Articles

Mesothelioma with non-pleural malignancy: a red herring or just an uncommon pairing?

Malignant pleural mesothelioma (MPM) is a highly aggressive cancer of the pleura with a well-established male predominance and causative link with asbestos exposure. We report four cases of female patients wit...

Authors: Andrew J Drain, Kourosh Saeb-Parsy, Amit K Shah, D Rassl and Andrew J Ritchie

Unique type of isolated cardiac valvular amyloidosis

Amyloid deposition in heart is a common occurrence in systemic amyloidosis. But localised valvular amyloid deposits are very uncommon. It was only in 1922 that the cases of valvular amyloidosis were reported. ...

Authors: Shehzad Iqbal, Salma Reehana and David Lawrence

Detected troponin elevation is associated with high early mortality after lung resection for cancer

Myocardial infarction can be difficult to diagnose after lung surgery. As recent diagnostic criteria emphasize serum cardiac markers (in particular serum troponin) we set out to evaluate its clinical utility a...

Authors: Eric Lim, Li Li Choy, Lydia Flaks, Shafi Mussa, Fillip Van Tornout, Marc Van Leuven and G Wyn Parry

Is the Internet a useful and relevant source for health and health care information retrieval for German cardiothoracic patients? First results from a prospective survey among 255 Patients at a German cardiothoracic surgical clinic

It is not clear how prevalent Internet use among cardiopathic patients in Germany is and what impact it has on the health care utilisation. We measured the extent of Internet use among cardiopathic patients an...

Authors: Dietrich Stoevesandt and Claudius Diez

Management approach for recurrent spontaneous pneumothorax in consecutive pregnancies based on clinical and radiographic findings

To describe management and clinical features observed in a patient's seven spontaneous pneumothoraces that developed during two consecutive pregnancies involving both hemithoraces.

Authors: Eric Scott Sills, Henry M Meinecke, George R Dixson and Alan M Johnson

Anticipating pulmonary complications after thoracotomy: the FLAM Score

Pulmonary complications after thoracotomy are the result of progressive changes in the respiratory status of the patient. A multifactorial score (FLAM score) was developed to identify postoperatively patients ...

Authors: Francesco Leo, Nicolas Venissac, Daniel Pop, Marylene Anziani, Maria E Leon and Jérôme Mouroux

Double valve replacement for acute spontaneous left chordal rupture secondary to chronic aortic incompetence

A 54 years old male with undiagnosed chronic calcific degenerative aortic valve incompetence presented with acute left anterior chordae tendinae rupture resulting in severe left heart failure and cardiogenic s...

Authors: Sandeep Agarwala, Sanjay Kumar, John Berridge, Jim McLenachan and David J O'Regan

Unusual positron emission tomography findings in pulmonary amyloidosis: a case report

Positron emission tomography (PET) has come to play an increasingly important role in the evaluation of pulmonary lesions, which are suspicious of malignancy. As is true for other techniques, PET gives false p...

Authors: Sumit Yadav, Sanjay Sharma and Ian Gilfillan

The impact of altitude on early outcome following the Fontan operation

The success of a Fontan circulation depends on several factors including low pulmonary vascular resistance. Pulmonary vascular resistance rises in response to hypoxia. Hypoxia is associated with altitude. Ther...

Authors: Amir-Reza Hosseinpour, Catherine D Sudarshan, Paul Davies, Samer AM Nashef, David J Barron and William J Brawn

Repeated successful surgical rescues of early and delayed multiple ruptures of ventricular septum, right ventricle and aneurysmal left ventricle following massive biventricular infarction

A 58 year old man underwent 6 surgical interventions for various complications of massive biventricular myocardial infarction over a period of 2 years following acute occlusion of a possibly "hyperdominant" le...

Authors: Pankaj Kaul

Right pulmonary artery occlusion by an acute dissecting aneurysm of the ascending aorta

We describe the case of a 76-year old female who presented with a Type A aortic dissection requiring repair with an interposition graft and aortic valve replacement. Post-operatively she had clinical features ...

Authors: Ravi J De Silva, Reza Hosseinpour, Nicholas Screaton, Serban Stoica and Andrew T Goodwin

An unusual case of cardiac dysfunction after left ventricular reconstruction

This report describes an unusual cause of low cardiac output after coronary artery bypass grafting and left ventricular remodeling. It details left ventricular remodeling techniques and discusses the most rece...

Authors: Lynn M Fedoruk and Irving L Kron

Evaluation of 17-mm St. Jude Medical Regent prosthetic aortic heart valves by rest and dobutamine stress echocardiography

The prosthesis used for aortic valve replacement in patients with small aortic root can be too small in relation to body size, thus showing high transvalvular gradients at rest and/or under stress conditions. ...

