SANTINI , F

Total failure of sternal fusion without other developmental anomalies of the chest and abdominal wall is rare. We report on a 52-year-old man with a total cleft sternum associated exclusively with an ostium secundum type atrial septal defect, a large cono-ventricular septal defect and pulmonary stenosis, who underwent successful surgical repair...

We present the clinical case of a patient affected by mitral and aortic valvular disease submitted to double valvular replacement. This patient was also affected by congenital deficiency of factor X. We describe the normal problems encountered in cardiac surgery and the specific implications of this clinical case.

In recent years, the use of homograft tissue in cardiac surgery has increased so that supply is limited. Since October 1990, aortic and/or pulmonary valves were collected from 17 transplant recipients at the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery of the University of Padova Medical School (11 male, 6 female, mean age 43.4 years, range 11 months...