Dissecting Sub-Epicardial Haematoma: A Rare Complication with the Use of Octopus™ Suction Mechanical Stabiliser

Dixit, Mahadev; Gan, Mohan; Pradeep, Kizakke K.; Dubey, Anuradha; Sabade, Sriram; Mahapatra, Raghunath

doi:10.1016/j.hlc.2006.10.001

« Previous Next »Heart, Lung and Circulation
Volume 16, Issue 2 , Pages 118-119, April 2007

Dissecting Sub-Epicardial Haematoma: A Rare Complication with the Use of Octopus™ Suction Mechanical Stabiliser

Mahadev Dixit, DNB, CTVS
- Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, JN Medical College and KLES Hospital and MRC, Belgaum, Karnataka, India
Mohan Gan, MCh
- Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, JN Medical College and KLES Hospital and MRC, Belgaum, Karnataka, India
Kizakke K. Pradeep, MCh
- Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, JN Medical College and KLES Hospital and MRC, Belgaum, Karnataka, India
- Corresponding author at: Heart Foundation, KLES Hospital and MRC, Belgaum 590010, Karnataka, India. Tel.: +91 831 2473777x1263; fax: +91 831 2470732.
Anuradha Dubey, MCh
- Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, JN Medical College and KLES Hospital and MRC, Belgaum, Karnataka, India
Sriram Sabade, DNB
- Cardiac Anaesthesia, JN Medical College and KLES Hospital and MRC, Belgaum, Karnataka, India
Raghunath Mahapatra, MCh
- Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, JN Medical College and KLES Hospital and MRC, Belgaum, Karnataka, India

Received 29 August 2006; received in revised form 27 September 2006; accepted 1 October 2006.

Mechanical heart stabilisers are the most important method of anastomotic field immobilisation in off pump coronary artery bypass (OPCAB) surgery. The new generations of stabilisers are small, versatile and relatively free of complications. We report a patient who developed a dissecting sub-epicardial haematoma following OPCAB using the OCTOPUS 3.0 (Medtronic Inc., Minneapolis, USA) suction stabiliser, which manifested as myocardial ischaemia two hours after surgery. It is a rare but potentially lethal complication that has only once before been reported in literature.

Keywords: Off pump coronary artery bypass, Stabilisers, Dissecting haematoma