Axillary Vessels and Brachial Plexus Traumas in Abidjan: Lesional Aspects and Surgical Difficulties

Introduction-Objectives: Through the presentation of epidemiological, anatomo-clinical and surgical aspects, we report our experience in the management of traumatic axillary lesions. Materials and Methods: A descriptive retrospective study was based on the medical records of patients who suffered vascular axillary and/or brachial plexus trauma and who underwent surgical repair at the Abidjan Cardiology Institute from January 2008 to June 2022. Epidemiological, anatomo-clinical and surgical data were studied. Results: Thirty-four medical files belonging to 33 men and one woman, aged 32 on average, were collected. The circumstances of occurrence were dominated by the stab wound (n = 22). The combinations of injuries were as follows: associated involvement of the axillary artery and vein (n = 4);isolated involvement of axillary artery (n = 3);isolated involvement of the axillary vein (n = 2);associated involvement of the axillary artery and brachial plexus (n = 17);associated involvement of the axillary artery and vein and brachial plexus (n = 08). Anatomic lesions included acute arterial lesions (n = 29) and arteriovenous fistula (n = 1) and false aneurysms (n = 4). All patients were operated on under general anesthesia;vascular repair included direct suturing (n = 16), arterial and venous bypass using a long saphenous graft (n = 9), prosthetic arterial bypass (n = 5) and prosthetic flattening-graft (n = 4). Brachial plexus surgery consisted of an end-to-end anastomosis of each transected bundle in all cases (n = 25). The medium-term postoperative course was marked by success without functional sequelae in 88.24% of cases (n = 30) and by the persistence of distal paralysis of the thoracic limb after 6 months in 05.88% (n = 2) of all patients, i.e., 8% of patients who presented with brachial plexus injury. Conclusion: The concomitant surgical treatment of these axillary vascular and nerve lesions has given good results. However, if paralysis of the thoracic limb persists after 6 to 12 months, the patient should be referred to a specialist in brachial plexus surgery.

Primary Cardiac Tumors Operated on in Côte d’Ivoire: They Are Almost All Myxomas

Objective: Through this surgical series, we present the epidemiological and anatomical-clinical aspects and the surgical results concerning patients operated on for a primary cardiac tumor at the Abidjan Heart Institute. Materials and Method: This is a retrospective descriptive study covering the period of January 1982 to December 2022, based on the medical records of patients operated on for a primary cardiac tumor at the Abidjan Heart Institute. Results: Twenty-seven (27) patients underwent surgery for a primary cardiac tumor, including 14 women and 13 men with a mean age of 41.5 years (range 19 - 76 years). The main circumstances of discovery were exertional dyspnea, palpitation and syncope or pseudo-syncope. The main site was the septal wall of the left atrium. The diagnosis of myxoma was confirmed by pathological examination of the surgical specimen in 96.3% (n = 24) of the patients and it was a malignant large cell immunoblastic lymphoma of the myocardium in 3.7% (n = 1) of the patients. The mean largest diameter was 46.1 mm. The postoperative course was marked by an ischaemic stroke (n = 1);recurrence of a left atrial myxoma 5 years after the first tumor removal (n = 1). Two cases of death were noted, one due to the evolution of immunoblastic large cell lymphoma and the other due to an extracorporeal circulation accident. Conclusion: Almost all primary cardiac tumors operated on in Abidjan are myxomas. The circumstances of the discovery of these cardiac tumors are multiple and varied but dominated by exertional dyspnea, palpitation and syncope. Whatever their histological type, primary cardiac tumors are serious affections, in view of the haemodynamic and rhythmic disorders they cause.

Surgical Myocardial Revascularization in a Sub-Saharan African Country: Indications and Results

Introduction: Despite the advances of interventional catheterization, surgery remains the treatment of choice for some coronary lesions. Objective: To report the indications and results of surgical revascularization of the myocardium at the Abidjan Heart Institute. Patient and Methods: This is a retrospective study of patients with coronary insufficiency who underwent surgical myocardial revascularization between March 2014 and May 2020 in the Cardiovascular Surgery Department of the Abidjan Heart Institute. There were 17 patients, 11 of whom were men (64.7%) and 6 women (35.3%), The mean age of the patients was 57.5 years ± 8.8. All patients were symptomatic with disabling angina in class III of the Canadian Cardiac Society (CCS). This sym- ptomatology had been evolving on average for 5 years and 6 patients had a history of acute coronary syndrome, 2 of whom had undergone prior angioplasty. Coronary angiography revealed mono-truncated (17.6%), bi-truncated (23.5%) and tri-truncated (58.8%) lesions. Results: The patients were operated under cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) 15 cases (88.2%) and off pump in 2 cases (11.8%). They underwent a single bypass in 23.5% of cases, a double bypass in 47.1% of cases and a triple bypass in 29.4% of cases. We observed 3 cases of complications (17.6%), namely transient acute renal failure, mediastinitis and postoperative bleeding. The operative and hospital mortality was nil. After a mean follow-up of 3 ± 1.8 years, all patients were asymptomatic with a negative stress test at last check-up. Conclusion: Our experience has allowed us to demonstrate the safe performance of surgical myocardial revascularization in our patients with satisfactory and encouraging results.

Surgical Treatment of Chronic Constrictive Pericarditis in a Developing Country

Background: Chronic constrictive pericarditis is a rare but serious clinical entity with a poor prognosis in the absence of surgical treatment. The purpose of this study was to report on our experience of subtotal anterior pericardectomy and analyze our surgical results. Results: We included 74 patients operated on for chronic constrictive pericarditis in our institution during the period from January 1985 to December 2020. There were 29 female and 45 male patients, with an average age of 28 years (range: 8 - 64 years). 36.5% of patients were in NYHA class III or IV. Physical signs were dominated by peripheral signs of right heart failure in 93.2% of cases. The surgical procedure was a subtotal anterior pericardectomy from the left to the right phrenic nerve, freeing the heart chambers and the large vessels. The surgical results were marked by a functional improvement in 82.4% of the cases. The postoperative complications were marked by a low cardiac output in 8.1% of the cases, a atrial fibrillation in 4.1% of the cases, a haemorrhage in 1.4% of the cases, a haemothorax in 2.7% of the cases. Perioperative mortality was 5.4% patients. The causes of death were low cardiac output in 50% of cases, hemorrhage in 25% of cases, and hepatocellular insufficiency in 25% of cases. We observed a mortality of 2.9% after an average follow-up of 5.17 years ± 4.76 years. All other survivors were asymptomatic and no re-intervention for recurrence was performed. Conclusions: Subtotal anterior pericardectomy was the technique we used for the treatment of chronic constrictive pericarditis. It allowed having satisfactory surgical results with a functional improvement and an acceptable morbidity.