The Thoracic and cardiovascular surgeon
-
Thorac Cardiovasc Surg · Aug 2011
Congenital heart surgery: expected versus observed surgical performance according to the Aristotle complexity score.
The Aristotle score quantifies the complexity involved in congenital heart surgery. It defines surgical performance as complexity score times hospital survival. We studied how expected and observed surgical performance evolved over time. ⋯ The standardized ratio of surgical performance integrates three factors into a single value: procedure complexity, postoperative observed survival, and comparison with expected survival. It constitutes an excellent instrument for quality monitoring of congenital heart surgery programs over time. It allows an accurate comparison of surgical performance across institutions with different case mixes.
-
Thorac Cardiovasc Surg · Aug 2011
Management of chylothorax with octreotide after congenital heart surgery.
Chylothorax is a rare complication of congenital cardiac surgery that can seriously impair the postoperative course unless treated properly. We present our treatment protocol and results with octreotide, a somatostatin analogue, in cases of chylothorax following congenital heart surgery. ⋯ Octreotide, a long-acting somatostatin analog, is an effective and safe agent for the treatment of postoperative chylothorax and warrants further investigation in a larger series with a greater number of patients.
-
We aimed to give an overview of the contemporary status of aortic valve replacement. ⋯ Surgical aortic valve replacement provides excellent results and has a low operative mortality even in high-risk patients. Surgical consultation for every aortic patient resulted in an extremely low rate of surgery refusals. Our data should be regarded as a benchmark for transcatheter techniques.