[Combined coronary artery and heart valve surgery at the Clinic for Cardiovascular Surgery (1979-1990)].

As a result of increasing mean age of patient undergoing open heart surgery more and more combined valve and coronary surgery cases are performed. The operative risk of combined procedure is higher than that of valve replacement or coronary bypass grafting alone. In case of aortic valve disease the operation reduces the workload of the left ventricle thus decreasing the oxygen demand of the myocardium. In pure mitral valve stenosis as a consequence of valve replacement the left ventricular preload increases and coexisting coronary artery disease is of greater importance than in the other case. Since 1979 until the end of 1990 there were 146 combined operations performed in the Cardiovascular Surgical Clinic of Semmelweis Medical University of Budapest. The operative results and theoretical considerations are discussed.