The Annals of thoracic surgery
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There are few data on factors predicting recurrence of completely resected thymic carcinoma. This study analyzed prognosticators for recurrence and postrecurrence survival. ⋯ Superior vena cava invasion as well as Masaoka staging was significantly associated with recurrence-free survival in patients with completely resected thymic carcinoma. In patients with recurrent disease, surgical resection should be attempted for localized disease because it might provide some benefit for progression-free survival.
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Review Case Reports
Direct injury to right coronary artery in patients undergoing tricuspid annuloplasty.
Direct injury to the right coronary artery as a result of reparative operation on the tricuspid valve is a rare, probably underdiagnosed, but serious complication, which often involves dramatic clinical consequences. So far, only five cases have been described in the literature. ⋯ Occlusion of the right coronary artery in patients undergoing tricuspid annuloplasty is a rare complication that may occur if great annulus dilatation is present, thus altering both normal annular geometry and the relationship between the right coronary artery and the tricuspid annulus, particularly when DeVega annuloplasty is performed. Such an entity should be considered in the immediate postoperative period in an unstable patient, especially when complementary tests support this diagnosis. Prompt recognition and treatment can positively affect the patient's outcome, most often by means of an emergency revascularization strategy.
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Lung ultrasonography is a diagnostic tool increasingly used in critical care. Few data are available for the pediatric population. ⋯ Such data were confirmed by chest radiographs or by computed tomography, or both. Lung ultrasonography can be considered as a useful, real-time, bedside tool to detect specific lung diseases, reliably implementing radiographic images and potentially decreasing the total number of radiographs in critically ill children with congenital heart diseases.