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Surgical Unroofing of Myocardial Bridges

      Central Message

      • Surgical unroofing via standard median sternotomy or minimally invasive approaches stands as an effective treatment for symptomatic and hemodynamically significant myocardial bridges.
      Myocardial bridges (MB) are a congenital variant in which an epicardial coronary artery—most commonly the left anterior descending (LAD)—is contained within an intramyocardial segment. The clinical significance of this lesion varies from no symptoms to debilitating angina, ventricular arrhythmia, and even sudden cardiac arrest. Traditionally difficult to diagnose, symptomatic myocardial bridges remain an elusive entity with a lack of clarity regarding medical treatment and surgical indications. Importantly, studies have shown that with appropriate patient selection, MB unroofing is an effective treatment for symptomatic lesions, in both the adult and pediatric populations. This article describes the preoperative evaluation and the surgical approach for myocardial bridges.
      Myocardial bridges (MB) are a congenital variant in which an epicardial coronary artery—most commonly the left anterior descending (LAD)—is contained within an intramyocardial segment. The clinical significance of this lesion varies from no symptoms to debilitating angina, ventricular arrhythmia, and even sudden cardiac arrest Traditionally difficult to diagnose, symptomatic myocardial bridges remain an elusive entity with a lack of clarity regarding medical treatment and surgical indications. Importantly, studies have shown that with appropriate patient selection, MB unroofing is an effective treatment for symptomatic lesions, in both the adult and pediatric populations. This article describes the pre-operative evaluation and the surgical approach for myocardial bridges.

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