title: Open inferior vena caval anastomosis during bicaval heart transplantation.
abstract: Performing a precise inferior vena caval (IVC) anastomosis during bicaval orthotopic heart transplantation can sometimes be challenging because of crowding of the operative field by the venous cannula and tourniquet. We performed bicaval orthotopic heart transplantation in 10 patients using an open IVC anastomotic technique with vacuum-assisted venous drainage. A long venous cannula was passed into the IVC through the femoral vein. The IVC anastomosis was performed after removing the IVC tourniquet under vacuum-assisted venous drainage. A precise edge-to-edge IVC anastomosis was successfully performed in all patients. This technique may result in greater anastomotic precision and improved outcomes.
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiac Surgery, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. laklog@partners.org
authors.forename: Lishan
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Aklog
authors.forename: Jerome
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Sepic
authors.forename: Farzan
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Filsoufi
authors.forename: John G
authors.initials: JG
authors.lastname: Byrne
authors.forename: David H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Adams
mesh_terms: D000714:Anastomosis, Surgical / Q000379:methods*; D002315:Cardiopulmonary Bypass; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D013396:Suction; D014682:Vena Cava, Inferior / Q000601:surgery*