Interactive cardiovascular and thoracic surgery
-
Interact Cardiovasc Thorac Surg · Jul 2014
Aortic valve repair: a ten-year single-centre experience†.
Aortic valvuloplasty could represent an alternative to valve replacement resulting in optimal haemodynamic conditions, avoiding anticoagulation and allowing, in young people, normal aortic annulus growth. We analysed our results of aortic valve repair for incompetence due to leaflets and root pathology. ⋯ Aortic valve leaflet repair seems to be a good and feasible option for selected patients, both alone or associated with an aortic sparing technique concerning long-term results.
-
Interact Cardiovasc Thorac Surg · Jul 2014
Observational StudyHoles in the heart: an atlas of intracardiac injuries following penetrating trauma.
The extraordinarily high rate of penetrating heart injuries in South Africa provides a substantial denominator from which we derive a subset of patients with intracardiac lesions as a result of these injuries. The surgical literature, which consists largely of case reports and case series, describing various patterns of injury is dated and a review of management in the era of modern imaging and surgical techniques is warranted. ⋯ The referral of patients for the repair of intracardiac injuries following penetrating cardiac trauma is often delayed. Symptoms of cardiac failure should be optimized medically prior to undertaking definitive surgical repair, thereby also allowing for detailed preoperative imaging to guide appropriate intervention. Utilizing standard principles of intracardiac shunt repair, as well as contemporary valve repair techniques, favourable surgical outcomes may be reproduced. Percutaneous catheter device techniques may prove useful in patients deemed unsuitable for surgical repair, such as patients with sternal wound sepsis.