Heart operation

Aims: Determine the role of diastolic function indices in pre-operative and post-operative risk stratification in patients with moderate mixed aortic valve disease (MAVD). Methods and results: A retrospective study was conducted of asymptomatic patients with moderate MAVD (a combination of moderate aortic stenosis and moderate aortic regurgitation) and an ejection fraction of 50% or more who were followed up at Mayo Clinic from 1 January 2004, to 31 December 2013...

The study aimed to investigate if the dynamic changes in cerebral electrical impedance (CEI) values could be used to monitor brain edema during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) in infants. Forty infants (mean age: 1.4±0.38y) with acyanotic congenital heart disease who underwent CPB open-heart surgery between September 2009 and March 2010 were prospectively enrolled, and divided into 2 groups based on aortic cross-clamping (ACC) time: CPB-A (ACC<50 min) and CPB-B (ACC<50 min). During the same period, twenty infants (aged 1-3y) who underwent surgery for indirect inguinal hernias were selected as controls...

OBJECTIVE: Schizophrenia has been associated with changes in heart rate (HR) and physical activity measures. However, the relationship between analysis window length and classifier accuracy using these features has yet to be quantified. APPROACH: Here we used objective HR and activity data to classify contiguous days of data as belonging to a schizophrenia patient or a healthy control. HR and physical activity recordings were made on 12 medicated subjects with schizophrenia and 12 healthy controls...

BACKGROUND: Pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum is a unique congenital malformation of the heart in which patients may undergo single-, two- or 1½- ventricle repair. Size of the tricuspid valve annulus, morphology of the right ventricle and presence of ventriculocoronary connections can all impact the selection of appropriate palliative strategy. We developed the aortic perfusion score, a novel scoring system based on anterograde coronary perfusion with the aim of being able to identify patients at risk for death or transplant...

BACKGROUND: Herein is sought to determine whether the occurrence of post-operative atrial fibrillation (POAF) increases the risk of late recurrence of atrial fibrillation (AF) in patients undergoing open heart surgery (OHS). METHODS: This study included 938 patients (56.7 ± 13.1 years old, 550 males) with no history of AF who underwent OHS. All patients were monitored continuously for development of POAF after surgery until the time of hospital discharge and received clinical follow up with serial evaluation of rhythm status...

BACKGROUND: Biomarkers play an important role in the risk stratification of patients with heart failure (HF). Recent studies have shown that soluble suppression of tumorigenicity 2 (sST2), a member of the interleukin 1 receptor family, is associated with disease prognosis in acute and chronic HF. In this study we aimed to investigate the relation between sST2 level and functional capacity in outpatients with systolic HF. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This study included 120 HF patients with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF; EF ≤ 40%)...

BACKGROUND: Severe pulmonary hypertension (PH) resulting from a chronic lung disease (CLD) (severe CLD-PH) requires more aggressive treatment due to its increased mortality compared with mild PH. Therefore, we developed a Doppler echocardiography scoring index (ESI) to predict severe CLD-PH. METHODS: A derivation cohort of 107 patients with CLD who underwent echocardiography was classified into two groups, the normal/mild PH group and the severe PH group, based on the right heart catheterization...

Gastrulation was arguably the key evolutionary innovation that enabled metazoan diversification, leading to the formation of distinct germ layers and specialized tissues. Differential gene expression specifying cell fate is governed by the inputs of intracellular and/or extracellular signals. Beta-catenin/Tcf and the TGF-beta bone morphogenetic protein (BMP) provide critical molecular signaling inputs during germ layer specification in bilaterian metazoans, but there has been no direct experimental evidence for a specific role for BMP signaling during endomesoderm specification in the early branching metazoan Nematostella vectensis (an anthozoan cnidarian)...

OBJECTIVE: Congenital bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) is distinctly associated with the development of ascending aortopathy in adulthood, portending risk of both ascending aortic aneurysm and dissection. Our previous work implicated deficiency in oxidative stress response as a mediator of the BAV-associated aortopathy. We hypothesize that reactive oxygen species generation invokes elevated local oxidative tissue damage in ascending aorta of patients with BAV. METHODS: Ascending aortic specimens were obtained from patients undergoing elective aortic replacement and/or aortic valve replacement and during heart transplant operations...

BACKGROUND: Optimal timing of heart transplantation in patients supported with second-generation left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) is unknown. Despite this, patients with LVADs continue to receive priority on the heart transplant waiting list. Our objective was to determine the optimal timing of transplantation for patients bridged with continuous-flow LVADs. METHODS: A total of 301 HeartMate II LVADs (Thoratec Corp, Pleasanton, CA) were implanted in 285 patients from October 2004 to June 2013, and 86 patients underwent transplantation through the end of follow-up...

BACKGROUND: Intrinsic cardiac nerve activities (ICNA) and the skin nerve activities (SKNA) are both associated with cardiac arrhythmias in dogs. OBJECTIVE: To test the hypothesis that ICNA and SKNA correlate with postoperative cardiac arrhythmias in humans. METHODS: Eleven patients (60±13 years old; 4 female) were enrolled in this study. Electrical signals were simultaneously recorded from electrocardiogram (ECG) patch electrodes on the chest wall and from two temporary pacing wires placed during open heart surgery on the left atrial epicardial fat pad...

