Long-term consequences of transradial catheterization on the radial artery.

BACKGROUND: The radial artery (RA) is often utilized for diagnostic coronary angiography and percutaneous intervention. Recent high-level evidence supports RA use in preference to the saphenous vein as a conduit for coronary revascularization. AIM: To demonstrate gross and histologic changes of the RA following transradial (TR) access. METHODS: We present two patients who had open RA harvest for coronary bypass surgery after TR catheterization. RESULTS: Examination 8 years after TR catheterization demonstrated thickened intima and dissection, and examination 12 years following TR catheterization with percutaneous coronary intervention demonstrated chronic dissection with thickened intima and near occlusion of the lumen. CONCLUSION: TR access via the RA, even after several years, is associated with significant injury, making it unusable as a conduit for surgical coronary revascularization. A RA that has been utilized for catheterization should not be considered for coronary revascularization.

Aspergillus aortitis & aortic valve endocarditis after coronary surgery.

The authors report a case of Aspergillus aortitis and aortic valve endocarditis that developed after coronary artery bypass surgery resulting in recurrent, embolic, bilateral lower extremity ischemia. This necessitated multiple lower extremity embolectomies followed by redo-sternotomy, extensive annular debridement, root reconstruction with a modified Bentall technique, and hemiarch replacement. This case highlights the challenges in diagnosis and management of this rare disease entity and some of its devastating complications.

Contemporary Patterns of Care in Tetralogy of Fallot: Analysis of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Data.

BACKGROUND: Against the background of earlier studies, recent patterns in surgical management of tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) were assessed. METHODS: A retrospective review of The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) Congenital Database (2010-2020) was performed on patients aged <18 years with TOF or pulmonary stenosis and primary procedure TOF surgical repair or palliation. Procedural frequencies were examined by epoch. Demographics, clinical variables, and outcomes were compared between the initial palliation and primary repair groups. Among those operated on at 0 to 60 days of age, variation in palliation rates across hospitals was assessed. RESULTS: The 12,157 operations included 11,307 repairs (93.0%) and 850 palliations (7.0%); 68.5% of all palliations were modified Blalock-Taussig-Thomas shunts. Of 1105 operations on neonates, 45.4% (502) were palliations. Among neonates, palliations declined from 49.0% (331 of 675) in epoch 1 (2010-2015) to 39.8% (171 of 430) in epoch 2 (2016-2020; P = .0026). Overall, the most prevalent repair technique (5196 of 11,307; 46.0%) was ventriculotomy with transanular patch, which was also used in 520 of 894 (58.2%) of repairs after previous cardiac operations. Patients undergoing initial palliation demonstrated more preoperative STS risk factors (50.1% vs 24.3% respectively; P < .0001) and more major morbidity and mortality than patients undergoing primary repair (21.2% vs 7.46%; P < .0001). In the 0- to 60-day age group, risk factor-adjusted palliation rates across centers varied considerably, with 32 of 99 centers performing significantly more or significantly fewer palliations than predicted on the basis of their case mix. CONCLUSIONS: Surgical palliation rates have decreased across all age groups despite increasing prevalence of risk factors. Ventriculotomy with transanular patch remains the most prevalent repair type. The considerable center-level variation in rates of palliation was not completely explained by case mix.

