OBJETIVO: Comparar a perviedade da artéria radial e veia safena em pacientes com retorno dos sintomas após cirurgia de revascularização do miocárdio (CRVM). MÉTODOS: Estudo retrospectivo. No período de janeiro de 1998 a dezembro de 2005, foram realizadas 469 CRVMs com o uso da artéria radial dentre os enxertos, no Hospital Vera Cruz, em Belo Horizonte/MG. Destes, 94 pacientes apresentaram alterações isquêmicas no pós-operatório recente ou tardio e foram reestudados com cineangiocoronariografia. Os enxertos foram divididos em três grupos: artéria torácica interna (ATI), artéria radial (AR) e veia safena (VS), e foram estratificados segundo a gravidade das lesões: sem lesão grave (<70%), obstrução grave (70% a 99%) e oclusão. RESULTADOS: Nos 94 pacientes reestudados, foram utilizados 86 enxertos de ATI, 94 de AR e 111 de VS. Dos 86 enxertos de ATI, 73 (84,88%) se encontravam sem lesões graves; dos 94 enxertos de AR eram 55 (58,51%) e dos 111 enxertos de VS, 73 (65,76%) estavam livre de lesões graves. Houve diferença estatística (P= 0,001) entre os enxertos de AR e VS com maior perviedade da VS. As mulheres apresentaram pior resultado quanto à perviedade da AR (65,7% e 40,7%) com P= 0,006. Quanto à artéria coronária revascularizada, houve diferença entre os enxertos usados para artéria coronária direita, com melhor resultado da VS (P= 0,036). CONCLUSÃO: A AR mostrou-se com pior resultado que a VS como segundo enxerto na CRVM, principalmente em mulheres e quando anastomosada na coronária direita.

OBJECTIVE: To compare the radial artery and saphenous vein's patency in patients with recurrence of symptoms in a coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). METHODS: Retrospective study. From January 1998 to December 2005, 469 CABGs were performed using the radial artery as a graft, in Vera Cruz Hospital in Belo Horizonte/ MG. Among the patients who underwent those surgeries, 94 presented ischemic changes in early or late postoperative period, which led them to be re-evaluated by coronary angiography. The grafts were divided in three groups: internal thoracic artery (ITA), radial artery (RA) and saphenous vein (SV), and they were stratified according to the severity of injury: uninjured or patent (< 70%), severe obstruction (70 to 99%) and occlusion. RESULTS: For the 94 patients in the study, 86 grafts of ITA, 94 of RA and 111 of SV were used. For the 86 ITA grafts, 73 (84.88%) were found patent. For the 94 RA grafts, 55 (58.51%) were found patent, and for the 111 SV grafts, 73 (65.76%) were uninjured. A statistically significant difference (P= 0.001) was found between RA and SV grafts, with a higher patency found for VS graft. For the RA grafts, women presented a worse result concerning the RA patency (65.7% and 40.7%), with P = 0.006. Concerning coronary revascularization, a statistically significant difference was found only for the grafts used for the right coronary, with a better result for the SV (P = 0.036). CONCLUSION: Radial artery (RA) presented worse results when compared to Saphenous vein (SV) as a second graft in a CABG, especially in women who were anastomosed in the right coronary artery.

INTRODUÇÃO: Este estudo foi feito buscando estabelecer critérios científicos de proporção entre a prótese aórtica e o paciente. Seria desejável a previsão dos gradientes transvalvares aórtico pós-operatórios. MÉTODO: Foi estudada, retrospectivamente, uma série consecutiva de 31 sobreviventes de troca valvar aórtica isolada, com prótese porcina com suporte Labcor, no período de março de 1993 a junho de 2002. Foram aceitos pacientes submetidos à troca valvar aórtica isolada, sem sinais de endocardite, que usaram prótese de um mesmo modelo, para que a amostra fosse comparável. Todos foram submetidos a estudo ecocardiográfico nos primeiros três meses de pós-operatório, em uma mesma instituição. Comparamos os gradientes de pressão transvalvares médios encontrados, no pós-operatório, com os diâmetros das próteses e a superfície corporal de cada paciente. RESULTADOS: O valor de p para o diâmetro da prótese isolado foi de 0,81 e para o índice R foi de 0,59. CONCLUSÃO: Não foi encontrada nenhuma correlação nesta amostra, onde possamos prever um gradiente transvalvar pós-operatório baseado no tamanho valvar relacionado ou não com o tamanho do doente.

