ALERT!

This site is not optimized for Internet Explorer 8 (or older).

Please upgrade to a newer version of Internet Explorer or use an alternate browser such as Chrome or Firefox.

Cardiac

June 22, 2015
This video demonstrates several tips for the superior septal approach to mitral valve surgery.
June 20, 2015
The University of Wisconsin group analyzed the etiology, costs, and effect on survival of unplanned readmissions after LVAD surgery.  At a median follow-up of 11 months, 68 of the 103 patients (66%) were readmitted.  The top 3 causes of readmission were GI bleeding, driveline infection, and stroke.
June 19, 2015
Through a subxiphoid approach, the pericardium is incised and a rigid (usually a video-mediastinoscope) or a flexible endoscope (flexible bronchoscope or flexible choledoscope) is inserted into the pericardial cavity. The inner surface of the parietal pericardium and the epicardium can be explored and biopsies can be taken under visual control.
June 19, 2015
The FDA approved Edwards' Sapien third generation transcatheter aortic valve, designed to limit paravalvular leakage by incorporating a skirt at the base of the valve.  The approval was based on results of the PARTNER II S3 study, which demonstrated improved rates of paravalvular leakage at 30 days (<4%) compared to 10% to 20% rates for other valv
June 17, 2015
In this paper the authors report on the 2-year results of the randomized US pivotal trial for surgical and self-expanding percutaneous aortic prosthetic valves. The survival  benefit observed at 1 year in the transcatheter group were sustained at two years.
June 17, 2015
Using propensity score matching techniques, outcomes and costs for robotic cardiac surgery were compared to open cardiac surgery using data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample.  Robotic surgery was more expensive ($39,030 vs $36,340) but was associated with a shorter length of stay (5 vs 6 days), lower mortality (1.0% vs 1.9%), and lower overall com
June 16, 2015
The good news continues regarding chocolate consumption!   A study involving nearly 21,000 individuals with a median follow-up of nearly 12 years correlated cardiovascular disease with quintiles of chocolate consumption.  The lowest quintile was associated with a 50% higher risk of coronary heart disease and a similar increase in stroke incidence.
June 14, 2015
This Swedish study was a retrospective review over a 20-year time period that compared survival after out-of-hospital cardiac arrest between those receiving bystander CPR prior to EMS arrival and those not receiving such.  CPR before the arrival of EMS was associated with an increased 30-d survival rate (odds ratio 2.15; 95% CI 1.88-2.45).
June 14, 2015
In this manuscript the authors report on data from the German Aortic Valve Registry (GARY) comprising 15964 transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedures performed from 2011 to 2013 evaluating severe vital complications (SVCs), technical complications of the procedures (TCOs), other complications, conversion to sternotomy and in-hospital d
June 13, 2015
In this open-access article, the authors describe their findings in a systematic review of transcatheter heart valve (THV) failures, comprising 70 articles and 87 individual cases. Unusual complications such as late embolization (mostly into the left ventricle) and prosthetic compression (exclusively in balloon expandable THVs) are described.

Pages