The Annals of thoracic surgery
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Biography Historical Article
Herbert Sloan, MD, October 10, 1914 - May 17, 2013.
Dr Herbert Sloan was the 10th president of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons and served for 15 years as the second editor of The Annals of Thoracic Surgery. One of few thoracic surgeons to lead both organizations, he also served as the 60th president of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery. Deeply committed to the mission of the American Board of Thoracic Surgery to maintain the highest standards for our specialty, he served on the American Board of Thoracic Surgery for 20 years, 13 as its secretary-treasurer. He left a legacy of thoracic surgery resident education as head of the Section of Thoracic Surgery at the University of Michigan.
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Cardiac surgery in infants results in a profound inflammatory response secondary to cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) and the need for blood products. It is not clear how this inflammatory response modulates postoperative course or whether quantification of proinflammatory cytokines can aid with risk stratification. In this study, we prospectively assessed a panel of candidate markers to determine the time course for inflammation and the association of specific markers with clinical outcomes defined as intensive care unit length of stay (LOS). ⋯ In summary, neonatal heart surgery for complex lesions elicits a broad inflammatory response. This early inflammatory response appears nonspecific and did not predict clinical course. Persistence of specific inflammatory mediators on the third day after surgery, however, provided important prognostic information. As such, select cytokines may serve as valuable biomarkers in this population. Whether strategies targeting specific cytokines can alter clinical course is not known.