Adult heart transplantation: adverse role of chronic alcoholism in donors on early graft function.

Because of the increasing shortage of heart donors, selection criteria have been gradually extended. The purpose of this study was to determine the donor-related factors implied in early graft dysfunction and to define new selection criteria. The 70 consecutive adult patients who underwent heart transplantation in our institution between January 1988 and February 1992 were retrospectively studied. Mean donor age was 38 +/- 11 years (10 donors were more than 50 years of age; two donors were more than 60 years of age). Mean ischemic time was 130 +/- 39 minutes. An important proportion of donors (20%) had a history of chronic alcoholism. Thirteen patients experienced immediate graft dysfunction; five of them died within the first operative month. The different parameters studied, which were found to have no significant influence on the early graft function, were the age of the donor, the duration of inotropic support and the dose administered, a relative hemodynamic instability, resuscitation maneuvers, chest trauma, and weight mismatch between donor and recipient. Ischemic time was significantly longer in patients who died of cardiac dysfunction (p < 0.05). Chronic alcoholism in the donor was a very detrimental factor: 54% of patients who had early graft dysfunction versus only 12% of patients who had immediate normal graft function had received a graft from an alcoholic donor (p = 0.003). Excluding such alcoholic donors or reserving them for critically-ill recipients, with an increased risk of early graft dysfunction would be preferable.

[Cardiac transplantation for old congenital heart diseases after multiple surgery]. / Transplantation cardiaque pour cardiopathies congénitales vieillies multi-opérées.

Of the 100 consecutive patients undergoing cardiac transplantation between January 1988 and October 1993, 4 patients had terminal cardiac failure related to congenital heart disease after multiple prior palliative procedures (transposition of the great arteries, N = 1, tricuspid atresia, N = 1, single ventricle, N = 2). The prior palliative or curative operations (average 3.75 procedures per patient) modified essentially the systemic venous return and the pulmonary arteries. The technique of "subtotal" cardiac transplantation enabled anatomical reconstruction without prosthetic material in all cases by extensive usage of the donor tissue. There was no hospital mortality. There were no specific postoperative complications. The long-term results were comparable to those of the rest of the transplanted population. Patients with congenital heart disease in a terminal condition should be considered as candidates for cardiac transplantation. The difficulties related to anatomical abnormalities caused by prior surgery may be overcome and should not be considered a contra-indication to transplantation, providing pulmonary arterial resistances are taken into consideration.

[Criteria for choice of the donor in heart transplantation in adults]. / Les critères de choix du donneur en transplantation cardiaque chez l'adulte.

Among 66 consecutive adult heart transplant recipients operated on from January 1988 to October 1991, 11 experimented early graft dysfunction (4 of them died). Mean donor's age was 37.4 +/- 11 years; 9 patients were older than 50 years; 85 percent of donors received dopamine. Were found without any significant influence on early graft function: donor's age, weight mismatch, duration of donor's intensive care, dose of dopamine administered, external cardiac massage and relative hemodynamic instability, and ischemic time. Conversely, a history of chronic alcoholism in the donor is of pejorative significance, which is not without consequences in view of the current scarcity of donors.

[Heart-lung transplantation and double lung transplantation. 33 cases]. / Transplantations coeur-poumons et bipulmonaires. 33 cas.

Between June 1986 and October 1989, 29 heart lung transplantations and 4 double lung transplantations were performed at the Marie Lannelongue Hospital, Paris. The early and later course of these patients was studied. The actuarial survival rates at one and two years were 65 percent and 55 percent respectively. Bacterial infection was the main cause of early death. Late morbidity was predominantly due to cytomegalovirus infection and episodes of rejection. Respiratory function, evaluated in 19 long-term survivors, was usually normal. Only 3 patients developed a functional pattern of severe obliterative bronchiolitis probably related to uncontrolled rejections. The indications of the different types of lung transplantation are discussed: in cases of primary pulmonary hypertension or Eisenmenger's complex, heart lung transplantation is the only possible procedure. In patients with respiratory failure without cardiac dysfunction, double lung transplantation gives good functional results and makes an extra heart available for transplantation in another patient. Single lung transplantation, which gives worse functional results with a similar mortality rate, must be reserved for patients who are unable to undergo double lung transplantation.

[Cardiac surgery: predictive mortality index, severity and care of illness. 243 cases]. / Chirurgie cardiaque: indice de mortalité prédictif et scores de gravité et de soins 243 observations.

