Lifetime Management of Adolescents and Young Adults with Congenital Aortic Valve Disease.

In this invited expert review, we focus on evolving lifetime management strategies for adolescents and young adults with congenital aortic valve disease, acknowledging that these patients often require multiple interventions during their lifetime. Our goal is to preserve the native aortic valve when feasible. Leveraging advanced multimodality imaging, a detailed assessment of the aortic valve and root complex can be obtained, and a surgical approach tailored to an individual patient's anatomy and pathology can be employed. In turn, aortic valve repair and reconstruction can be offered to a greater number of patients, either as a definitive strategy or as a component of a staged strategy to delay the need for aortic valve replacement until later in life when more options are available. In adolescents and young adults with unrepairable aortic valve disease, our preferred strategies are aortic valve replacement with pulmonary autograft (Ross procedure) or autologous pericardium (Ozaki procedure). Aortic valve replacement with a bioprosthetic or mechanical valve is a safe and reproducible option reserved as a "last resort" in adolescents and young adults due to the cumulative lifetime risk of valve-related complications and ongoing attrition of these patients during follow-up.

Emergent Total Endovascular Arch Repair for Contained Aortic Arch Rupture: Another Tool in the Box.

To date, emergent total endovascular aortic arch repair has not been described in the literature. We present a 67-year-old female with a poorly differentiated posterior mediastinal sarcoma. Imaging obtained was concerning for intravascular extension of the tumor into the thoracic aorta. While awaiting radiation therapy, the patient complained of worsening chest and arm pain, vital signs demonstrating tachypnea and hypoxia. Subsequent imaging revealed an increase in vascular erosion, concerning for a contained rupture, with complete obliteration of the left mainstem bronchus. The patient was emergently taken for percutaneous endovascular repair of her aortic arch. A three-vessel physician modified fenestrated graft was created and deployed with concurrent stenting of the innominate, left carotid, and left subclavian arteries. Interval computed tomography angiography revealed patency in all stented vessels, with no endoleak and no evidence of pseudoaneurysm. The patient was able to undergo chemotherapy with favorable decrease in tumor burden. Total endovascular aortic arch repair, when planned carefully, is an attractive option in high-risk patients who are otherwise not ideally suited for open total arch replacement.

Demographics of Current and Aspiring Integrated Six-year Cardiothoracic Surgery Trainees.

BACKGROUND: The integrated 6-year thoracic surgery (I-6) residency model was developed in part to promote early interest in cardiothoracic surgery in diverse trainees. To determine gaps in and opportunities for recruitment of women and minority groups in the pipeline for I-6 residency, we quantified rates of progression at each training level and trends over time. METHODS: We obtained 2015 to 2019 medical student, I-6 applicant, and I-6 resident gender and race/ethnicity demographic data from the American Association of Medical Colleges and Electronic Residency Application Service public databases and Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education Data Resource Books. We performed χ2, Fisher exact, and Cochran-Armitage tests for trend to compare 2015 and 2019. RESULTS: Our cross-sectional analysis found increased representation of women and all non-White races/ethnicities, except Native American, at each training level from 2015 to 2019 (P < .001 for all). The greatest trends in increases were seen in the proportions of women (28% vs 22%, P = .46) and Asian/Pacific Islander (25% vs 15%, P = .08) applicants. There was also an increase in the proportions of women (28% vs 24%, P = .024) and White (61% vs 58%, P = .007) I-6 residents, with a trend for Asian/Pacific Islanders (20% vs 17%, P = .08). The proportions of Hispanic (5%) and Black/African American (2%) I-6 residents in 2019 remained low. CONCLUSIONS: I-6 residency matriculation is not representative of medical student demographics and spotlights a need to foster early interest in cardiothoracic surgery among all groups underrepresented in medicine while ensuring that we mitigate bias in residency recruitment.

Del Nido cardioplegia in isolated adult coronary artery bypass surgery.

BACKGROUND: Del Nido cardioplegia (DC) offers prolonged single-dose myocardial protection in pediatric cardiac surgery. We set out to evaluate the efficacy of DC in adult patients undergoing isolated coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). METHODS: From January 2012 to October 2017, 851 consecutive isolated CABG surgeries were performed by 2 study surgeons at our center with blood cardioplegia (BC, n = 350), used from January 2012 to April 2014, and DC (n = 501), used from May 2014 to October 2017. Propensity matching was used to yield 325 well-matched pairs. Clinical data were extracted from our local Society of Thoracic Surgeons database and mortality data from the Michigan State Social Security Death Index. RESULTS: Single-dose administration was used in 83% (417/501) of patients receiving DC. In propensity-matched groups, postoperative median troponin T levels (0.28 [0.16-0.59] ng/mL vs 0.46 [0.27-0.81] ng/mL; P < .01) were lower for patients receiving DC, and no difference in ejection fraction on postoperative echocardiography was observed (54 ± 12% and 53 ± 13% for BC and DC, respectively; P = .36). Perioperative outcomes were similar except for greater rate of atrial fibrillation (33% vs 23%; P = .01) in the DC group. Subgroup analyses revealed equivalent myocardial protection and clinical outcomes in patients with age ≥75 years, left ventricular ejection fraction ≤35%, left main disease, or Society of Thoracic Surgeons score ≥2.5%. Four-year survival did not differ between patients undergoing BC or DC. CONCLUSIONS: The current study revealed noninferior myocardial protection and clinical outcomes with DC versus BC in both routine and greater-risk patients undergoing isolated CABG. DC demonstrated the feasibility of single-dose administration for isolated CABG surgery. Larger randomized studies are needed to further explore the safety and efficacy of DC in adult cardiac surgery with longer crossclamp times.