The Thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon
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Thorac Cardiovasc Surg · Jun 2006
Comparative StudyEffects of preoperative statin therapy on cytokines after cardiac surgery.
In addition to their lipid-lowering action, it has been demonstrated that statins can exert direct anti-inflammatory effects. We investigated the effect of preoperative statin therapy on systemic inflammatory markers and myocardial NF-kappaB inhibitor IkappaB-alpha after cardiac surgery. ⋯ Preoperative statin therapy attenuates the release of pro-inflammatory IL-6 and up-regulates anti-inflammatory IL-10 after cardiac surgery with cardioplegia, but fails to inhibit phosphorylation of myocardial IkappaB-alpha.
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Thorac Cardiovasc Surg · Jun 2006
Case ReportsPulmonary hyalinizing granuloma mimicking lung carcinoma.
Pulmonary hyalinizing granuloma has rarely been reported and is a benign entity of unknown origin. The chest radiograph reveals multiple and frequently bilateral pulmonary nodules. We describe a patient with pulmonary hyalinizing granuloma who presented with a central mass in the left lung mimicking lung carcinoma.
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Thorac Cardiovasc Surg · Jun 2006
Comparative StudyClinical impact of interstitial pneumonia following surgery for lung cancer.
Operative morbidity in patients with lung cancer associated with perioperative interstitial pneumonia (IP) has emerged as a serious problem. ⋯ Postoperative development IP is a serious complication with high mortality, and serial measurement of KL-6 levels is useful to assess the activity of IP.
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Thorac Cardiovasc Surg · Jun 2006
Comparative StudyC1-INH and its effect on infarct size and ventricular function in an acute pig model of infarction, cardiopulmonary bypass, and reperfusion.
Recent studies suggest that complement inhibition reduces reperfusion injury. A clinical setting with local application of a C1 esterase inhibitor (C1-INH) has been modeled in an animal study in order to further investigate these findings. ⋯ Intracoronary application of complement inhibitor in an acute infarction model, which mimicked a clinical setting of urgent coronary bypass grafting after ischemia, has been shown to neither influence the area of infarction, nor the ventricular function.
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Thorac Cardiovasc Surg · Jun 2006
Case ReportsRecovery from giant cell myocarditis with ECMO support and utilisation of polyclonal antithymocyte globulin: a case report.
Giant cell myocarditis (GCM) is a rare and frequently fatal disorder. Patients suffer of ventricular arrhythmias or congestive heart failure. ⋯ The novel utilisation of ECMO in GCM related cardiogenic shock and application of rATG have prooven life-saving in this patient. Studies utilizing rATG in the treatment of GCM are warrented.