Coronary-coronary bypass grafting in a child with a stab wound of the anterior interventricular artery

Highlights. A successful case of surgical treatment of a child with a stab wound of the heart and damaged anterior interventricular artery is presented.Abstract. A girl aged 5 years and 9 months was admitted to the hospital in extremely severe condition with multiple stab wounds to the chest and left shoulder and massive bleeding. The child was immediately taken to the operating room due to hemorrhagic shock and injury localized in the anatomical area directly affecting heart function. The wound in the projection of the interventricular sulcus was repaired with one U-shaped suture, hemodynamics was stabilized by inotropic agents. In the postoperative period, heart failure developed due to akinesia of the apical segments, anterior, lateral and anterolateral walls, and reduced ejection fraction. An emergency coronary angiography revealed an occlusion of the anterior interventricular artery (AIV). Emergency repeated surgical intervention was performed. We diagnosed complete intersection of AIV with thrombosis in the proximal and distal segments. Surgical treatment of the coronary stumps enabled satisfactory antegrade and retrograde blood flow. End-to-end coronary-coronary bypass grafting with AIV grafting was performed on the beating heart. The postoperative period was uneventful. Active lifestyle, absence of complaints, and AIV being opaque, including autogenous graft, were reported in the long-term follow up. The presented case proves that effective diagnostic protocol, echocardiography data and appropriate choice of surgical technique led to a positive outcome.