Nitric Oxide in Selective Cerebral Perfusion Could Enhance Neuroprotection During Aortic Arch Surgery.

BACKGROUND: Hypothermic circulatory arrest (HCA) in aortic arch surgery has a significant risk of neurological injury despite the newest protective techniques and strategies. Nitric oxide (NO) could exert a protective role, reduce infarct area and increase cerebral perfusion. This study aims to investigate the possible neuroprotective effects of NO administered in the oxygenator of selective antegrade cerebral perfusion (SCP) during HCA. METHODS: Thirty male SD adult rats (450-550 g) underwent cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), cooling to 22°C body core temperature followed by 30 min of HCA. Rats were randomized to receive SCP or SCP added with NO (20 ppm) administered through the oxygenator (SCP-NO). All animals underwent CPB-assisted rewarming to a target temperature of 35°C in 60 min. At the end of the experiment, rats were sacrificed, and brain collected. Immunofluorescence analysis was performed in blind conditions. RESULTS: Neuroinflammation assessed by allograft inflammatory factor 1 or ionized calcium-binding adapter molecule 1 expression, a microglia activation marker was lower in SCP-NO compared to SCP (4.11 ± 0.59 vs. 6.02 ± 0.18%; p < 0.05). Oxidative stress measured by 8oxodG, was reduced in SCP-NO (0.37 ± 0.01 vs. 1.03 ± 0.16%; p < 0.05). Brain hypoxic area extent, analyzed by thiols oxidation was attenuated in SCP-NO (1.85 ± 0.10 vs. 2.74 ± 0.19%; p < 0.05). Furthermore, the apoptotic marker caspases 3 was significantly reduced in SCP-NO (10.64 ± 0.37 vs. 12.61 ± 0.88%; p < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Nitric oxide administration in the oxygenator during SCP and HCA improves neuroprotection by decreasing neuroinflammation, optimizing oxygen delivery by reducing oxidative stress and hypoxic areas, finally decreasing apoptosis.

4D MDCT in the assessment of the tricuspid valve and its spatial relationship with the right coronary artery: A customized tool based on computed tomography for the planning of percutaneous procedures.

Multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) is currently the imaging technique of choice for the assessment of tricuspid valve (TV) annulus geometry and relationship with the right coronary artery (RCA). However, standardized protocols with a full 3D analysis are still lacking to plan percutaneous procedures for functional tricuspid regurgitation (FTR). A novel customized 4-dimensional tool based on MDCT data was developed and provided accurate information on TV annulus morphology (3D-perimeter, 2D-Area, maximum and minimum diameters, eccentricity index), function and distance to the RCA, crucial for patient selection of percutaneous TV procedures.

Slow versus fast rewarming after hypothermic circulatory arrest: effects on neuroinflammation and cerebral oedema.

OBJECTIVES: Among the factors that could determine neurological outcome after hypothermic circulatory arrest (HCA) rewarming is rarely considered. The optimal rewarming rate is still unknown. The goal of this study was to investigate the effects of 2 different protocols for rewarming after HCA on neurological outcome in an experimental animal model. METHODS: Forty-four Sprague Dawley rats were cooled to 19 ± 1°C body core temperature by cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). HCA was maintained for 60 min. Animals were randomized to receive slow (90 min) or fast (45 min) assisted rewarming with CPB to a target temperature of 35°C. After a total of 90 min of reperfusion in both groups, brain samples were collected and analysed immunohistochemically and with immunofluorescence. In 10 rats, magnetic resonance imaging was performed after 2 and after 24 h to investigate cerebral perfusion and cerebral oedema. RESULTS: Interleukin 6, chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 5, intercellular adhesion molecule 1 and tumour necrosis factor α in the hippocampus are significantly less expressed in the slow rewarming group, and microglia cells are significantly less activated in the slow rewarming group. Magnetic resonance imaging analysis demonstrated better cerebral perfusion and less water content in brains that underwent slow rewarming at 2 and 24 h. CONCLUSIONS: Slow rewarming after HCA might be superior to fast rewarming in neurological outcome. The present experimental study demonstrated reduction in the inflammatory response, reduction of inflammatory cell activation in the brain, enhancement of cerebral blood flow and reduction of cerebral oedema when slow rewarming was applied.

Current management of double-outlet left ventricle: towards biventricular repair in infancy.

BACKGROUND: Double-outlet left ventricle (DOLV) is an extremely rare type of ventriculoarterial connection, mostly reported anecdotally with wide variations in morphology, surgical strategy and clinical outcome. The aim of the present study was to define current morbidity and mortality of biventricular repair and discuss surgical management in infancy. METHODS: Inclusion criteria were English literature publication; balanced ventricular development and completion of biventricular repair. Institutional experience was also reported. Study end points were survival and freedom from cardiovascular events. Univariate analysis to identify risk factors for complications was performed. RESULTS: During a 45-year interval, 37 cases of DOLV were identified. Median age at repair was 48 months (range 0.3-336); seven patients were infants. Extracardiac repair was performed in 21 (57%) patients, right ventricular outflow patch in seven, pulmonary translocation in six, and intraventricular repair in three. There were three (8%) hospital deaths, due to right heart failure, and seven (21%) patients experienced 10 perioperative complications. Univariate analysis showed year of operation (P = 0.02) and outflow patch technique (P = 0.003) as risk factors for hospital morbidity and mortality. During a median follow-up of 26 months (range 1-192), there was one death and seven reoperations. Ten-year survival and freedom from adverse cardiovascular events were 87 ±â€Š6 and 70 ±â€Š10%, respectively. CONCLUSION: Although seldom reported in the past, repair of DOLV in infancy does not increase surgical risk. Early and late morbidity are mostly due to right heart complications and more common after right ventricular outflow patch repair. Paucity of follow-up information may underestimate actual late adverse event rate.

