Aortic valve replacement in a patient with a retrosternal gastric tube.

A 65-year-old male with a history of a total thoracic esophagectomy with a retrosternal gastric tube reconstruction required aortic valve replacement for aortic valve stenosis due to a bicuspid aortic valve. Preoperative multidetector computed tomography demonstrated that the gastric tube occupied the retrosternal space and the gastroepiploic artery was located on the left side of the gastric tube. Aortic valve replacement was performed through a median sternotomy approach. Blunt dissection on the anterior and right side of the gastric tube was performed without injury, and we could then perform cardiac surgery with the standard surgical view.