Authors: Giovanni Minardi, Carla Manzara, Vittorio Creazzo, Daniele Maselli, Giovanni Casali, Giovanni Pulignano and Francesco Musumeci

Complications after endovascular stent-grafting of thoracic aortic diseases

To update our experience with thoracic aortic stent-graft treatment over a 5-year period, with special consideration for the occurrence and management of complications.

Authors: Gabriele Piffaretti, Matteo Tozzi, Chiara Lomazzi, Nicola Rivolta, Roberto Caronno and Patrizio Castelli

Fatal stroke after completion pneumonectomy for torsion of left upper lobe following left lower lobectomy

The lobar torsion after lung surgery is a rare complication with an incidence of 0.09 to 0.4 %. It may occur after twisting of the bronchovascular pedicle of the remaining lobe after lobectomy, usually on the ...

Authors: Efstratios Apostolakis, Efstratios N Koletsis, Nikolaos Panagopoulos, Christos Prokakis and Dimitrios Dougenis

Prospective randomized study comparing the Teleflex Medical SaphLITE Retractor to the Ethicon CardioVations Clearglide Endoscopic System

Several minimally invasive saphenous vein harvesting techniques have been developed to reduce morbidities associated with coronary artery bypass grafting. This prospective, randomized study was designed to com...

Authors: Scot C Schultz, Dennis Stapleton, Paula D'Ambra, Cynthia Loftis, Christine Wahrmann and George Ebra

Growing PET positive nodule in a patient with histoplasmosis: case report

Pulmonary histoplasmosis is a mycotic infection that often resembles pulmonary malignancy and continues to complicate the evaluation of pulmonary nodules.

Authors: Khaled F Salhab, Daniel Baram and Thomas V Bilfinger

Chronic encapsulated mediastinal abscess presenting with remote cutaneous fistulization 12 years after redo aortic valve replacement for prosthetic valve endocarditis

Chronic encapsulated mediastinal abscess is an unusual complication of previous open heart surgery. We report on the case of a 79 year old male who presented with epigastric fistulization of an encapsulated an...

Authors: Pankaj Kaul, Syed SA Qadri and Mohd Riaz

Cumulative incidence for wait-list death in relation to length of queue for coronary-artery bypass grafting: a cohort study

In deciding where to undergo coronary-artery bypass grafting, the length of surgical wait lists is often the only information available to cardiologists and their patients. Our objective was to compare the cum...

Authors: Boris G Sobolev, Lisa Kuramoto, Adrian R Levy and Robert Hayden

Intermediate and high peri-operative cardiac enzyme release following isolated coronary artery bypass surgery are independently associated with higher one-year mortality

The relationship between cardiac enzyme (CE) release following coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG) and medium term outcome is unclear. We sought to determine the relationship between post-operative CE releas...

Authors: N Newall, AY Oo, ND Palmer, AD Grayson, TJ Hine, RH Stables, BM Fabri and DR Ramsdale

Giant pulmonary hamartoma

Pulmonary hamartomas are usually an incidental finding and range in size from 1 cm to 8 cm in diameter in various series. We report a case of a massive pulmonary hamartoma (size 25.5 × 17.5 × 6.5 cm and weighi...

Authors: Somshekar Ganti, Richard Milton, Les Davidson and Vladimir Anikin

Single-stage repair of adult aortic coarctation and concomitant cardiovascular pathologies: a new alternative surgical approach

Coarctation of the aorta in the adulthood is sometimes associated with additional cardiovascular pathologies that require intervention. Ideal approach in such patients is uncertain. Anatomic left-sided short a...

Authors: Mert Yilmaz, Bulent Polat and Davit Saba

Effects of autologous bone marrow stem cell transplantation on beta-adrenoceptor density and electrical activation pattern in a rabbit model of non-ischemic heart failure

Since only little is known on stem cell therapy in non-ischemic heart failure we wanted to know whether a long-term improvement of cardiac function in non-ischemic heart failure can be achieved by stem cell trans...

Authors: Stefan Dhein, Jens Garbade, Djazia Rouabah, Getu Abraham, Fritz-Rupert Ungemach, Katja Schneider, Cris Ullmann, Heike Aupperle, Jan Fritz Gummert and Friedrich-Wilhelm Mohr

Healing of bronchopleural fistula using a modified Dumon stent: a case report

Brochopleural fistula following lung resection is a therapeuric challenge for thoracic surgeons.

