Content from the Journal of the American Neurological Surgeons.
To Melba, the Willman family, friends, colleagues and admirers of Val Willman: I wish to share, with deep appreciation and regret, some recollections about Val Willman, a physician and surgeon who walked prayerfully with his God in a joyful journey of great achievement. Joy, said C.S. Lewis, is the serious business of Heaven, and Val…
Patient Presentation A 44 year old female presented with a complaint of increasing swelling in her head and upper chest over the last year. She reported increasing shortness of breath and a drowning sensation when in the supine position. Her face becomes red and tight with minimal exertion. The past medical history is significant for…
PREOP CHECKLIST Name Hx. # Ward Attending OR Room Procedure Dentition Carotid UE BP: Right UE BP: Left Pedal Pulses Veins …
Even the most talented musical virtuoso would not play a piece in public without practicing. Yet we ask residents to perform the operative equivalent of a virtuoso performance only after essentially a brief glance at the sheet music. With the persistent push to shorten work hours and training, one would think that this results in…
This video shows a left lower lobe sleeve resection (reimplantation of the left upper lobe bronchus into the left mainstem bronchus) for a carcinoid tumor in the left lower lobe bronchus. The diagnosis was established pre-operatively by bronchoscopy and fine needle aspiration (FNA) of the lesion. Surgical pathology confirmed this to be a typical carcinoid…
“If given the option when choosing a cardiothoracic residency, should one choose a two-year program or a three-year program?” A month or so back I was e-challenged by my new friend Stephen McKellar, a resident in a three-year CT residency to take the pro two-year program side in this e-debate. I want to start by saying…
Cardiothoracic surgery is undergoing a period of sweeping change. Our specialty was born out of the surgical treatment of tuberculosis and reached a “tipping point” near the half-way mark of last century. Technology and innovation evolved rapidly behind surgical pioneers. It all started with pioneers like Blalock, Gibbon, Kirklin and Lillehei, who ushered in the…
Background View video Arterial grafts remain the conduit of choice for most coronary surgeons. However, saphenous vein grafts are the most commonly used conduits. Endoscopic vein harvest (EVH) has become the procedure of choice in harvesting saphenous veins for coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Studies have shown this technique to be a reliable alternative to…
We present a case of a 6-month-old female with stridor, dysphagia and bronchiolitis. Subsequent transthoracic echocardiography confirmed a double aortic with complete vascular ring with a dominant right arch, smaller anterior left arch and a Kommerell’s diverticulum connected to a ductal remnant. This video shows division of the ring through a left thoracotomy with a successful…
Percutaneous mitral repair using the MitraClip® system is a method derived from the edge-to-edge surgical procedure. The MitraClip® system replaces suturing with a clip to join the free edges of the opposing leaflets at the site of regurgitation. Figure 1 Figure 2 Percutaneous mitral repair using the MitraClip® system (Evalve, Inc., Menlo Park, CA USA) is a…
This video shows the main surgical aspects of the Bentall-De Bono procedure with a new biological composite conduit. This is the case of a 76-year-old man with ascending aorta aneurysm and aortic valve cusp calcification. The composite conduit utilized for aortic root and aortic valve replacement is a prefabricated biological valve, called BioValsalva. The tube…
EACTS Film Session 2008 Annual Meeting Introduction We present a video of a surgical repair in a newborn with common arterial trunk type A1-2 in a 2.6 kg newborn. The view is from the patient’s head. Methods A premature baby girl was admitted to the Children’s Heart Centre Slovakia with signs of congestive heart failure and failure…
Professor emeritus Viking Olov Björk, the first editor of the Scandinavian Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery died on February 18, 2009 in Stockholm at the age of 90 years. He was born on December 3, 1918 in Sunnansjö, Dalecarlia, Sweden. Viking Björk was active as a cardiothoracic surgeon during the era of rapid development…
Pulmonary endoarterectomy (PEA) is the treatment of choice in patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. Traditionally, PEA is achieved by adopting periods of deep hypothermia at 18 degrees Celsius and circulatory arrest. We present an alternative strategy, based on the application of a negative pressure in the left chambers and also in the superior vena…
Paul Allen Ebert, MD died in the early hours of April 21st, 2009 in Sacramento, California quite unexpectedly of an acute myocardial infarction at 76 years of age. He was a towering figure of a man, a virtual giant upon whose shoulders a generation of trainees, colleagues, admirers, sports fans, philosophers, friends, and family members…
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