Single ventricule cardiac disease

Doxorubicin is an antineoplastic in the anthracycline class widely used for the treatment of several solid tumors and blood cancers. Cardiotoxicity is the major dose-limiting adverse effect of the drug. Chronic and accumulated doxorubicin administration cause myocyte damage and myocardial fibrosis. Doxorubicin-associated cardiotoxicity can be also observed after a short-course drug treatment even without clinical evidence of cardiac disease. Nevertheless, acute underlying mechanisms involved in the initiation of drug-induced cardiotoxicity remain poorly explored despite their similarities with pathophysiological conditions where cardiac TRH (cTRH) plays a central role...

Protein restriction (PR) is associated with cardiovascular diseases. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects on single ventricular cardiomyocyte contractile function of a short-term PR after weaning. Male Fischer rats that were 28 days old were randomly divided into a control group (CG, n = 16) and a protein-restricted group (PRG, n = 16). After weaning, CG and PRG animals received isocaloric diets containing 15 and 6% protein, respectively, for 35 days. Biometric parameters were then measured, and the hearts were removed for the analysis of contractile function and calcium transient in isolated cardiomyocytes of the left ventricule (LV), and the quantification of calcium and collagen fibers in LV myocardium...

OBJECTIVE: Brain abscess (BA) is a neurosurgical emergency and despite significant medical advances, it remains a surgical challenge. A single institution's two decade computed tomography era management experience with BA is reported. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of patients with BA, admitted to the Department of Neurosurgery, Wentworth Hospital, Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, was performed. The medical records were analyzed for demographic, clinical, neuroimaging, neurosurgical and otolaryngology management, microbiological characteristics, and their relationship to outcome...

Most liver cysts are asymptomatic and tend to have a benign clinical course. However, symptomatic or complicated liver cysts sometimes require surgical intervention. The laparoscopic approach is crucial and provides definitive treatment for such cysts. Recently, a trend of laparoscopic procedure has been toward minimizing the number of incisions. We performed single incision laparoscopic surgery (SILS) for a huge liver cyst with chronic heart failure and thrombosis of the inferior vena cava. An 83 year-old female presented with a month-long history of general fatigue and loss of appetite...

OBJECTIVE: To determine the safety and efficacy of a novel intravascular cooling device (Cool Line catheter with Cool Gard system) to control body temperature (temperature goal <37 degrees C) in neurologic intensive care patients. DESIGN: A prospective, uncontrolled pilot study in 51 consecutive neurologic intensive care patients. SETTING: A neurologic intensive care unit at a tertiary care university hospital. PARTICIPANTS: Patients were 51 neurologic intensive care patients with an intracranial disease requiring a central venous catheter due to the primary (intracranial) disease...

A 54-year-old male with a left ventricular aneurysm and angina after myocardial infarction underwent Cooley's ventricular endoaneurysmorrhaphy with single coronary artery bypass grafting. On cardiopulmonary bypass, an elliptial Dacron felt patch was fashioned to replace the diseased area in the left ventricular cavity, restoring normal shape, contour and volume to the ventricule and stabilizing the still viable and functioning myocardium, and sutured to transition zone between viable myocardium and the fibrotic scarred area...

The aim of this work is the evaluation of the hemodynamic effects during the 24 hours following a single administration of a new arterial vasodilator, cadralazine, in 12 patients whose mean age is 66 years and who present severe cardiac insufficiency. A clinical and hemodynamic examination was made before administration of the medicine in 3 doses at 12 hour intervals in order to check the stationary state of the patients, and then at 1 h, 2 h, 4 h, 6 h, 8 h, 12 h, 20 h and 24 h after 30 mg, and then 60 mg of cadralazine...

In order to analyse the response of the right ventricule (RV) to transient myocardial ischaemia, the RV ejection fraction was measured using a new rapid response thermodilution catheter in 15 patients (14 men and 1 woman: average age 58 +/- 7 years) referred for percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty of a dominant right coronary artery. Only patients with single vessel disease with a proximal stenosis of the right coronary without a visible collateral circulation who had no previous history of myocardial infarction were included...