The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Vol 90, 199-205, Copyright © 1985 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery and The Western Thoracic Surgical Association
Cryosurgical ablation of left parietal wall accessory atrioventricular connections through the coronary sinus without the use of extracorporeal circulation
J Bredikis and A Bredikis
A simplified technique for surgical treatment of preexcitation syndrome
caused by left-sided accessory atrioventricular connections without the use
of extracorporeal circulation has been elaborated experimentally and used
in 21 patients with tachycardia refractory to medical treatment.
Cryoablation of the accessory bundles was performed by means of local
cryothermia using a specially designed cryoinstrument introduced into the
coronary sinus through the right atrial wall. The operations were performed
after thoracotomy on the working closed heart. The signs of preexcitation
and paroxysms of tachycardia disappeared in 19 of 21 patients. Coronary
sinus ligation was necessary in two patients. In the rest of the patients
the patency of the sinus was preserved and there were no surgical
complications. This original cryosurgical technique offers a number of
advantages in selected patients with Wolff-Parkinson-White syndrome.
