Journal of cardiac surgery
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Constrictive pericarditis has multiple etiologies and can lead to disabling symptoms and severe heart failure with poor quality of life. Surgical pericardiectomy is the cornerstone of management. All patients undergoing pericardiectomy at our institution were reviewed with the goal of analyzing preoperative and intraoperative factors that may be associated with long-term outcomes. ⋯ Pericardiectomy can be performed with low mortality and immediate improvement in hemodynamics. Those patients with compromised cardiac output, abnormal hepatic or renal function, or with previous radiation therapy have reduced long-term survival.
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Mitral valve operations are increasingly performed through minimally invasive approaches such as the right anterior minithoracotomy. To facilitate exposure with this technique, a diaphragmatic suture may be implemented. We describe a liver laceration caused by the diaphragmatic suture in minithoracotomy mitral repair and its successful nonoperative management with arterial embolization.
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Percutaneous cannulation allows a prompt approach for establishing veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in acute cardiopulmonary failure. Access to an artery or a vein can sometimes be difficult with severe complications also with percutaneous approach. To reduce morbidity, we describe our technique of a real-time ultrasound cannulation of the femoral vessels.
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The use of platelet function testing has been advocated to individualize the time needed between discontinuation of P2Y12 inhibitors and coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). However, the use of specific point-of-care assays to predict bleeding risk in patients on P2Y12 inhibitors prior to CABG has not been fully validated. ⋯ In patients on P2Y12 inhibitors undergoing CABG surgery, discontinuation of P2Y12 inhibitors three days prior to surgery rather than VerifyNow PRU values predicts postoperative bleeding and the need for platelet transfusions. Sole reliance on platelet function testing to determine the timing of surgery for patients on P2Y12 inhibitors should therefore be done with caution.