The Journal of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery
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J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. · Mar 2007
Female gender increases the risk of death during hospitalization for pediatric cardiac surgery.
The study objective was to determine whether gender is a determinant of in-hospital mortality after surgery to repair congenital heart disease in patients aged 20 years or less. Secondary objectives were to determine other factors associated with increased risk of death and whether female gender is associated with increased length of stay or total charges. ⋯ In-hospital mortality after pediatric cardiac surgery seems to be associated with patient gender but not with the type of insurance or ability to access higher-volume pediatric facilities or teaching hospitals.
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J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. · Mar 2007
Pulmonary valve cusp augmentation with autologous pericardium may improve early outcome for tetralogy of Fallot.
The transannular patch used to relieve right ventricular outflow tract obstruction in children with tetralogy of Fallot may result in pulmonary insufficiency. We hypothesized that pulmonary valve cusp augmentation with pericardium would decrease pulmonary insufficiency and improve the early outcome for transatrial-transpulmonary tetralogy of Fallot repair requiring transannular patch. ⋯ Augmentation of a pulmonary valve cusp reduces the incidence of clinically significant postoperative pulmonary insufficiency. This technique may improve the early outcome for children with tetralogy of Fallot requiring a transannular patch.
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J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. · Mar 2007
A novel video-assisted anatomic segmentectomy technique: selective segmental inflation via bronchofiberoptic jet followed by cautery cutting.
Segmentectomy is an anatomic parenchyma-sparing resection that is recently being performed for small-sized lung carcinoma and constitutes a useful procedure in a thoracic surgeon's armamentarium. We have generated a new technique that improves the identification of the intersegmental border and whose clinical utility we evaluate in this study. ⋯ A novel video-assisted segmentectomy technique for lung cancer is clinically useful. Selective segmental inflation provides an obvious intersegmental plane quickly and easily, allowing a real margin distance in the ventilated segment. Despite the minimally invasive approach, since only the segment to be resected and not the entire lobe is expanded, an appropriate surgical view is possible.