Ectasia coronaria y miocardiopatía hipertrófica: una entidad infrecuente / Coronary artery ectasia and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy: case report

Resumen Se presenta el caso de un paciente de 54 años que consulta por angina de esfuerzo de 2 años de evolución en quien se identifica una dilatación ectásica del árbol coronario con lesiones ateroscleróticas críticas y miocardiopatía hipertrófica septal obstructiva. Una revisión bibliográfica revela que es una asociación infrecuente de la cual solo existen reportes de casos aislados.

Abstract We present the case of a 54-year-old patient who presented with a history of 2 years with angina. Invasive studies revealed critical coronary artery stenosis coexisting with obstructive hypertrophic miopathy. This is a rare association with only isolated case reports.

Retrasplante cardíaco: reporte de un caso / Cardiac re-transplantation: case report

RESUMEN: El Trasplante cardíaco es la mejor alternativa para la insuficiencia cardíaca terminal, logrando buenos resultados de sobrevida y calidad de vida a largo plazo. Una de las causas más importantes de morbimortalidad es la falla del injerto, la que puede ser secundaria, entre otros, a rechazo agudo y/o vasculopatía y su presencia requiere considerar todas las alternativas terapéuticas, dentro de las cuales está el retrasplante. Los resultados de sobrevida en retrasplante cardíaco son buenos. No obstante, los pacientes presentan los riesgos de una terapia inmunosupresora más intensa, así como el desarrollo recurrente de vasculopatía del injerto. Por lo que se considera una opción en pacientes cuidadosamente seleccionados, dado que la experiencia internacional demuestra que la sobrevida del retrasplante es menor que en el primer trasplante. Presentamos el caso de un paciente trasplantado a los 42 años, quien desarrolla una enfermedad vascular del injerto e insuficiencia cardíaca con capacidad funcional IV, por lo cual se decidió realizar un retrasplante cardíaco.

ABSTRACT: Cardiac transplantation is the best alternative for terminal heart failure, achieving good long-term survival and life quality. One of the most important causes of morbidity and mortality is graft failure, which may be secondary, among others, to acute rejection and / or vasculopathy and its presence requires the consideration of all therapeutic alternatives, re transplantation being one of them. The results of survival in cardiac retransplantation are good; however, they present the risks of a more intense immunosuppressive therapy as well as the recurrent development of graft vasculopathy. Therefore, it is considered an option in carefully selected patients given that international experience shows that the survival of retransplantation is lower than in primary cases. We present the case of a 42 year old transplanted patient , who developed graft vascular disease with progressive deterioration of his ventricular function leading to functional class IV. for which a cardiaccardiac retransplantation was performed.

Left ventricular assist device (LVAD) program in Chile: first successful experience in South America.

BACKGROUND: The need to have a variety of tools to deal with end-stage heart failure (ES-HF), along with the limited heart transplantation availability encouraged us to create a pilot Left ventricular assist device (LVAD) program in a public health care system hospital in Chile. METHODS: A retrospective analysis of the first nine patients of an ongoing LVAD program initiated on August 2013 was performed, completing an average of 30 months of follow-up. The most important events regarding to morbidity and mortality are described. RESULTS: Nine patients with ES-HF underwent LVAD implantation surgery; one of them died 23 days after surgery and another died after 11 months. One patient successfully underwent heart transplantation after 16 months of HeartWare ventricular assist device (HVAD) support; the other six patients remain in the program and have an average follow-up of 846 days at the time of this study (range, 23-1,481 days). The survival rate at 6, 12 and 18 months follow-up was 89%, 78% and 78% respectively. CONCLUSIONS: This new pioneering LVAD program in Chile has been successful and now constitutes a vital adjunct to all who work in heart transplantation and ES-HF programs. It offers an effective therapeutic alternative when there is a severe donor shortage, in cases of atypical blood types, emergencies, exceptional cases with contraindication for heart transplantation or when there is important donor-receiver size mismatch.

