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A 74-year-old woman with mitral regurgitation secondary to ruptured chordae tendineae, complicated by a cleft in the posterior mitral leaflet and a severely calcified mitral annulus, underwent mitral valve repair by implantation of polytetrafluoroethylene chords and closure of the cleft, without the use of an annuloplasty ring. Immediately after the repair, severe left ventricular outflow tract obstruction developed secondary to the systolic anterior motion of the mitral valve. Echocardiography identified the cause as functional, in the presence of a hypertrophic left ventricle with no significant preoperative intraventricular dynamic gradient. The obstruction was severe enough to render impossible the weaning of the patient from cardiopulmonary bypass. This problem was reversed by the infusion of β-blocking agents into the extracorporeal circuit. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Left ventricular (LV) remodeling following a myocardial infarction (MI) is a pathologically process of change in size, shape and volumes, wall thickness and function of the heart. Remodeling changes begin in the acute period of MI and tend to continue long after that, leading to LV dysfunction and severe heart failure in late phases. Therefore, early diagnosis of the LV remodeling is of a major importance, both for assessing the cardiovascular prognostic and for deciding the optimal management of the patients with cardiac dilatation. In the last decade, we have witnessed an extraordinary development of imaging techniques, which are able to make an accurate diagnosis of LV remodeling. Echocardiography is a rapid, feasible and simple non-invasive imagistic met hod, and thus represents the preferred imagistic tool for quantify the cardiac dilatation and its functional consequences. Medical treatment has been found to be ineffective for decrease the cardiac remodeling following a MI. In such cases, complex surgical procedure - coronary revascularization, ventricular restoration and mitral valve repair - represent time preferred therapeutically options. Thesefacts require a close collaboration between the echocardiographer and the surgeon to improve the outcome of patients who have ischemic cardiac remodeling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Rapid deployment bioprostheses (RDBs) have been recently introduced into clinical practice for the treatment of severe aortic valve stenosis. The aim of this retrospective multicenter study was to assess early and mid-term clinical and hemodynamic outcomes of patients undergoing RDB implantation., Methods: Data from a national registry that included patients who underwent isolated or combined aortic valve replacement with RDB in Italy were analyzed. Definitions of the European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation were used for preoperative variables and updated definitions from the Valve Academic Research Consortium were used for postoperative outcomes assessment. Univariable and multivariable analyses were performed to identify independent predictors of mortality. Follow-up was performed with clinical and echocardiographic examinations at each study site and, if this was not possible, through telephonic interviews. The Kaplan-Meier method was used for survival analysis., Results: A total of 902 patients (December 2012 through November 2017) from 20 national centers were included in the registry. Device success was 95.9%, and 30-day all-cause mortality was 2.8%. Postoperative pacemaker implantation was needed in 63 patients (6.9%). At discharge, peak and mean transaortic gradients were 19 ± 7 mm Hg and 11 ± 4 mm Hg, respectively. Mild and moderate aortic regurgitation were found in 71 patients (8.2%) and in 10 patients (1.2%), respectively. Median follow-up time was 357 days (interquartile range: 103 to 638 days). Survival at 4 years was 86% ± 1%. Preoperative conduction disturbances and history of previous myocardial infarction were independently associated with mortality., Conclusions: Aortic RDBs provide good early and mid-term clinical and hemodynamic outcomes. These devices may be considered as a reasonable alternative to conventional bioprostheses, especially in minimally invasive and combined operations., (Copyright © 2018 The Society of Thoracic Surgeons. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The association of advanced age with various comorbidities increases the risk of mortality and morbidity in cardiac surgery. The utilization of high thoracic epidural anesthesia (HTEA) in this setting presents numerous potential benefits, including early recovery of consciousness and of spontaneous ventilation, hemodynamic stability, enhanced analgesia, improved pulmonary function, and earlier recovery. Moreover, this anesthesiological technique allows the performance of surgical procedures on the conscious patient, thus making continuous monitoring of the cerebral function feasible. We have employed HTEA without tracheal intubation on 2 gravely compromised octogenarian patients who underwent aortic valve replacement for critical aortic stenosis. Epidural anesthesia without tracheal intubation in these patients permitted the avoidance of general anesthetics and allowed the continuous evaluation of their cognitive function. Further, by avoiding the positive pulmonary pressures of mechanical ventilators, the technique contributed to preserve physiologic intrapulmonary pressures, thus positively affecting the pulmonary circulation. In our opinion, the utilization of HTEA without tracheal intubation may decrease the surgical risk in selected patients.

Objective: The aim of this study is to determine if a preoperative risk stratification model can identify different surgical costs., Methods: Four hundred and eighty-eight patients undergoing open heart surgery between March 2000 and March 2001 were classified with the EuroSCORE model. Direct variable costs were prospectively collected, surgical team costs excluded. The multivariate analysis was used to find variables independently associated with costs., Results: Of the 488 patients enrolled 342 (70%) were males, mean age 65+/-10 years, 57 (12%) had myocardial infarction, 20 (4%) had ejection fraction <30%, 56 (11%) were operated in emergency, 26 (5%) had a re-operation. 113 (23.2%) were operated for valvular disease, 30 (6.1%) were operated for thoracic aortic surgery, one (0.2%) was operated for interatrial septal defect, 79 (16.2%) were operated for other intervention in addition to coronary bypass and 265 (54.3%) for isolated coronary bypass. The mean intensive care unit length of stay (ICU-LOS) was 2.3+/-4.1 days and the postoperative LOS was 8.2+/-5.3 days. According to EuroSCORE, 117 patients (24%) were at low, 187 (38%) at medium, and 184 (38%) at high risk. Costs were significantly and directly correlated with preoperative risk model with a correlation coefficient of 0.47 and an increase of costs of 3.5% (95% CI 2.3-4.7, P<0.0001) for each single rise of risk score. The relationship EuroSCORE vs. direct costs is, respectively: EuroSCORE 0-2 ==> 6863+/-861 Euro; 3-4 ==> 8292+/-3714 Euro; 5-6 ==> 8908+/-3480 Euro; 7-8 ==> 10,462+/-6123 Euro; 9-10 ==> 13,711+/-12,634 Euro; >10 ==> 21,353+/-18,507 Euro. Excluding EuroSCORE from the preoperative logistic model, age, preoperative creatinine, critical condition, ejection fraction, re-operation and sex were independently correlated with costs., Conclusions: From our data the EuroSCORE model developed to predict (30-day postoperative) hospital mortality could be used to predict direct operative costs and identify patients with different levels of resource consumption.