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Journal and News Scan
November 26, 2013
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Short article describing the autopsy findings in the first patient to have a transcatheter valve implantation in the inferior vena cava for tricuspid insufficiency. Three months following implantation, the prosthesis remained in place and with normal appearances. Some interesting autopsy pictures can be found in the manuscript.
November 24, 2013
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Systematic review article comparing surgical versus percutaneous revascularization for ischaemic heart disease in patients with unprotected left main disease (ULMD), diabetes, multivessel CAD or left ventricular dysfunction. The authors reinforce the idea that patients suffering with diabetes appear to do better with surgery. In patients with ULMD, multivessel disease, or left ventricular dysfunction, the type of therapy should be determined by the complexity of the lesions. Patients with SYNTAX score above 22 are better served with coronary artery bypass graft surgery, whereas in patients with a SYTAX score equal or below 22, percutaneous revascularization should be the first choice.
November 24, 2013
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This paper reports on the 1-year follow up of the Timing In Myocardial Infarction Evaluation (TIME) trial, in which patients with moderate to large anterior ST elevation myocardial infarction received treatment with intracoronary delivery of 150 million autologous bone marrow mononuclear cells 3 or 7 days following the event. At 1-year, there continued to be no evidence of improvement in the primary end-points of LVEF and regional (infarct and border zone) LV function in the treatment groups compared with the control group, irrespective of cell delivery at 3 or 7 days.
November 24, 2013
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The goal of this study was to assess the postoperative safety of ketorolac, an intravenously administered nonsteroidal anti–inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), after cardiac surgery. Ketorolac appears to be well–tolerated for use when administered selectively after cardiac surgery. Although a black box warning exists, the data highlights the need for further research regarding its perioperative administration. Methods A total of 1,309 cardiac surgical patients (78.1% coronary bypass, 28.0% valve) treated between 2006 and 2012. A total of 488 of these patients received ketorolac for postoperative analgesia within 72hours of surgery. Results Ketorolac–treated patients were younger, had better preoperative renal function, and underwent less complex operations compared with non–ketorolac patients. Ketorolac was administered, on average, 8.7hours after surgery (mean doses: 3.1). Postoperative outcomes for ketorolac–treated patients were similar to those expected using Society of Thoracic Surgery database risk–adjusted outcomes. In unadjusted analysis, patients who received ketorolac had similar or better postoperative outcomes compared with patients who did not receive ketorolac, including gastrointestinal bleeding (1.2% v 1.3%; p=1.0), renal failure requiring dialysis (0.4% v 3.0%; p=0.001), perioperative myocardial infarction (1.0% v 0.6%; p=0.51), stroke or transient ischemic attack (1.0% v 1.7%; p=0.47), and death (0.4% v 5.8%; p<0.0001). With adjustment in a multivariate model, treatment with ketorolac was not a predictor for adverse outcome in this cohort (odds ratio: 0.72; p=0.23).
November 22, 2013
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The authors present an analysis of outcome of heart transplantations performed with donors who experienced cardiac arrest during the assessment, comparing them to transplantation with standard donors. No differences were reported in short and long term survivals.
November 19, 2013
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This is an EACTS video debate session held at EACTS 2013 in Vienna.
Drs Maisano, Dr Robert Klautz, Dr Rafaele Rosenhek and Dr Yolanda Kluin
They discuss a range of aspects of minimal access Mitral surgery
November 19, 2013
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An Interview with Michael Mack, Patrick Surrys, Fredrick Mohr, and Dr van Miegham over the options of revascularization and the debate between PCI and CABG.
This was recorded at EACTS 2013 in Vienna
November 19, 2013
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This is a video of VATS diaphragmatic Plication using CO2, and 3 10mm ports. It also features the endostitch to create the plication sutures and these sutures are pledgeted during the procedure.
Finally we also use the SILS clinch device that can grasp tissue at any angle and together this all make the procedure very straightforward indeed.
The patient had an NG tube during surgery and was discharged on day 4
November 19, 2013
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This important article describes the initial US commercial experience of transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) since this therapy was approved by the FDA in 2011. It reports the results of 7710 eligible patients that underwent TAVR for high-risk or inoperable status in 250 centers and were included in the STS/ACC TVT Registry. The median age of the patients was 84 years; 20% were defined as inoperable for standard aortic valve replacement and 80% were considered high operative risk. Of all procedures, 64% were transfemoral, 29% transapical, and the rest performed using other approches. The device was successfully implanted in 92% of cases. In-hospital mortality was 5.5% with risk of stroke being 2%. Conversion to open heart surgery (1%) was associated with very high in-hospital mortality (49%). The authors conclude that US outcomes in the commercial TAVR era are similar to the previously published outcomes from the PARTNER trial and from European trials. Long-term follow-up is needed.
November 19, 2013
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455 patients with a-fib or VTE were randomized to pharmacogenetic-directed warfarin therapy for the first 5 days or a 3-day loading regimen. Genotype-based dosing resulted in a 10% higher rate of being in the therapeutic range, a shorter time to reach a therapeutic INR, and fewer instances of excessive anticoagulation.