Influence of left ventricular aneurysm on survival following the coronary bypass operation

Patients having coronary bypass and aneurysm resection (N = 40) or aneurysm plication (N = 32) were compared with patients having coronary bypass without aneurysm (N = 2782). Unlike other series, the primary indication for surgery in the aneurysm patients was angina pectoris, with heart failure playing a secondary role. Multivessel disease was present in 83% of the patients with aneurysm. Total occlusion of the anterior descending coronary artery was more prevalent in the group of patients who had aneurysmectomy (75%) than in rhe group of patients who had plication (38%), and more grafts/patient could be performed in the plication group (2.6 vs 2.0). Location of the aneurysm was most often anteroapical (N = 55) and infrequently inferior (N = 6). Septal wall motion was akinetic or aneurysmal in 47% of the aneurysmectomy group, and 10% of the plication group. Postoperative requirements for inotropes or intra-aortic balloon assist was much higher in the aneurysm group (aneurysmectomy or plication) than in patients without aneurysm having bypass. Hospital mortality for aneurysm patients was 2.7% versus 1.4% in patients without aneurysms having coronary bypass. The actuarial survival rate at 42 months for all aneurysm patients was 90%. Improvement in anginal symptoms after plication and coronary bypass (96%) was more frequent than with aneurysmectomy and coronary bypass (76%) and this was attributed to larger viable muscle mass and greater revascularization. Although two-thirds of patients having surgery for aneurysms had improvement in heart failure symptoms after operation, 30% of those having aneurysmectomies and 35% of those having plications said they were unimproved after surgery. However, this could be explained by the finding that a significant number (35% of the aneurysmectomy and 45% of the plication group) were in heart failure Class I prior to operation. Hospital mortality has been progressively reduced and late survival increased by the surgical treatment of left ventricular aneurysm, primarily through early operation at a time when coronary bypass can be used as an adjunct to aneurysm resection or plication.