A Case of Left Ventricular Reconstruction in a Patient with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Antiphospholipid Syndrome

(Division of Cardiovascular Surgery, Kouseikai Hospital, Nagasaki, Japan)

Shigefumi Matsuyama Etsuro Suenaga Manabu Sato
Shugo Koga
A 65-year-old man was referred to our hospital for surgical treatment of left ventricular aneurysm (LVA) with mural thrombus. Systemic lupus erythematosus had been diagnosed when he was 57 and antiphospholipid syndrome (APS) had been diagnosed at age 61. Steroid and anticoagulant therapy with warfarin has been continuously performed. He suffered acute myocardial infarction at the age of 64, and percutaneous coronary intervention was performed to the diagonal branch. Seven months later, coronary angiography showed occlusion of the diagonal branch and left ventriculography showed a large LVA. Left ventricular reconstruction was performed and his postoperative course was uneventful. Cardiac surgery for the patients with APS was reported to have high morbidity and mortality. Perioperative anticoagulant management was very important for such patients.
@Jpn. J. Cardiovasc. Surg. 37: 116-119 (2008)