We describe the repair of a root, ascending aortic and arch aneurysm in a 69-year-old man with a bioprosthetic Shelhigh conduit and cylinder, employing continuous bilateral antegrade cerebral perfusion through an anomalous innominate artery with a bovine arch variant anatomy. The origin of both the innominate artery and the left common carotid artery from a common stem from the arch in this bovine arch variant puts the whole cerebral circulation at risk, on one hand, yet provides an opportunity of continuous bilateral antegrade cerebral perfusion through the right brachial, right axillary, right subclavian or innominate artery, during arch reconstruction under lower body, deep hypothermic circulatory arrest. Safety and adequacy of selective cerebral perfusion through the right axillary artery in patients with normal arch vessel origin depends on an intact circle of Willis. In this bovine arch variant, both cerebral hemispheres can be perfused through the right brachial, right axillary, right subclavian or the innominate artery, independent of the integrity of the circle of Willis, because of the origin of the left common carotid artery from the innominate artery, except for the area supplied by the left vertebral artery. Although this is the first report of innominate artery perfusion for arch reconstruction for aneurysm in a bovine arch variant, we believe the method described has important implications for cerebral protection in light of the generally reported incidence of bovine arch from 13 to 35 percent.

Trauma is the third most common cause of death in the West. In the US, approximately 90,000 deaths annually are traumatic in nature and over 75% of casualties from blunt trauma are due to chest injuries. Cardiac injuries from rib fractures following blunt trauma are extremely rare. We report the unusual case of a patient who fell from a height and presented with haemopericardium and haemothorax as a result of left ventricular and lingular lacerations and was sucessfully operated upon. Case reportA 55 year old man presented to the accident and emergency department of a district general hospital after having fallen 3 metres from a ladder while cutting his garden hedge. He complained of left sided chest pain and worsening shortness of breath and dizziness. On examination, HR was 155/min, RR 37/min, BP 99/66 mm Hg, and JVP 5 cms above sternal angle. 5 th and 6 th ribs were tender but there was no obvious crepitus. Breath sounds were diminished in the left base. Chest x-ray revealed fractures of 5 th and 6 th ribs, a large left hemothorax and enlarged cardiac silhouette (Fig 1a). An intercostal drain was inserted which drained 1 lit of fresh blood but a follow up chest xray continued to show a large cardiac shadow (Fig 1b). A CT scan of chest revealed a 2 cm hemopericardium (2a) and residual left pleural blood and clot (Fig 2b). He was transferred to our regional cardiothoracic centre for further management. A transthoracic echocardiogram on arrival confirmed a global pericardial effusion with early tamponade.Patient was urgently taken to the operation theatre and a median sternotomy performed with bypass standby. The pericardium was tense. It was widely opened and 250 mls of old blood evacuated. There was a 1.5 cm non bleeding superficial left ventricular laceration posterolateral to the apex within a large area of contused left ventricle with a bleeding superficial vein. There was a corresponding 1 cm tear of the pericardium posterior to the phrenic nerve. Left pleura was widely opened and lung inspected. There was a non bleeding laceration of the superior segment of the lingula and about 500 mls of residual clot and blood in the pleural cavity. There were fractures of 5 th and 6 th ribs with wide displacement of the two segments of the fractured 5 th rib. The sharp jagged posterior end of the fractured rib had been displaced medially inside the pleural cavity and had lacerated the lingula and punctured the pericardium and the left ventricle.The sharp end of the fractured rib was excised, the bleeding ventricular vein was diathermised, the left ventricular contusion and nonbleeding laceration as well as the lingular tear were covered with a generous application of Tis-

Coexistence of coronary artery disease and cancer with both requiring surgical treatment at the same time is rare. A 52 year male undergoing elective coronary artery bypass grafting was incidentally discovered to have a large soft tissue mass of variable consistency with cartilaginous elements arising from the right costal margin and adjoining ribs by a broad attachment and protruding into right pleural cavity. Frozen section suggested it to be either a chondrosarcoma or a teratoma. A wide excision of the mass with the adjoining muscle and periosteum along with quadruple coronary artery bypass grafting was done. This report is unusual on account of a) being the first reported case in world literature of concomitant excision of chondrosarcoma and coronary artery bypass grafting and b) the conservative management of the incidentally discovered chondrosarcoma by wide excision rather than chest wall resection with no local recurrence to date. Pathology of chondrosarcoma, in particular, and various management strategies when coronary artery disease and cancer coexist, in general, is discussed. Case presentationA 52 year old male smoker undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting for three vessel coronary artery disease and moderately impaired left ventricular function was felt to have a mass arising from the under surface of right costal margin adjacent to right lower sternal margin while sternopericardial ligament was being broken off by finger dissection prior to sternotomy. Preoperative chest X-ray suggested a soft, globular paracardiac shadow in relation to the right pericardiophrenic angle, appreciated better retrospectively (Figure 1) Sternotomy was made, the right pleura was opened to facilitate delineation of the mass. The mass measured 8 × 6 × 3 cms and was arising from the right costal margin and the adjacent surfaces of 7 th , 8 th , 9 th and 10 th ribs (Figure 2). The mass was of firm to hard and variable consistency and was filled with cartilaginous material and there was no definite demarcation between the mass and the chest wall. The chest wall mass was excised in its entirety along with the intercostal muscle and the periosteum (Figure 3, Figure 4 and Figure 5). The frozen section revealed it to be either a chondrosarcoma or teratoma. Quadruple coronary artery bypass grafting to left anterior descending artery and its diagonal branch, obtuse marginal branch of circumflex artery and left ventricular branch of right coronary artery was performed using left internal mammary artery and long saphenous vein for conduits, employing cardiopulmonary bypass with antegrade cold blood cardioplegic arrest. Patient made uncomplicated postoperative recovery.