Personnel and unit factors impacting outcome after cardiac arrest in a dedicated pediatric cardiac intensive care unit.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of personnel and unit factors on outcome from cardiac arrest in a dedicated pediatric cardiac intensive care unit. DESIGN: Retrospective medical record review. SETTING: Dedicated cardiac intensive care unit at a quaternary academic children's hospital. PATIENTS: Children and young adults who had cardiac arrest while cared for in the pediatric cardiac intensive care unit from January 1, 2006, to December 31, 2008. INTERVENTIONS: None. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: One hundred two index cardiac arrests over a 3-yr period in our pediatric cardiac intensive care unit were reviewed. We defined successful resuscitation as either return of spontaneous circulation or successful cannulation to extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. Differences in resuscitation rates were assessed across categorical systems variables using logistic regression. The rate of successful resuscitation was 84% (return of spontaneous circulation 74%, extracorporeal membrane oxygenation 10%). Survival to hospital discharge was 48% for patients who had a cardiac arrest. 11% of arrests during the week and 31% during weekends (odds ratio 3.8; 95% confidence interval 1.2-11.5) were not successfully resuscitated. Unsuccessful resuscitation was significantly more likely when the primary nurse had <1 yr of experience in the pediatric cardiac intensive care unit (50% <1 yr vs. 13% >1 yr; odds ratio 6.8; confidence interval 1.5-31.0). Cardiac arrest on a weekend day and <1-yr pediatric cardiac intensive care unit nursing experience were also associated with unsuccessful resuscitation in a multivariable model. Resuscitation outcomes were similar when senior intensive care unit attending physicians were on-call at the time of arrest compared with other intensive care unit staff (17% unsuccessful vs. 15%; odds ratio 1.2; confidence interval 0.4-3.7). Arrests where the attending physician was present at the onset resulted in unsuccessful resuscitation 18% of the time vs. 14% for events where the attending was not present (odds ratio 1.3; confidence interval 0.5-3.9). CONCLUSIONS: Our data suggest that personnel and unit factors may impact outcome after cardiac arrest in a pediatric cardiac intensive care unit. Weekend arrests and less experience of the primary nurse were risk factors for unsuccessful resuscitation. Neither presence at arrest onset nor experience of the attending cardiac intensivist was associated with outcome.

Minimally Invasive and Robotic Esophagectomy: A Review.

Great advances have been made in the surgical management of esophageal disease since the first description of esophageal resection in 1913. We are in the era of minimally invasive esophagectomy. The current three main approaches to an esophagectomy are the Ivor Lewis technique, McKeown technique, and the transhiatal approach to esophagectomy. These operations were associated with a high morbidity and mortality. The recent advances in minimally invasive surgical techniques have greatly improved the outcomes of these surgical procedures. This article reviews the literature and describes the various techniques available for performing minimally invasive esophagectomy and robot-assisted esophagectomies, the history behind the development of these techniques, the variations, and the contemporary outcomes after such procedures.

Per-Ventricular Insertion of Melody Valve-in-Valve in the Neoaortic Position in a Single-Ventricle Patient.

Percutaneous therapies for congenital heart disease have been evolving rapidly despite limited investment from industry. The Melody transcatheter pulmonary valve (Medtronic, Inc, Minneapolis, MN USA) replacement therapy represents an important advancement in this arena. It has been approved in the United States for use in the pulmonary position, on a Humanitarian Device Exemption status. Off-label use of the Melody transcatheter pulmonary valve has extended to the mitral, pulmonary, and aortic valves, especially in previously implanted valves with prosthetic valve degeneration. The single-ventricle patient poses additional challenges. However, there exists one report in the English literature of a patient undergoing Melody transcatheter neoaortic valve replacement after the patient developed severe neoaortic regurgitation after Fontan palliation. Here, we describe a patient with hypoplastic left heart syndrome, palliated with a Norwood modified Blalock-Taussig shunt, with a progressively regurgitant quadricusp neoaortic valve who underwent bioprosthetic valve replacement. There was early prosthetic valve degeneration after a year of bioprosthesis implantation. As he was declined for transplantation, he underwent successful per-ventricular Melody valve-in-valve replacement.

Influence of metformin and insulin on myocardial substrate oxidation under conditions encountered during cardiac surgery.

