Coronary artery bypass graft surgery in patients with left ventricular dysfunction.

AIM: The aim of this study was to investigate effects of congestive heart failure on coronary revascularization results in patients with left ventricular dysfunction and operated for elective coronary revascularization. METHODS: The data were collected retrospectively from 126 consecutive patients with left ventricular dysfunction caused by coronary artery disease between January 2007 and January 2012. Patients admitted to hospital with angina complaints without congestive heart failure symptoms were group 1 and patients with severe congestive heart failure symptoms were group 2. Accompanying diseases, postoperative complications and mortality were recorded. RESULTS: There were 66 patients in group 1 and 60 patients in group 2. Postoperative maximal inotropic support was necessary in 24 (36.4%) patients in group 1 for a mean duration of 1.6±0.9 days and in 34 (56.7%) patients in group 2 for a mean duration of 2.9±0.7 days. The proportion of patients with postoperative stay at the intensive care unit longer than 48 hours was significantly higher in group 2 compared to group 1. (p=0.0001) Hospital mortality was significantly higher in group 2 compared to group 1. (p=0.0001) CONCLUSION: Congestive heart failure aggravates the outcome after coronary artery bypass surgery in patients with left ventricular dysfunction.

Is it necessary to use an intraluminal shunt in symptomatic patients with contralateral carotid artery stenosis?

BACKGROUND: We aimed to investigate our results of carotid endarterectomy operations in symptomatic patients operated by using an intraluminal shunt and without use of an intraluminal shunt in patients with contralateral carotid artery stenosis. METHODS: We reviewed the results of 144 carotid endarterectomy operations in patients with contralateral carotid artery stenosis from January 2007 to December 2012. These patients were allocated in 2 groups. Group 1 (n = 70) consisted of the patients operated by using an intraluminal shunt and Group 2 (n = 74) consisted of the patients operated without use of an intraluminal shunt. Postoperative neurologic complications were recorded. RESULTS: Temporary neurologic impairment developed in 3 (4.3%) patients postoperatively in group 1 and in 2 (2.7%) patients postoperatively in group 2. This difference was not statistically significant between groups (p = 0.675). None of the patients returned to operation theatre due to excessive bleeding postoperatively. The stroke/death rate was 0.7% in the study group. CONCLUSIONS: We conclude that carotid endarterectomy in symptomatic patients with contralateral occlusion can be performed safely without the systematic use of a shunt. However, it is not possible to define exact indications for use of a shunt as we have no information on the reason why some surgeons used a shunt.

Comparison between normothermic and mild hypothermic cardiopulmonary bypass in myocardial revascularization of patients with left ventricular dysfunction.

AIMS: The aim of this study was to investigate whether normothermic bypass is superior to mild hypothermia in patients with poor left ventricular function. This was achieved by studying defibrillation rates, postoperative requirements of cardiac pacing or other morbidity issues and mortality in patients with left ventricular dysfunction operated upon for elective coronary revascularization. METHODS: Data were collected retrospectively from 252 consecutive patients with left ventricular dysfunction (ejection fraction ≤35%) undergoing coronary revascularization between January 2005 and January 2011. Patients operated upon under mild hypothermia (32 ºC) were placed in Group 1 and under normothermia (≥35 ºC) were placed in Group 2. Comorbidities and postoperative complications were recorded. RESULTS: There were 128 patients in Group 1 and 124 patients in Group 2. Plasma concentrations of CK-MB and troponin T peaked at 6 hours postoperatively, with no significant difference between the groups. Despite longer aortic cross-clamp time and total bypass time in Group 2, significantly less defibrillation requirement rates after aortic declamping was observed. Hospital mortality occured in 16 patients; 8 patients in each group. CONCLUSIONS: Normothermia enables less requirement for defibrillation after aortic declamping and postoperative cardiac pacing in patients with left ventricular dysfunction, which may be interpreted as better myocardial protection under normothermic bypass. However, maintaining normothermia had no effect on postoperative stroke, postoperative atrial fibrillation, renal failure development and mortality.

