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Ann Thorac Surg 2004;78:384
© 2004 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons

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Correspondence

Coronary artery complications and the Ross operation

Sana Herzchirurgie Stuttgart, Department of Surgery, Lenzhalde 24, Weinstadt 71384, Germany

e-mail: cabctsgn{at}onlinehome.de

To the Editor:

We would like to respond to the invited commentary of Dr David [1] regarding our article [2].

Dr David's comments are, as usual, pertinent, but we take issue with the contention that coronary artery disease may be caused by this operation. The implication is that additional coronary artery bypass may occasionally be required during a Ross operation because of myocardial ischemia caused by torsion or distorsion of the reimplanted coronary artery buttons. This was the case in only 2 of our 22 patients who received coronary artery bypass operations, and both occurred early during our learning curve. We have published on combined procedures and mention indications for coronary artery bypass surgery in our Ross recipients elsewhere [3].

Dr David also points out that few patients in our study have more than 5 years of follow-up. Our experience does exceed 350 patients to date, and the trend is for better results in older patients, despite a greater tendency toward combined procedures. We have also not seen any patients who required early or late coronary artery bypass surgery because of technical considerations as far as the Ross operation is concerned. Of course, the long-term results may disprove our contentions.

References

1. David T.E. Invited commentary. Ann Thorac Surg 2003;75:802.[Free Full Text]
2. Böhm J.O., Botha C.A., Hemmer W. Older patients fare better with the Ross operation. Ann Thorac Surg 2003;75:796-802.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
3. Böhm J.O., Botha C.A., Hemmer W., et al. The Ross operation as a combined procedure and in complicated cases—is there an increased risk?. Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2001;49:300-305.[Medline]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				J. O. Bohm, W. Hemmer, J.-G. Rein, A. Horke, D. Roser, G. Blumenstock, and C. A. Botha A single-institution experience with the ross operation over 11 years. Ann. Thorac. Surg., February 1, 2009; 87(2): 514 - 520. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Author home page(s): Cornelius A. Botha Wolfgang Hemmer Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Botha, C. A. Articles by Hemmer, W. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Botha, C. A. Articles by Hemmer, W. Related Collections Valve disease