BACKGROUND: The influence of diabetic therapies on myocardial substrate selection during cardiac surgery is unknown but may be important to ensure optimal surgical outcomes. We hypothesized that metformin and insulin alter myocardial substrate selection during cardiac surgery and may affect reperfusion cardiac function. METHODS: Rat hearts (n = 8 per group) were evaluated under 3 metabolic conditions: normokalemia, cardioplegia, or bypass. Groups were perfused with Krebs-Henseleit buffer in the presence of no additives, metformin, insulin, or both insulin and metformin. Perfusion buffer containing physiologic concentrations of energetic substrates with different carbon-13 (13C) labeling patterns were used to determine substrate oxidation preferences using 13C magnetic resonance spectroscopy and glutamate isotopomer analysis. Rate pressure product and oxygen consumption were measured. RESULTS: Myocardial function was not different between groups. For normokalemia, ketone oxidation was reduced in the presence of insulin and the combination of metformin and insulin reduced fatty acid oxidation. Metformin reduced fatty acid and ketone oxidation during cardioplegia. Fatty acid oxidation was increased in the bypass group compared with all other conditions. CONCLUSION: Metformin and insulin affect substrate utilization and reduce fatty acid oxidation before reperfusion. These alterations in substrate oxidation did not affect myocardial function in otherwise normal hearts.

Robotic-assisted microvascular surgery: skill acquisition in a rat model.

Microsurgery is a technically demanding field with long learning curves. Robotic-assisted microsurgery has the ability to decrease these learning curves. We, therefore, sought to assess the feasibility of robotic-assisted microvascular surgery in a rat model, and whether this could be translated into a worthwhile skills acquisition exercise for residents. Twenty-eight rats underwent microvascular anastomosis. Procedures were performed by a trained microvascular surgeon with no robotic experience (n = 14), or a trained robotic surgeon with no microvascular experience (n = 14). Anesthetized rats were subjected to complete transection and end-to-end anastomosis of the abdominal aorta using 10-0 prolene. Manually (n = 6) and robotic-assisted (n = 8) procedures were performed by both surgeons. A successful procedure required a patent anastomosis and no bleeding. After approximately 35 days, angiography and histopathological studies of the anastomoses were performed. Median times for robotic-assisted anastomoses were 37.5 (34.2-42.7) min for the microsurgeon and 38.5 (32.7-52) min for robotic surgeon. In the manual group, it took 17 (13.5-23) min for microsurgeon and 44 (34.5-60) min for robotic surgeon. Within the robotic-assisted group, there was a trend toward improvement in both surgeons, but greater in the microsurgeon. Robotic-assisted microvascular anastomosis in a rat model is a feasible skill acquisition exercise. By eliminating the need for a skilled microsurgical assistant, as well as, improved microsurgical technology, the robotic system may prove to be a crucial player in future microsurgical skill training.

A negative carotid plaque area test is superior to other noninvasive atherosclerosis studies for reducing the likelihood of having underlying significant coronary artery disease.

OBJECTIVE: Coronary calcium score (CCS), carotid plaque area (CPA), intima-media thickness (IMT), and C-reactive protein (CRP) are independent predictors of cardiovascular prognosis. Although each test may enhance risk stratification, their comparative abilities to screen for underlying coronary stenoses in individual patients is less established. METHODS AND RESULTS: Forty-two patients who had a 16-slice coronary computed tomography angiogram (CTA) performed were invited to have CPA, IMT, and CRP measured. CPA was defined as the sum of all the cross-sectional areas of each plaque >1 mm in diameter found in all carotid vessels bilaterally. CCS and the number plus degree of stenotic coronary arteries were determined by CTA. The presence of clinically significant coronary artery disease (CAD) was defined as the existence of any stenosis > or =50%. CTA identified clinically significant CAD in 43% of the patients. CPA >0 was more sensitive (72%) and specific (58%) than a CCS >0 (58% and 55%) for identifying CAD. A "clean" carotid artery (CPA=0) provides a superior negative predictive value (74%) and likelihood ratio of a negative test (0.48) than all other studies, in particular versus a CCS=0 (65% and 0.72). The areas under the receiver-operator curves for CPA and CCS in relation to any CAD were similar (0.640 versus 0.675). Carotid IMT and CRP performed poorly compared with CPA and CCS. For detecting CAD in only the left main or left anterior descending artery, the negative predictive value and likelihood ratio of a negative test remained superior for CPA (87% and 0.33) compared with CCS (80% and 0.56). In our population with a prevalence of these coronary lesions of 30%, the post-test probability in any patient with a negative CPA result is reduced to 10%. CONCLUSIONS: CPA determination is superior to CCS, IMT, and CRP in its ability to reduce the likelihood of clinically significant underlying CAD in patients of varying cardiac risk.

