The Annals of thoracic surgery
-
Bleeding may occur frequently during adult extracorporeal life support; however, there are no detailed investigations of bleeding events, red blood cell transfusion, and their impact on mortality. The purpose of our study was to characterize the incidence of bleeding and red blood cell transfusion during adult extracorporeal life support and examine the impact on mortality. ⋯ Bleeding and red blood cell transfusion occur frequently during adult extracorporeal life support, but only the amount of red blood cell transfusion is associated with inhospital mortality after controlling for confounding variables.
-
Intramural coronary arteries may complicate coronary artery transfer during the arterial switch operation. We sought to determine the long-term outcomes of 28 patients with intramural coronary arteries who underwent an arterial switch operation at a single institution. ⋯ Patients with intramural coronary arteries are not at increased risk of death or coronary reinterventions and have excellent late outcomes after the arterial switch operation.