OBJECTIVES: Medical teams are keenly aware of the need to evaluate health care quality and the cost/benefit ratio. We prospectively applied three proposed indexes, designed for predicting mortality, for evaluating disease gravity, and for evaluating health care in intensive care patients, in two populations of patients undergoing heart surgery. METHODS: From January to June 1991, 243 patients (mean age 58.1; 55 females, 188 males) underwent coronary bypass surgery (n = 116; mean number of bypasses = 2.94 per patient) or valve replacement (n = 127). The patients were divided into 3 groups of increasing gravity on the basis of the preoperative presentation (Groups 1, 2 and 3 for Parsonnet's index, a specific index for predicting mortality in patients with acquired cardiopathies undergoing heart surgery = 0-9, 10-19 and > 20 respectively). A comparison was then performed for each population (bypass surgery and valve replacement) between the predicted mortality and the APACHE II index of disease gravity and the OMEGA index of intensive care. RESULTS: Overall mortality was 3.7% (2.85% in the bypass population and 4.72% in the valve population). The specific Parsonnet index (PI) for cardiac surgery gave a good indication of mortality risk (observed deaths 0.7% for PI = Group 1; 2.6% for PI = Group 2; 13.1% for PI = Group 3) and of postoperative morbidity since inotropic support was required in 18, 45 and 59% for PI Groups 1, 2 and 3 respectively. For patients in the PI Group 3, postoperative care in the intensive care unit lasted > 3 days and required ventilatory support for > 24 hours. APACHE II and OMEGA did not contribute to evaluating the Parsonnet index. CONCLUSION: A high risk population undergoing cardiac surgery can be defined among patients with a Parsonnet index above 20. Under this threshold, the risk of mortality falls to 1.4%.

[Anesthesia and intensive care for heart-lung transplantation]. / Anesthésie et réanimation pour transplantation coeur-poumons.

Since Shumway carried out the first successful heart-lung transplant (HLT) in Stanford in 1981, HLT has become a new therapeutic means for patients with end-stage pulmonary disease or arterial hypertension. However, it is still rarely carried out because of a lack of donors and the complexity of the surgery and postoperative course. This review described the criteria for proper donor and recipient selection, as well as the anaesthetic and postoperative management of HLT patients at Marie Lannelongue Hospital. The lack of suitable organ grafts results, at least in part, from improper donor management. Pulmonary oedema by fluid overloading and excessive haemodilution should be carefully prevented. Low doses of catecholamines and vasopressin maintain circulatory stability and convenient organ function. The indications for HLT (primary pulmonary hypertension, Eisenmenger's complex, and end-stage bronchopulmonary disease) are all characterized by severe pulmonary hypertension, hypoxaemia and cardiac failure. Careful anaesthetic induction is required to avoid circulatory collapse. Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) should be started early, so that mediastinal dissection may be carried out in satisfactory haemodynamic conditions. After unclamping the aorta, circulatory support with fluid and catecholamine infusion is often required. High inspired oxygen fraction and end-expiratory positive pressure may be required because of reperfusion pulmonary oedema. Blood transfusion is often needed as there are major blood losses due to dissection of the posterior mediastinum during CPB. Postoperative catecholamine administration is prolonged over several days. Negative fluid balance is often necessary to reduce pulmonary oedema. Improvement in surgical technique, early extubation, and late prescription of steroids have reduced the incidence of tracheal complications. Acute renal failure often occurs as a result of prolonged CPB, hypovolaemia, drug nephrotoxicity and sepsis. Bacterial complications (pneumonia, mediastinitis) are the main causes of early death. After the 15th postoperative day, opportunistic infections and allograft rejection are the main complications. Since 1981, major advances in HLT recipient management resulted in improved survival rates (70-80% at 1 year, and 60-70% at 2 years for the best teams). Despite the complexity of management, and the longterm threat of obliterative bronchiolitis, HLT is, at present time, the only possibility for these young patients to recover a normal quality of life.

[Acute epiglottitis in adults. Three cases and review of the literature (author's transl)]. / Les épiglottites aiguës de l'adulte: trois observations et revue de la littérature.

Acute epiglottitis is much less frequent in adults than in children. Three personal cases are reported and clinical findings associated with epiglottitis in adults are reviewed; sudden onset of acute respiratory failure is outlined. Mechanical desobstruction of airway may be required promptly, tracheostomy being often preferred to tracheal intubation. Overall prognosis has been evaluated from 130 cases reported in the literature in the last twenty years: the mortality rate, reaching 24,6 per cent in 73 cases published between 1958 and 1973, has been reduced to 5 per cent in 60 most recent cases. This improvement reflects a better understanding of the disease and as more properly defined therapy.