ABSTRACT
This chapter presents a case study of a 77-year-old man, had his purely regurgitant mitral valve replaced and an endarterectomy of the right coronary artery followed by insertion of a saphenous vein conduit at age 73. Preoperatively, the left ventricular pressure was 144/14 mm Hg. Coronary endarterectomy occasionally is performed in conjunction with coronary artery bypass grafting. While information is available regarding the morphologic changes occurring late in the carotid artery after endarterectomy,1–7 there is no information on histologic changes in coronary arteries late following endarterectomy. Studies of the morphologic changes in surgical endarterectomy specimens removed for restenosis of the carotid artery have shown that restenosis occurring within 2 years of the initial surgical procedure is usually, but not always, due to a diffuse proliferation of spindle cells.