Persistent Left Superior Vena Cava: Incidence and Management in Patients Undergoing Repair of Partial Anomalous Pulmonary Venous Connection.

INTRODUCTION: A association between partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection (PAPVC) and systemic venous anomalies has been described in the literature, but the true incidence is yet to be elucidated. At our institution, we sought to find the incidence of a persistent left superior vena cava (PLSVC) in patients undergoing an operation for PAPVC. METHODS: A retrospective review of all pediatric and adult patients with PAPVC who underwent surgical repair from February 2006 to February 2016. All clinical, radiographic, and operative data were reviewed. RESULTS: Eighty-five patients underwent surgical repair. A PLSVC was identified in 15 (17.6%) patients. Every PLSVC drained/connected to the coronary sinus. A bridging vein was present in only 26.7% (4 of 15). Intraoperative management of the PLSVC consisted of direct cannulation in nine (60%) patients, temporary occlusion in one (6.7%) patient, and ligation in one (6.7%) patient. In the 15 PLSVC patients, 6 (40%) had a secundum atrial septal defect (ASD), 2 (13.3%) had a patent foramen ovale (PFO), 10 (66.6%) had a sinus venosus type defect, and 3 (20%) had both an ASD and sinus venosus-type defect. Of the 15 patients with PAPVC and PLSVC, 14 (93%) had anomalous drainage of pulmonary vein(s) on the right side, whereas 1 (7%) had veins on both sides with anomalous drainage. CONCLUSION: Persistent left superior vena cava is present in 17.6% of patients undergoing an operation for PAPVC. Awareness of this association as well as the intraoperative management of PLSVC is advised for those that perform operations for PAPVC. As improper myocardial protection and cardiopulmonary bypass strategies in the presence of a PLSVC can result in deleterious outcomes.

Aortoesophageal Fistula in a Child With Undiagnosed Vascular Ring: Life-Threatening or Lethal?

Exsanguinating hematemesis secondary to an aortoesophageal fistula from an impacted foreign body occurred in a patient with a vascular ring. This report describes successful resuscitation and repair in a 6-year-old boy who was transferred from an outside hospital in extremis with an aortoesophageal fistula from a foreign body in the presence of a vascular ring.

Utility of C-reactive protein measurement in risk stratification during primary cardiovascular disease prevention.

High-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP) adds prognostic information beyond that provided by the Framingham risk score. The clinical utility of hs-CRP evaluation per guidelines was investigated by determining how it changed the cardiovascular risk stratification of 100 patients deemed at intermediate risk. Screening guidelines defined the cardiovascular risk due to hs-CRP as low (<1.0 mg/L), intermediate (1.0 to 3.0 mg/L), or high (>3.0 mg/L). After hs-CRP evaluation, risk was adjusted in 66% of the patients. Because hs-CRP evaluation significantly altered the cardiovascular risk strata of most intermediate-risk patients, it may therefore be a useful test during primary cardiovascular disease prevention.

Combining peak oxygen consumption and ventilatory efficiency in the prognostic assessment of patients with heart failure.

Exercise ventilatory efficiency (VE/VCO2 slope) and peak oxygen consumption (VO2) are strong mortality predictors in patients with heart failure and we combined these 2 variables' beta coefficients from Cox regression to investigate a new prognostic index. Average follow-up was 3.8+/-1.8 years for 355 patients (72% male, 51+/-10 years). The beta coefficients from peak VO2 (17.3+/-5.0 ml x kg(-1) x min(-1)) and VE/VCO2 slope (37.0+/-9.0) constructed an exercise index defined as one half the peak VO2 subtracted from one fifth of the VE/VCO2 slope. The mean index was -1.14+/-3.79 and a more positive index was always associated with a higher probability of death. Patients with extremely poor prognoses were identified equally well by the index and by individual thresholds for peak VO2 (<14 ml x kg(-1) x min(-1)) and of VE/VCO2 slope (>40). In conclusion, the index did not add additional prognostic information in this cohort but it did display the prognostic superiority of VE/VCO2 slope.