OBJECTIVE: This work aimed at establishing scientific criteria using the valve size mismatch to predict the transvalvar gradient resultant of aortic valve replacement. METHOD: Thirty-one consecutive patients who survived aortic valve replacement surgeries using Labcor porcine stented prosthesis, in the period from March 1993 to June 2002 were studied. Each patient was submitted to an echocardiogram within three postoperative months at the same institution. The mean transvalvar gradient pressure was compared with the diameter of the prosthesis and the patient's body surface area. RESULTS: The p-value for the diameter of the prosthesis was 0.81 and 0.59 for the R Index. CONCLUSION: No relation at all was found to help to predict the postoperative pressure gradient, based on the prosthesis size and the body surface area of the patients.

A veia gástrica posterior não é muito citada nos livros de anatomia e nos trabalhos sobre hipertensão porta. Estudou-se sua anatomia, freqüência e desembocadura. Ela foi encontrada em 54% dos casos e, em 100%, desembocava na veia esplênica. Discute-se a vantagem ou não de sua ligadura ou preservação no tratamento cirúrgico da hipertensão porta.

The posterior gastric vein has not been mentioned very often neither in anatomy textbooks nor in portal hypertension papers. The authors studied the anatomy, frequency and confluence of this vein because is a huge variety in the presentation of esophageal varices. Twenty-six adult preserved corpses (twenty females and six males) had a wide abdominal incision allowing the dissection of the portal system, identifying the frequency and confluence of its tributaries, notably the posterior gastric vein. The portal vein, in all cases, was formed by the confluence of the superior mesenteric vein with the splenic vein and had a mean length of 6.4 cm. The splenic vein had a mean length of 6.5 cm. The left gastric vein was tributary of the portal vein in 50% of the cases and in 30% of the cases in the splenic vein. The right gastric vein had it's confluence to portal vein in 30 % of the cases and to the splenic vein in 4 %. The inferior mesenteric vein was tributary of the splenic vein in 54% of the cases and in the superior mesenteric vein in 46%. The left gastro-omental vein had its confluence to the splenic vein in 50% of the cases and to the inferior polar vein in 34 %. The middle colic vein had its confluence to superior mesenteric vein in 42% of the cases, to inferior mesenteric vein in 12% and to splenic vein in 8%. The posterior gastric vein was found in 54% of the corpses, and in all cases it was a tributary of the splenic vein, in retropancreatic position, coming from the esophageal-gastric junction. These findings agree with previous papers describing a prevalence of 60% of posterior gastric vein in patients submitted to surgery in portal hypertension, and in all cases, this vein was tributary of the splenic vein. The identification of this vein may influence the treatment, because if left untied during cases of portal-azigos disconnection, they may predispose to postoperative bleeding, but in cases of splenorenal anastomosis may preserve its patency in cases of anastomosis occlusion, or can lead again to postoperative bleeding feeding the esophageal varices. To ligate or not this vein will depends on the surgeon 's experience and common sense. Regarding to previous papers and to this data presented here, the authors believe that the prevalence of this vein is between 50 and 60% in the population.

O divertículo congênito do ventrículo esquerdo é anomalia rara. Pode estar associado a defeitos da parede tóraco-abdominal e a lesões intracardíacas. Quando isto ocorre, recebe o nome de síndrome de Cantrell. É relatado o caso de paciente de 25 anos de idade submetida a tratamento cirúrgico.

Muscular diverticulum of the left ventricle is a rare anomaly. It is frequently associated with other congenital anomalies of the abdominal wall, sternum, diaphragm, pericardium and the heart itself. These have been described as Cantrell syndrome. This paper reports a case of a 25-year-old female patient submitted to surgical repair of this syndrome.