European journal of cardio-thoracic surgery : official journal of the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery
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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg · Feb 2009
Multicenter StudyProfitability of our lung retrieval program from non heart beating donors.
In 2002 the first lung transplant from non heart beating (NHB) donors took place in Madrid. The objective of this study was to analyse our Maastricht type I NHB lung donors retrieval program and to check out its profitability. ⋯ A total of 58.1% of preserved lungs were implanted. The ratio of obtained lungs was 11.4% of actual donors and 7.7% of total occurrences. However, this percentage could have been higher if we take into account the number of valid lungs that were not transplanted because of the lack of recipients.
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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg · Feb 2009
ReviewCombined videothoracoscopic and videomediastinoscopic approach improves radicality of minimally invasive mediastinal lymphadenectomy for early stage lung carcinoma.
To assess the feasibility and radicality of a combined thoracoscopic and mediastinoscopic approach to mediastinal lymphadenectomy compared to thoracoscopy only for minimally invasive management of early stage lung carcinoma. ⋯ A combined approach by VATS and VAMLA improves radicality of minimally invasive mediastinal lymphadenectomy without increase in operation time, morbidity, and drainage time.
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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg · Feb 2009
ReviewAlternatives to transplantation in the surgical therapy for heart failure.
Despite considerable improvements in the medical treatment of heart failure (HF), the gold standard for the treatment of these patients remains heart transplantation. Nevertheless, in consideration of the shortage of organ donors, this procedure can be offered only to a small percentage of patients who could benefit from a new heart. ⋯ Future therapies for HF could include stem cell therapy, associated with standard revascularization techniques or with other procedures such as ventricular assist devices implantation or ventricular restoration techniques, allowing the potential differentiation of implanted stem cells in a resting and unloaded heart. The modern approach to surgical treatment of HF is multidisciplinary, given that the number of alternative available options to heart transplantation requires a close collaboration between both cardiologists and cardiac surgeons in treating patients with end-stage HF who are not candidates for transplant.