Chemo-prevention in superficial bladder cancer using mitomycin C: a survey of the practice patterns of British urologists.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the use of mitomycin C, by urologists within the UK, as a single-dose intravesical agent. Current European recommendations are to use one dose after any new tumour resection. METHODS: We assessed the current patterns of mitomycin C usage amongst British urologists, particularly with reference to one instillation after resecting a new bladder tumour, hypothesizing that British urologists would use mitomycin C in line with current guidelines. A one-page questionnaire was mailed to 527 consultant urologists in the UK enquiring about their use of mitomycin C in superficial bladder cancer. A second mailing was sent to encourage nonresponders. RESULTS: Of the 527 consultants, 320 (61%) replied, of which 313 (59%) questionnaires were evaluable. Of these 313 respondents, 299 (95%) used mitomycin C; 244 respondents (82%) advocated the use of one dose of mitomycin C after resecting a new tumour, but only 10 (4%) would use it immediately after tumour resection and 155 (64%) use it within 24 h. Most (98%) respondents favoured the use of a mitomycin C course after resecting multiple tumours or after multiple recurrences. Interestingly, 20 respondents (7%) would use mitomycin C as a first-line therapy for carcinoma in situ and a further 23 (8%) would use it for G3T1 tumours. A minority (14%) would use it after nephrectomy for upper tract transitional cell carcinoma. Almost all respondents indicated a dose of 40 mg in 40 mL of diluent. Maintenance treatment with mitomycin C was advocated by 44 (15%) of respondents, mainly for recurrent multifocal Ta/T1 tumours. The perception of the side-effects of mitomycin C was favourable, with 69% of respondents judging mitomycin C to be well tolerated with mild side-effects. CONCLUSION: Urologists adopt new ideas rapidly, as shown by the wide acceptance of the UK Medical Research Council study. The prompt use of mitomycin C needs to be reinforced, as efficacy is optimum within 6 h of resection. A few consultants persist in continuing with established practices, which have little evidence base. The publication of such survey results, with guidelines for treatment, should encourage those urologists whose practice is at variance from the norm to reflect on and change their practice.

Determining the best ventilatory efficiency measure to predict mortality in patients with heart failure.

BACKGROUND: Ventilatory efficiency, the relationship between ventilation (VE) and carbon dioxide production (VCO2), predicts mortality in heart failure patients, but its determination has not been standardized. Additionally, it is unclear if the prognostic power of ventilatory efficiency is independent of exercise intensity. Therefore, we investigated the relative prognostic power of different measures of ventilatory efficiency calculated from maximal and sub-maximal exercise in patients with heart failure. METHODS AND RESULTS: Heart failure patients (n = 355, 72% males, age 51 +/- 10 years) had follow-up for at least 5 years from an exercise test. There were 145 events (133 deaths and 12 emergent cardiac transplants). Ventilatory efficiency calculations were not equivalent. Of the different measures of ventilatory efficiency, the VE/VCO2 slope to peak exercise was the most significant predictor of mortality in a multivariable Cox model, including ejection fraction, systolic blood pressure, peak oxygen consumption (VO2), gender, etiology, and heart rate. A 5 U increment of the VE/VCO2 slope to peak exercise corresponded to a 9% increase in mortality risk. When tests were grouped by peak exercise intensity, by quartiles of peak respiratory exchange ratio, the VE/VCO2 slope to peak exercise was always a better predictor than peak VO2. CONCLUSION: Peak and sub-maximal measures of ventilatory efficiency were not equivalent, and the VE/VCO2 slope to peak exercise was the best predictor of mortality in patients with heart failure. Thus, the prognostic power of ventilatory efficiency is enhanced when exercise extends beyond the ventilatory threshold and includes all of the available exercise data.