Surgical management of iatrogenic femoral artery pseudoaneurysms: A 10-year experience.

BACKGROUND: Vascular complications of cardiac catheterization have increased in line with increasing number of percutaneous interventions. Open repair is the standard method of treatment for true and false aneurysms of femoral artery. We report results of patients operated due to femoral artery pseudoaneurysm after cardiac catheterization. METHODS: Data from 12,261 patients who underwent percutaneous intervention for cardiac catheterization between January 2003 and January 2013 were evaluated. Diagnosis of pseudoaneurysm was established mainly by doppler ultrasonography in patients with complaints of pain and hematoma at the intervention site. Pseudoaneurysms less than 2 cm in diameter were treated non-operatively and were followed up by regular ultrasonographic examination at the outpatient clinic. Pseudoaneurysms with a diameter of 2 cm or more underwent primary repair. All patients were followed up for one year. RESULTS: We detected 55 (0.44%) patients with femoral artery pseudoaneurysm and 42 of them were operated. The mean age was 60.7 ± 6.3 years. Thirty nine (94.5%) patients underwent elective surgery, three (5.5%) patients were operated on under emergency conditions. Operation was performed under local anesthesia in 32 patients, under local anesthesia and sedation in eight patients, and under general anesthesia in three patients. Location of the pseudoaneurysm was the superficial femoral artery in 29 (69%), the common femoral artery in nine (21.4%), and the deep femoral artery in four (9.6%) patients. No limb loss occurred, no patient died and no recurrence was detected during the follow up. CONCLUSIONS: Performing vascular reconstruction before the rupture of pseudoaneurysm is important in terms of morbidity and mortality. We concluded that surgical repair in pseudoaneurysms larger than 20 mm is safe and essential.

The importance of aprotinin and pentoxifylline in preventing leukocyte sequestration and lung injury caused by protamine at the end of cardiopulmonary bypass surgery.

BACKGROUND: Protamine has adverse effects on pulmonary gas exchange during the postoperative period. The objective of this study was to investigate the importance of aprotinin and pentoxifylline in preventing the leukocyte sequestration and lung injury caused by protamine administered after the termination of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). METHODS: Participants (n = 39) were allocated into three groups at the termination of CPB: Group 1, (control group, n = 16); Group 2 (aprotinin group, n = 12), who received protamine + aprotinin (15,000 IU/kg); and Group 3 (Pentoxifylline group, n = 11), who received protamine + pentoxifylline (10 mg/kg). Leukocyte counts in pulmonary and radial arteries were determined after the termination of CPB and before any drug was given (t1), and 5 minutes (t2), 2 hours (t3), 6 hours (t4) and 12 hours (t5) after the administration of protamine. Alveolar-arterial O2 gradient (A-aO2) and dynamic pulmonary compliance were measured at t1, t2 and t3. RESULTS: In the control group, an increase in pulmonary leukocyte sequestration was observed 5 minutes and 2 hours after protamine administration, after which this difference disappeared. No significant degree of pulmonary sequestration was detected in any measurements after protamine was administered in the aprotinin and pentoxifylline (PTX) groups. Dynamic lung compliance was 50.1, 45.2 and 47.2 ml/cm H2O in the control group, 49.2, 61.1 and 56.3 ml/cm H2O in the aprotinin group, and 49.5, 54.5 and 50.4 ml/cm H2O in the PTX group. The A-aO2 gradient was 212.2, 263.3 and 254.3 mm Hg in the control group, 209.4, 257.1 and 217.3 mm Hg in the aprotinin group, and 211.3, 260.8 and 219.2 mm Hg in the PTX group. CONCLUSION: Aprotinin and PTX treatments have favourable effects on lung function by reducing protamine-induced leukocyte sequestration into lungs at the end of CPB.