The Annals of thoracic surgery
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
The efficacy of intraoperative internal intercostal nerve block during video-assisted thoracic surgery on postoperative pain.
Video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS) is widely used for many thoracic surgical procedures. Post-operative pain is less after VATS than after conventional thoracic surgery, but is still significant. The objective of this study was to assess the efficacy of thoracoscopic, internal intercostal nerve block in alleviating immediate postoperative pain. ⋯ Thoracoscopic, internal intercostal nerve block with bupivacain 0.5% during VATS is safe and effectively reduced the immediate postoperative pain and analgesic requirements.
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Increasing hospital costs, restricted resources, and new surgical strategies have stimulated effectiveness of all routines in cardiac surgery. Over a 10-year period, 5,658 consecutive patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting followed a protocol aiming at short postoperative intubation times and rapid physical rehabilitation. ⋯ With the application of a protocol for rapid physical recovery in patients undergoing "on-pump" coronary artery bypass grafting, extubation within 1 to 2 hours was safe and feasible in most patients. After 5 hours, 99.3% of the patients were extubated, with a reintubation rate of 1.1%. More than 80% of the patients were fully physically mobile within 4 days after the operation.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Desmopressin does not reduce bleeding and transfusion requirements in congenital heart operations.
Desmopressin (DDAVP) has been evaluated in many randomized clinical trials as a means to reduce blood loss and transfusion of allogeneic blood in cardiac operation requiring cardiopulmonary bypass. Desmopressin reduces blood loss in adult patients with excessive bleeding after cardiac operation. Its usefulness in patients undergoing complex congenital heart repair with cardiopulmonary bypass is unproved. ⋯ The prophylactic use of DDAVP to reduce excessive bleeding or transfusion requirements in patients undergoing complex congenital heart operations is not warranted.
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Unlike creatine kinase MB isoenzyme, cardiac troponin I (cTnI) is a highly specific marker of myocardial injury. Its release has recently been studied after coronary artery bypass grafting operation. However, its significance after open heart surgery (OHS) remains to be determined. This protein release could be a marker of myocardial protection. We sought to study cTnI release after OHS in patients with normal coronary arteries and to compare it with cTnI release in patients after coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. ⋯ cTnI release in patients after OHS with normal coronary arteries has the same profile as cTnI release in patients after CABG in the absence of AMI. However, its peak at 12 hours postoperatively is only correlated to ACC and CPB times, which is contrary to cTnI release after CABG surgery. This observation suggests that cTnI could be a marker of myocardial ischemia after OHS.
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A video-assisted thoracic surgery approach to en bloc resection of lung cancer invading the chest wall is described. Using a minimally invasive surgical approach combined with neoadjuvant external beam radiotherapy, complete resection of an upper lobe carcinoma invading two rib segments was performed in a manner that permitted complete resection with curative intent and allowed for rapid recovery.