Transesophageal echocardiography evaluation and follow-up of left main coronary artery patch angioplasty.
OBJECTIVE
Isolated ostial stenosis of the left main coronary artery is a rare but serious condition. The treatment is surgical with two options: coronary artery bypass grafting or surgical angioplasty of the left main coronary artery. Assessing surgical results as well as follow-up were traditionally done by angiography.


METHODS
We describe the use of transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) for evaluating and follow the surgical left main coronary artery (LMCA) angioplasty results in eight patients with isolated ostial left main stenosis.


RESULTS
All patients were alive and free of ischemic events 8 months to 7 years post-surgery. TEE demonstrated a widely opened left main coronary artery with a good flow.


CONCLUSIONS
Surgical angioplasty is an alternative option for treating ostial LMCA stenosis. TEE is an additional excellent non-invasive technique for assessing left main anatomy pre- and postoperatively, as well as being on of the quality control tools for evaluating new surgical techniques.
Sharoni
Erez
E
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Rabin Medical Center, Beilinson Campus, Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Petach Tikva 49100, Israel.
Erez
Eldad
E
Shapira
Yaron
Y
Vidne
Bernardo A
BA
Sagie
Alexander
A
D000328:Adult; D017130:Angioplasty / Q000379:methods*; D001705:Bioprosthesis; D023921:Coronary Stenosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D003331:Coronary Vessels / Q000601:surgery*; D017548:Echocardiography, Transesophageal; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010496:Pericardium; D012501:Saphenous Vein; D014182:Transplantation, Autologous; D016896:Treatment Outcome