[Left ventricular assistant devices for end-stage heart failure: report of two cases]. / Asistencia ventricular intracorpórea en falla cardiaca terminal

In the last 2 decades, there have been significant advances in medical treatment of heart failure. However, there is a group of patients who are refractory to the available medical therapy and progress inevitably to a state of end-stage heart failure, whose only therapeutic alternative is cardiac transplantation. But this is an option limited by the scarce availability of donors. Therefore many patients die waiting for an organ. Recently, extra or intracorporeal left ventricular devices have emerged as a viable alternative for patients with end-stage heart failure waiting for a heart transplant. These devices discharge the left ventricle, increasing cardiac output and improving systemic perfusion. This year, in our hospital we began a left ventricular device implantation program for the most severely ill patients on the waiting list for cardiac transplantation. We report two males aged 30 and 53 years, in whom a left ventricular device was successfully implanted, using a minimally invasive surgical technique developed at the University of Hannover in Germany.

Asistencia ventricular intracorpórea en falla cardiaca terminal / Left ventricular assistant devices for end-stage heart failure: report of two cases

In the last 2 decades, there have been significant advances in medical treatment of heart failure. However, there is a group of patients who are refractory to the available medical therapy and progress inevitably to a state of end-stage heart failure, whose only therapeutic alternative is cardiac transplantation. But this is an option limited by the scarce availability of donors. Therefore many patients die waiting for an organ. Recently, extra or intracorporeal left ventricular devices have emerged as a viable alternative for patients with end-stage heart failure waiting for a heart transplant. These devices discharge the left ventricle, increasing cardiac output and improving systemic perfusion. This year, in our hospital we began a left ventricular device implantation program for the most severely ill patients on the waiting list for cardiac transplantation. We report two males aged 30 and 53 years, in whom a left ventricular device was successfully implanted, using a minimally invasive surgical technique developed at the University of Hannover in Germany.

Shock cardiogénico refractario: rescate con ECMO, asistencia ventricular y trasplante / Cardiogenic shock: rescue with ECMO, ventricular assist and heart transplantation

Presentamos un caso de infarto agudo al miocardio complicado con shock cardiogénico y arritmias ventriculares refractarias. El paciente requirió oxigenación por membrana extracorpórea (ECMO) antes de su traslado a un hospital con asistencia ventricular izquierda (LVAD) y programa de trasplante de corazón. El paciente tuvo una buena recuperación después de 16 días de soporte con LVAD seguido de trasplante cardiaco, lo que muestra los beneficios de la terapia multimodal en casos complejos de shock cardiogénico refractario.

A case of acute myocardial infarction complicated with cardiogenic shock and refractory ventricular arrhythmias is described. The patient required extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) prior to transfer to a hospital with a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) and heart transplantation program. He made a good recovery after 16 days of LVAD support followed by heart transplantation, showing the benefits of multimodal therapy incomplex cases of refractory cardiogenic shock Palabras clave: Infarto agudo del miocardio, shock cardiogénico,asistencia biventricular, ECMO.

Risk scores do not predict high mortality after coronary artery bypass surgery in the presence of diastolic dysfunction.

BACKGROUND: Although global postoperative mortality after on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting is approximately 3%, in some groups it can be considerably higher. Many conditions are known to increase mortality and have been included in well-known scoring systems; however, left ventricular diastolic dysfunction has not been sufficiently evaluated to identify its predictive value for mortality after coronary artery bypass grafting, nor is it integrated in currently used risk scores. METHODS: Left ventricular filling pattern was prospectively evaluated in 191 patients scheduled for on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting. A follow-up of survival and complications was made for 30 days postoperatively. Observed mortality was compared with the mortality predicted by the scores of EuroSCORE and Parsonnet. RESULTS: A correlation was found between diastolic function, the presence of comorbidities, and postoperative survival. There was no mortality in the group with normal filling pattern (0 of 33 patients). In the presence of an alteration of relaxation, mortality was 5 of 129 patients (3.8%); in the pseudonormal group it was 2 of 16 patients (12.5%); and in the restrictive group it was 6 of 13 patients (46.1%; p < 0.01). Parsonnet and EuroSCORE predicted a mortality of 1.5% to 1.6%, 1.5% to 2.0%, 1.5% to 2.2%, and 3.9% to 4.1% for each group, respectively. Mortality in the group with E deceleration time of 150 ms or greater was 2.8% and in the group with E deceleration time less than 150 ms was 17.3% (p < 0.01). Postoperative complications were also more frequent in the group with advanced dysfunction. CONCLUSIONS: Severe diastolic dysfunction is a strong predictor of adverse outcome and mortality after on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting, and this high risk is not adequately predicted by EuroSCORE and Parsonnet score. Measures of diastolic function should be included in routine preoperative risk assessment.