European journal of cardio-thoracic surgery : official journal of the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery
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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg · Nov 2006
Surgical treatment of chronic atrial fibrillation combined with rheumatic mitral valve disease: Effects of the cryo-maze procedure and predictors for late recurrence.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of the modified maze procedure using cryoablation for treating chronic atrial fibrillation (AF) associated with rheumatic mitral valve disease and to assess the risk factors for late failure of sinus rhythm restoration. ⋯ The modified maze procedures using cryoablation are safe and effective in treating chronic atrial fibrillation associated with rheumatic mitral valve disease.
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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg · Nov 2006
Normothermic cardiopulmonary bypass and myocardial cardioplegic protection for neonatal arterial switch operation.
Hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) associated with cold myocardial protection is commonly used to perform neonatal cardiac surgery. Hypothermia is usually chosen to preserve the brain in case of failure of oxygen delivery whatever it may result from. Nowadays, there is a growing number of evidence demonstrating that hypothermia induces deleterious effects, which may culminate in organ dysfunctions. In 2001, we started a protocol where the heart and the body were no longer cooled, in all the procedures, including the arterial switch operation (ASO), except those with aortic arch reconstruction. ⋯ Normothermic cardiopulmonary bypass is feasible for ASO and seems to allow a faster recovery time.
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Inflammatory aneurysms of the aorta are usually seen in the infrarenal abdominal aorta and very rarely in the ascending aorta. We present the case of a 76-year-old male with inflammatory aneurysm of the ascending aorta.
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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg · Oct 2006
Comparative StudyComparative study of donor lung injury in heart-beating versus non-heart-beating donors.
The use of non-heart-beating donors (NHBD) has been advocated as an alternative to overcome the critical organ shortage in lung transplantation despite the warm ischemic period that may result in primary graft dysfunction. On the contrary, brain death in the heart-beating donor (HBD) may be an underestimated risk factor for donor lung injury. We postulated that 60 min of warm ischemia in the NHBD is less detrimental to the lung than the pathophysiological changes after brain death in the HBD. In this study we compared the quality of lungs from HBD versus NHBD in an isolated reperfusion model. ⋯ These data indicate that 1-h warm ischemic lungs in our model are less susceptible to ischemia-reperfusion injury than lungs retrieved 5 h after brain death. This study further supports the use of lungs from NHBD for pulmonary transplantation.
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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg · Oct 2006
A single 24F Blake drain after wedge resection or lobectomy: a study on 100 consecutive cases.
To evaluate the results of chest drainage using one 24F Blake drain after standard thoracic operations (wedge resection and lobectomy). ⋯ Postoperative courses after standard thoracic procedures using a single 24F Blake drainage appear similar to that accounting after a classical semi-rigid drainage. Such single drainage may appear now as an acceptable option. The flexible quality of the drain, its reduced caliber, and the character unique of the drainage, may contribute to improve comfort of the operated patients.