Interactive cardiovascular and thoracic surgery
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Interact Cardiovasc Thorac Surg · Oct 2015
The relevance of 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography/computed tomography imaging in diagnosing prosthetic graft infections post cardiac and proximal thoracic aortic surgery.
Diagnosis of prosthetic graft infection after cardiac and proximal aortic surgery is a challenge. Besides technical considerations, redo surgery is associated with substantial morbidity and mortality. Therefore, an accurate diagnosis is mandatory. We report on our experience with hybrid 18-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography ((18)F-FDG PET)/computed tomography (CT) imaging, which is increasingly used to diagnose infections in the detection of graft infection after cardiac surgery. ⋯ PET provides functional data, confirms a CT diagnosis and may even increase diagnostic sensitivity in comparison with CT alone in selected cases. Specificity can be compromised by postoperative changes or chronic inflammatory reactions induced by the graft. CT and/or echocardiography should remain the first diagnostic step in case of a suspected infection because of their broad and fast availability. If confirmation is needed or diagnosis is not achievable using conventional methods, PET might be chosen as the next modality to gain additional information in experienced centres.
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Interact Cardiovasc Thorac Surg · Oct 2015
Observational StudyPerioperative change in creatinine following cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass is useful in predicting acute kidney injury: a single-centre retrospective cohort study.
Acute kidney injury is common following cardiac surgery. Experimental models of acute kidney injury suggest that successful therapy should be implemented within 24-48 h of renal injury. However, it is difficult to detect acute kidney injury shortly after cardiac surgery, because creatinine concentration is diluted by cardiopulmonary bypass. We hypothesized that, following cardiopulmonary bypass, creatinine reduction ratios would correlate with haematocrit reduction ratios and would be associated with the incidence of acute kidney injury. ⋯ The creatinine reduction ratio may be associated with perioperative renal injury. Therefore, it is a good diagnostic indicator with high performance, and may be useful in detecting acute kidney injury at an earlier stage relative to conventional means. In addition, using creatinine reduction ratios in this manner is financially feasible.
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Interact Cardiovasc Thorac Surg · Oct 2015
Ascending thoracic aortic aneurysm wall stress analysis using patient-specific finite element modeling of in vivo magnetic resonance imaging.
Rupture/dissection of ascending thoracic aortic aneurysms (aTAAs) carries high mortality and occurs in many patients who did not meet size criteria for elective surgery. Elevated wall stress may better predict adverse events, but cannot be directly measured in vivo, rather determined from finite element (FE) simulations. Current computational models make assumptions that limit accuracy, most commonly using in vivo imaging geometry to represent zero-pressure state. Accurate patient-specific wall stress requires models with zero-pressure three-dimensional geometry, material properties, wall thickness and residual stress. We hypothesized that wall stress calculated from in vivo imaging geometry at systemic pressure underestimates that using zero-pressure geometry. We developed a novel method to derive zero-pressure geometry from in vivo imaging at systemic pressure. The purpose of this study was to develop the first patient-specific aTAA models using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to assess material properties and zero-pressure geometry. Wall stress results from FE models using systemic pressure were compared with those from models using zero-pressure correction. ⋯ Previous FE aTAA models from in vivo CT and MRI have not accounted for zero-pressure geometry or patient-specific material property. We demonstrated that zero-pressure correction significantly impacts wall stress results. Future computational models that use wall stress to predict aTAA adverse events must take into account zero-pressure geometry and patient material property for accurate wall stress determination.
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Interact Cardiovasc Thorac Surg · Oct 2015
Case ReportsTransapical off-pump Neochord implantation on bileaflet prolapse to treat severe mitral regurgitation.
A 74-year old lady was admitted for the presence of a symptomatic severe mitral regurgitation (MR) due to bileaflet prolapse. The patient refused any surgical conventional procedure because of severe arthrosis and osteoporosis documented by previous fractures requiring knee and hip replacements, and was sent directly to us for transapical off-pump mitral valve repair with Neochord implantation (TOP-MINI procedure). ⋯ After 11 months of follow-up, the patient presented with recurrence of symptomatic moderate MR due to rupture of one of two neochordae implanted on the anterior leaflet and new onset of atrial fibrillation. The patient underwent uneventful mitral valve replacement.
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Interact Cardiovasc Thorac Surg · Oct 2015
A new possibility in thoracoscopic virtual reality simulation training: development and testing of a novel virtual reality simulator for video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery lobectomy.
The aims of this study were to develop virtual reality simulation software for video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) lobectomy, to explore the opinions of thoracic surgeons concerning the VATS lobectomy simulator and to test the validity of the simulator metrics. ⋯ This is the first study to describe a commercially available virtual reality simulator for a VATS lobectomy. More than 100 thoracic surgeons found the simulator realistic, and hence it showed good content validity. However, none of the built-in simulator metrics could significantly distinguish between novice, intermediate experienced and experienced surgeons, and further development of the simulator software is necessary to develop valid metrics.