The Impella RP device was approved by the FDA for use as a temporary percutaneous assist for the right ventricle, as announced by Abiomed. Use is approved for up to 14 days for a variety of indications including post MI, heart transplant, open heart surgery, or right heart failure after LVAD implant.
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Cardiac
October 12, 2017
The authors, using a decision analysis model, compared the cost-effectiveness (over one year) of three different strategies for preventing Staphylococcus aureus infections in patients undergoing CABG in the U.S. The three strategies were as follows:
October 11, 2017
Beckmann and colleagues present data from over 100,000 heart surgery procedures performed at 78 German centers in 2016. Registry data, divided by procedure type and compared over the last decade, show increases in the proportion of elderly patients, the usage of transcatheter procedures, and the implantation of left ventricular assist devices.
October 10, 2017
The authors present a case of aortic valve, ascending aorta, and arch replacement, which included debranching of the supra-aortic vessels and a frozen elephant trunk procedure. Additionally, the authors performed an extra-anatomic bypass for the left axillary artery.
October 10, 2017
Allen and colleagues reviewed the Food and Drug Administration Medical Device Reporting database for reports of nontuberculous mycobacterium (NTM) infections following extracorporeal circulation usage during surgery.
October 9, 2017
The authors present the case of a 72-year-old gentleman who suddenly went into pulseless electrical activity during a peroral endoscopic myotomy for achalasia.
October 8, 2017
Right anterior thoracotomy is a technique for aortic valve replacement. Minimal extracorporeal circulation (MECC) is known to reduce the deleterious effects of cardiopulmonary bypass. The authors present a sutureless aortic valve replacement via right anterior thoracotomy by using MECC in an 84-year-old patient with severe aortic stenosis.
October 6, 2017
A stimulating editorial triggered by tri-species autopsy work on angiodysplasia potentially attributable to continuous-flow LVAD. Dr Birks discusses the findings and appears open to the suggestion that LVAD per se is a cause of gastrointestinal angiodysplasia and thence bleeding, as opposed to the anticoagulation for LVAD.
October 5, 2017
Vipin Zamvar of the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh in the UK discusses the barriers that reduce the use of bilateral internal mammary arteries in coronary artery bypass surgery.
October 3, 2017
These diagrams present a simplified, graphical illustration of the standard echocardiographic views.