A mediastinal haematoma complicating aortic valve replacement within the
aortic root graft
Abstract
In mid-February 2018, a 29-yeal old male patient with Marfan’s syndrome,
a history of mitral valve repair in 2007, valve-sparing aortic root
replacement in 2017 and aortic valve replacement with a St Jude
mechanical heart valve inside the valve sparing aortic root graft in
2018 presented with a sudden onset of palpitations and New York Heart
Association Class III symptoms. Computed tomography demonstrated a
large, 7 x 4 x 9 cm mediastinal haematoma arising from a long vertical
incisional defect in the anterior wall of the Dacron graft. During
surgery, hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) was established and
after cooling the patient to 16° C, a partial redo sternotomy was
performed. During this process, the haematoma was entered, resulting in
profuse bleeding. Circulatory arrest was immediately initiated,
sternotomy was opened with a chest retractor and mediastinal blood
evacuated. A 4.0 x 2.5 cm vertical defect in the Bentall graft with
fragments of 4-0 polypropylene sutures were found at its edges. The
defect was closed with a Dacron patch, then the graft was de-aired and
CPB resumed. After rewarming the patient to 34° C temperature, a direct
current shock was applied to convert ventricular fibrillation into sinus
rhythm. On fully rewarming the patient, he was uneventfully weaned from
CPB and decannulated. In our opinion, long vertical incisional defects
in the Bentall Dacron graft should be closed with a synthetic patch. A
postoperative mediastinal haematoma after aortic root replacement can be
successfully operated on in deep hypothermic circulatory arrest with
CPB.