Characterization and Expression of Sphingosine 1-Phosphate Receptors in Human and Rat Heart.

Aim: Sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P), sphingolipid derivatives are known anti-inflammatory, anti-apoptotic, and anti-oxidant agent. S1P have been demonstrated to have a role in the cardiovascular system. The purpose of this study was to understand the precise expression and distribution of S1P receptors (S1PRs) in human and rat cardiovascular tissues to know the significance and possible implementation of our experimental studies in rat models. Methods and Results: In this study, we investigated the localization of S1PRs in human heart samples from cardiac surgery department, University of Verona Hospital and rat samples. Immunohistochemical investigation of paraffin-embedded sections illustrated diffused staining of the myocardial samples from human and rat. The signals of the human heart were similar to those of the rat heart in all chambers of the heart. The immunohistochemical expression levels correlated well with the results of RT-PCR-based analysis and western blotting. We confirmed by all techniques that S1PR1 expressed strongly as compared to S1PR3, and are uniformly distributed in all chambers of the heart with no significant difference in human and rat myocardial tissue. S1PR2 expression was significantly weak while S1PR4 and S1PR5 were not detectable in RT-PCR results in both human and rat heart. Conclusion: These results indicate that experimental studies using S1PR agonists on rat models are more likely to have a potential for translation into clinical studies, and second important information revealed by this study is, S1P receptor agonist can be used for cardioprotection in global ischemia-reperfusion injury.

Long-Term Follow-Up Study of Temporary Tricuspid Valve Detachment as Approach to VSD Repair without Consequent Tricuspid Dysfunction.

Temporary tricuspid valve detachment improves the operative view of certain congenital ventricular septal defects (VSDs), but its long-term effects on tricuspid valve function are still debated. From 2002 through 2012, we performed a prospective study of 68 children (mean age, 1.28 ± 1.01 yr) who underwent transatrial closure of VSDs following temporary tricuspid valve detachment. Sixty patients had conoventricular and 8 had mid-muscular VSDs. All were in sinus rhythm. Seventeen patients had systemic pulmonary artery pressures. Preoperative echocardiograms showed trivial-to-mild tricuspid regurgitation in 62 patients and tricuspid dysplasia with severe regurgitation in 6 patients. Patients were clinically and echocardiographically monitored at 30 postoperative days, 3 months, 6 months, every 6 months thereafter for the first 2 years, and then once a year. No in-hospital or late death was observed at the median follow-up evaluation of 5.9 years. Mean intensive care unit and hospital stays were 1.6 ± 1.1 and 7.3 ± 2.7 days, respectively. Residual small VSDs occurred in 3 patients, and temporary atrioventricular block in one. After VSD repair, 62 patients (91%) had trivial or mild tricuspid regurgitation, and 6 moderate. Five of these last had severe tricuspid regurgitation preoperatively and had undergone additional tricuspid valve repair during the procedure. The grade of residual tricuspid regurgitation remained stable postoperatively, and no tricuspid stenosis was documented. All patients were in New York Heart Association class I at follow-up. Temporary tricuspid valve detachment is a simple and useful method for a complete visualization of certain VSDs without incurring substantial tricuspid dysfunction.

S-nitroso human serum albumin attenuates pulmonary hypertension, improves right ventricular-arterial coupling, and reduces oxidative stress in a chronic right ventricle volume overload model.

BACKGROUND: This study examined the acute effect of intravenous S-nitroso human serum albumin (S-NO-HSA) infusion on overall hemodynamics and oxidative stress in a chronic left-to-right shunt-induced pulmonary arterial hypertension model with right ventricle (RV) failure. METHODS: An aortocaval fistula (pulmonary-to-systemic blood flow ratio [Qp/Qs] > 2.0) was surgically created in 50 male Wistar rats. After 10 weeks, they were randomly treated with S-NO-HSA (n = 20) or human serum albumin (HSA; n = 25) infusion (0.5 µmol/kg/h) for 60 minutes. A sham group (n = 10) received S-NO-HSA. RV contractility, RV-vascular coupling, and ventricular interdependence were assessed in vivo at different pre-loads by biventricular conductance catheters. Heart and lung biopsy specimens were obtained for determination of high-energy phosphates, oxidative stress (oxidized glutathione/reduced glutathione), and endothelial nitric oxide synthase protein expression. RESULTS: S-NO-HSA, compared with HSA infusion, reduced RV afterload expressed by effective pulmonary arterial elastance (Ea; 0.49 ± 0.3 vs 1.2 ± 0.2 mm Hg/ml; p = 0.0005) and improved RV diastolic function (slope of end-diastolic pressure-volume relationship) as well as contractility indicated by slope of end-systolic pressure-volume relationship (Ees). Therefore an increase in efficiency of ventricular-vascular coupling (Ees/Ea) occurred after S-NO-HSA (0.35 ± 0.17 to 0.94 ± 0.21; p = 0.005), but not HSA infusion, leading to positive effect on ventricular interdependence with increased left ventricular stroke volume (56% ± 4% vs 19% ± 5%; p = 0.0013). S-NO-HSA, compared with HSA, treatment improved adenosine 5'-triphosphate (13.9 ± 1.1 vs 7.0 ± 1.8 µmol/g protein) and phosphocreatine (5.9 ± 3.3 vs 1.9 ± 0.6 µmol/g protein; p = 0.01) RV content and decreased the tissue oxidized glutathione/reduced glutathione ratio (p = 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: S-NO-HSA reduces pulmonary hypertension and improves RV systolic and diastolic function and RV-arterial coupling, with a positive effect on ventricular interdependence by increasing energetic reserve and reducing oxidative stress.