranial carotid artery are extremely rare, but they can lead to lethal complications. In some cases, infected pseudoaneurysms can be masked by the excessive inflammation of surrounding tissues. Here we describe the case of a 69-year-old woman with several comorbidities, who presented with a rapidly enlarging left neck bulge. CT was suggestive of an abscess involving the left common carotid artery. Colour Doppler ultrasound did not document intralesional flow. Abscess drainage under ultrasonographic assistance was attempted unsuccessfully, with collection of creamy, purple material. Surgical drainage of the abscess was, therefore, decided. As soon as necrotic tissue debridement was started, a massive haemorrhage originating from the common carotid artery invaded the surgical field. The carotid artery was then repaired with a bovine pericardial patch and covered with a pectoralis major muscle flap. The patient recovered without any neurological consequences. Revision of CT imaging revealed a very small misdiagnosed infected pseudoaneurysm. With better preoperative surgical planning and a good suspicion index, such a life-threatening emergency could have been avoided.