Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 2004;26:1226
© 2004 Elsevier Science NL
Coronary flow in sinus grafts
Francis Robicsek*
Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Carolinas Heart Institute, Carolinas Medical Center, 1001 Blythe Blvd., Suite 300, Charlotte, NC 28203, USA
Received 4 August 2004;
accepted 17 August 2004.
* Tel.: +1 704 373 0212; fax: +1 704 373 0781. (E-mail: frobicsek{at}sanger-clinic.com).
I read with interest the article of De Paulis et al. "Coronary flow characteristics after a Bentall procedure with or without sinuses of Valsalva" in the July 2004 issue of the European Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery [1], which examines the effects of the pseudosinuses of a new conduit with pseudosinuses (Gelweave ValsalvaTM, Terumo Vascutek, Renfrewshire, Scotland, UK) upon coronary blood flow. While our observations on the subject of how the bulb geometry may modify coronary flow are comparable with those of the authors, i.e. the effect is minimal, if any, we have to call their attention that the concept of tube graft modified with pseudosinuses is certainly not a recent development, but have been already introduced in the very early 1990s [2] and used successfully by us, as well as by others [3] (Fig. 1).
Footnotes
☆ The authors of the original paper [1] were invited to comment on this Letter to the Editor but declined the offer.
References
- De Paulis R, Tomai F, Bertoldo F, Ghini AS, Scaffa R, Nardi P, Chiariello L. Coronary flow characteristics after a Bentall procedure with or without sinuses of Valsalva. Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 2004;26:66-72.[Abstract/Free Full Text]
- Robicsek F. Ascending aortic prosthesis. United States Patent Office, No. 5.139.515, August 18; 1992..
- Zehr KJ, Thubrikar MJ, Gong GG, Headrick JR, Robicsek F:. Clinical introduction of a novel prosthesis for valve preserving aortic root reconstruction for annuloaortic ectasia. J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2000;120:692-698.[Abstract/Free Full Text]