European journal of cardio-thoracic surgery : official journal of the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery
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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg · Apr 2019
Surgical smoke: still an underestimated health hazard in the operating theatre.
Smoke generated from electrocautery dissection contains irritating and/or carcinogenic components. The aim of this study was to investigate the effectiveness of a mobile smoke evacuation system (SES) in protecting surgical personnel from these hazardous fumes. ⋯ Although the SES reduced the concentrations of most of the detected volatile organic compounds to a certain amount, especially the carcinogenic substances, butadiene and benzene remained high above exposure limits. According to the abovementioned significant data, further investigation on this topic is imperative, especially when considering that surgical masks were absolutely ineffective in protecting individuals from the toxic smoke and that the cautery was only used for 10 s in this experiment.
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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg · Mar 2019
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyOutcomes following surgical revascularization with single versus bilateral internal thoracic arterial grafts in patients with left main coronary artery disease undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting: insights from the EXCEL trial†.
Observational data suggest that the use of a single internal thoracic artery (SITA) may result in inferior outcomes compared with bilateral internal thoracic artery (BITA) use for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG)-a finding not yet supported by randomized trial outcomes. However, the optimal number of internal thoracic artery grafts in patients with left main coronary artery disease has not been investigated. ⋯ In the EXCEL trial, there were no clinical differences at 3 years between SITA or BITA revascularization in patients with left main coronary artery disease.
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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg · Mar 2019
Meta AnalysisEffect of an intra-aortic balloon pump with venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation on mortality of patients with cardiogenic shock: a systematic review and meta-analysis†.
An intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) concomitant with venoarterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) is frequently used to support patients with refractory cardiogenic shock (CS). Because of the lack of evidence of the adjunctive benefit, the goal of the study was to compare the effect of VA-ECMO plus IABP with that of VA-ECMO alone. Systematic searches were conducted to identify studies using PubMed, Embase, the Cochrane Library and the International Clinical Trials Registry Platform. ⋯ Moreover, IABP was related to decreased in-hospital deaths of patients with extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation, postcardiotomy CS and ischaemic heart disease (RR 0.78; 95% CI 0.64-0.95; P = 0.01; RR 0.91; 95% CI: 0.85-0.98; P = 0.008; RR 0.83; 95% CI 0.73-0.96, P = 0.009). Neurological, gastrointestinal and limb-related complications did not differ significantly between patients on ECMO with and without concurrent IABP. VA-ECMO plus IABP was associated with decreased in-hospital deaths in patients with CS.
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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg · Mar 2019
Long-term results of robotic anatomical segmentectomy for early-stage non-small-cell lung cancer.
Anatomical segmentectomy is advocated for curative resection in select patients. We investigated the long-term results of robotic anatomical segmentectomy with mediastinal nodal dissection in patients with early-stage lung cancer. ⋯ Robotic anatomical segmentectomy with mediastinal nodal dissection is a safe and feasible procedure. Accurate preoperative clinical staging is of critical importance for long-term survival.
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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg · Mar 2019
Aortic stenosis exacerbates flow aberrations related to the bicuspid aortic valve fusion pattern and the aortopathy phenotype.
A bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) is characterized by variable phenotypic manifestations, as well as longitudinal evolution of valve dysfunction and ascending aorta dilatation. The present study investigated the impact of severe aortic stenosis (AS) on the flow patterns and wall shear stress (WSS) distribution in BAV patients with right-left (RL) and right-non-coronary (RN) cusp fusion types, and the study aimed to reveal whether aortic dysfunction could further alter intrinsic aortic haemodynamic aberrations generated by abnormal BAV cusp fusion patterns. ⋯ Severe AS markedly exacerbated aortic flow aberrations in BAV patients and masked the existing distinct flow features deriving from RL and RN fusion types. Longitudinal studies are needed to investigate the evolution of ascending aortic dilatation relative to the interaction between intrinsic cusp fusion types and acquired severe valve dysfunction.