INTRODUCTION: Functional status is an important predictor of outcomes after infrainguinal bypass surgery. There is little data on the effect of functional status on the outcomes of endovascular LE interventions, especially in the elderly frail population. METHODS: This is a retrospective analysis of the American College of Surgeons - National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS-NSQIP) files for the years 2011-2013 to assess the impact of functional status on outcome after endovascular intervention for critical limb ischemia...

BACKGROUND: The cumulative amount of iodinated-contrast-medium necessary for EVAR planning, operative procedure and subsequent follow-up is a threat for the onset of end stage renal disease in patients with pre-operative impaired kidney function. Purpose of this study is to describe a mini-invasive approach aimed to minimize the exposure of these patients to iodinated-contrast-medium and the subsequent risk of renal function worsening. METHODS: From 2012 to 2015, all patients with abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) at high-surgical risk and fit for standard endovascular repair (simple aortic-iliac anatomy: proximal and distal neck length ≥15mm, no severe angulation), underwent EVAR through the following "near-zero contrast" approach, if their glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was <30 mL/min: pre-operative planning was performed by non-contrast enhanced computed tomography (CT) and duplex-ultrasound (DU); the origin of renal/hypogastric arteries and aortic bifurcation was evaluated and matched with vertebral bone landmarks and the endograft deployed accordingly, using < 20cc of isotonic iodinate-contrast-medium and contrast-enhancement-DU (CEUS)...

BACKGROUND: Anatomic correction of corrected transposition of the great arteries with associated lesions, utilizing the morphologic left ventricle as a systemic pumping chamber, is the preferred method in many centers. The purpose of this study was to analyze functional outcome after anatomic correction. METHODS: Between Jan 1997 and May 2016, 63 patients with corrected transposition of the great arteries and associated lesions underwent anatomic correction. Forty-two patients (67%) underwent palliation before correction, including 14 patients (22%) who required training of systemic ventricle...

BACKGROUND: We evaluated the incidence, clinical effect, and recovery rate of vocal cord dysfunction (VCD) and swallowing dysfunction in neonates undergoing aortic arch repair. METHODS: We retrospectively evaluated 101 neonates who underwent aortic arch reconstruction from 2008 to 2015. Direct flexible laryngoscopy was performed in 89 patients before initiation of postoperative oral feeding after Norwood (n = 63) and non-Norwood (n = 26) arch reconstruction. We defined VCD as immobility of vocal cords or their lack of coaptation and poor mobility...

Paravalvular leaks are common following valve replacement surgery. Majority are benign and do not require any active intervention. However, occasionally severe paravalvular regurgitation can produce heart failure and/or hemolysis, needing closure of the defect. It is more commonly associated with aortic and mitral prosthesis, symptomatic tricuspid paravalvular regurgitation being a rare entity. In this report we present the successful percutaneous transcatheter closure of a large paravalvular tricuspid regurgitation in a 59-year old lady with history of multiple previous operations...

Objective: To observe the effects of recombinant adenovirus with human tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1(Ad-hTIMP-1) on the inflammatory response in rats with myocardial infarction (MI) and explore the related mechanisms. Methods: The male Wistar rats were randomly divided into sham-operated group, saline group, Ad-Track group and Ad-hTIMP-1 group according to the random number table (n=8 each group). MI was induced by ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery and MI rats were injected with saline, Ad-Track and Ad-hTIMP-1, respectively...

Objective: To observe the expression changes of Notch and nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) signaling pathways in rat myocardium post myocardial infarction. Methods: Myocardial infarction was established by ligation of the left anterior descending coronary artery(MI group), sham rats (similar surgical procedure without coronary artery ligation) served as control, the rats were sacrificed at first week, 4th and 8th week after operation, the non-infarct myocardial tissue in both groups was obtained to detect the mRNA expression of Notch1, Dll4 and Hes1 by RT-PCR, the protein expression of NICD1 was detected by Western blot, the nuclear protein p65 content was detected to reflect the activation degree of NF-κB signaling in the cardiomyocytes...

Objective: The growing body of literature showed a link between uric acid and pulmonary hypertension (PH), but the impact of hyperuremia on outcome of patients with PH has not been well defined. Therefore, the present study was performed to analyze the impact of uric acid on outcome of PH patients. Methods: One hundred seventy-three PH patients (112 females, mean age 38 years old), who were hospitalized in our department between January 2010 and December 2015, were included in our study, the PH diagnosis was made based on right heart catheterization examination result (mean pulmonary artery pressure≥25 mmHg(1 mmHg=0...

OBJECTIVE: Postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) is the most common complication after cardiac surgery. To prevent this complication, routine pharmacological prophylactic drugs could be administered. Our study aimed to analyze the various perioperative factors associated with the development of POAF after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. METHODS: This prospective study included 617 patients, who received CABG surgery in the year 2014. RESULTS: There were 429 (69...