Authors: Giorgio Maria Ferraroli, Alberto Testori, Ugo Cioffi, Matilde De Simone, Marco Alloisio, Maurizio Galliera, Michele M Ciulla and Gianni Ravasi

Decreased morbidity following long saphenous vein harvesting using a minimally invasive technique: a randomised controlled trial comparing two techniques for long saphenous vein harvest

The objective of this study was to compare the morbidity associated with long saphenous vein harvesting using the traditional open technique (A) against a minimally invasive technique using the Mayo vein strip...

Authors: Zahid Mahmood, Sammy Al Benna, Udim Nkere and Andrew Murday

Preoperative calculation of risk for prolonged intensive care unit stay following coronary artery bypass grafting

Patients who have prolonged stay in intensive care unit (ICU) are associated with adverse outcomes. Such patients have cost implications and can lead to shortage of ICU beds. We aimed to develop a preoperative...

Authors: Sanjay V Ghotkar, Antony D Grayson, Brian M Fabri, Walid C Dihmis and D Mark Pullan

Simplified aortic cannulation (SAC) – a useful technique for neonates with small aortas

A simplified means of arterial cannulation for cardiopulmonary bypass in small neonates and those infants with diminutive aortas, or requiring reconstruction of the ascending aorta, is presented. It involves s...

Authors: Christopher J Knott-Craig, Peter Pastuszko and Edward D Overholt

Ischemia monitoring in off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery using intravascular near-infrared spectroscopy

In off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery, manipulations on the beating heart can lead to transient interruptions of myocardial oxygen supply, which can generate an accumulation of oxygen-dependent metabolite...

Authors: Franziska H Bernet, David Reineke, Hans-Reinhard Zerkowski and Doan Baykut

Sutureless off-pump repair of post-infarction left ventricular free wall rupture

Left ventricular free wall rupture after myocardial infarction has a high mortality. Suturing techniques of repair may be technically difficult and require cardiopulmonary bypass. We report a case of left vent...

Authors: Hunaid A Vohra, Samena Chaudhry, Christopher MR Satur, Mary Heber, Rob Butler and Paul D Ridley

Off-pump repair of a post-infarct ventricular septal defect: the 'Hamburger procedure'

We report a novel off-pump technique for the surgical closure of post-infarct ventricular septal defects (VSDs). The case report describes the peri-operative management of a 76 year old lady who underwent the ...

Authors: Thomas A Barker, Alexander Ng and Ian S Morgan

Use of apical suction to facilitate extra-anatomic bypass for recurrent coarctation: a case report

The use of apical suction devices has been well described for maintaining satisfactory haemodynamics during off-pump surgical coronary revascularization. Its expanded use has been described in a few other situ...

Authors: Manoj Kuduvalli, Colin Monaghan and Brian M Fabri

Secondary left ventricular injury with haemopericardium caused by a rib fracture after blunt chest trauma

Trauma is the third most common cause of death in the West. In the US, approximately 90,000 deaths annually are traumatic in nature and over 75% of casualties from blunt trauma are due to chest injuries. Cardi...

Authors: Pankaj Kaul, Ganti Somsekhar and Graeme Macauley

Post-stenotic aortic dilatation

Aortic stenosis is the most common valvular heart disease affecting up to 4% of the elderly population. It can be associated with dilatation of the ascending aorta and subsequent dissection. Post-stenotic dila...

Authors: Emma Wilton and Marjan Jahangiri

Does prophylactic sotalol and magnesium decrease the incidence of atrial fibrillation following coronary artery bypass surgery: a propensity-matched analysis

Atrial fibrillation can occur in up to 40% of patients undergoing coronary surgery.

Authors: V Aerra, M Kuduvalli, AN Moloto, AK Srinivasan, AD Grayson, BM Fabri and AY Oo

The role of vessel wall physiology in predicting coronary bypass graft patency

Not applicable.

Authors: Steve K Singh and Stephen E Fremes

Comparison of flow characteristics and vascular reactivity of radial artery and long saphenous vein grafts [NCT00139399]

The morphological and functional differences between arteries and veins may have implications on coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) survival. Although subjective differences have been observed between radial ...

Authors: William CF Chong, Peter Collins, Carolyn M Webb, Anthony C De Souza, John R Pepper, Christopher S Hayward and Neil E Moat

Heart of the matter

Authors: David P Taggart

Variations in clinical decision-making between cardiologists and cardiac surgeons; a case for management by multidisciplinary teams?

To assess variations in decisions to revascularise patients with coronary heart disease between general cardiologists, interventional cardiologists and cardiac surgeons

Authors: MA Denvir, JP Pell, AJ Lee, J Rysdale, RJ Prescott, H Eteiba, A Walker, P Mankad and IR Starkey

Welcome to the Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery

Authors: Vipin Zamvar and David P Taggart