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Journal and News Scan
July 20, 2023
Submitted by: Jo Chikwe
This expert single-center series analyzes 1,429 ascending aorta and arch replacements performed between 1991 and 2020 with circulatory arrest at nadir temperatures of 14 to 20°C with retrograde cerebral perfusion, including 464 acute type A dissections. The authors report overall operative mortality of 8.9 percent and stroke rate of 8.4 percent. The incidence of stroke was less than 5 percent when retrograde perfusion lasted less than twenty minutes and 11.5 percent at sixty minutes, with a linear relationship. The authors recommend other adjuncts for cerebral protection if circulatory arrest is anticipated to be more than sixty minutes.
July 13, 2023
Submitted by: Cameron Lind
To help prevent premature death after a major cardiac event, researchers have developed a new device to monitor heart disease in the following weeks and months. The device is soft, flexible, and the size of a postage stamp, using sensors to provide functions beyond those of a traditional pacemaker. When the device is no longer needed, it dissolves inside the patient’s body. The device can be placed on different areas of the heart, allowing for customizable real-time tracking of heart functions.
This article includes summary and dialogue with head researchers, but the original study is available for open access viewing.
July 13, 2023
Submitted by: Cameron Lind
The Côte d’Ivoire Health Ministry has announced a local capacity building initiative to establish the country’s local congenital cardiac surgery capabilities and enable Côte d’Ivoire to become a model for other African countries to build similar programs. In order to develop the program and treat the one out of every hundred babies born with congenital heart disease, local medical staff will undergo advanced training from French and Israeli surgical teams, who will travel throughout the year to perform operations and provide training.
July 13, 2023
Submitted by: Jessica Bogensberger
Monitoring and reevaluating the current standard of practice for atrial fibrillation (AF) treatment remains a high priority for cardiac surgeons. This study aimed to determine the one-year outcomes of patients who underwent minimally invasive ablative procedures for AF using a registry that aids in this standard of monitoring. Researchers concluded that surgical ablation for AF is safe and provides significant improvement in short term follow-up.
July 11, 2023
Submitted by: Thomas Theologou
This article proposes a set of new techniques for mitral valve repair that employ a running suture rather than individual cords. They follow landmarks such as papillary muscle tips and free leaflet edge running and commissure so that there is little space left for guessing. These techniques could help to manage variability between surgeons and methodologies.
July 6, 2023
Submitted by: Cameron Lind
After two months, the first genetically modified pig heart transplant in a human failed, and the patient died after sudden onset of heart failure. This study aimed to determine what led to this outcome after an initially successful transplant. Detailed examination of the patient, postoperative course, and the transplant itself led to the observance of several factors that may have led to the transplant’s failure.
This article summarizes the study’s findings and pulls in perspectives from experts. For more details, read the original study, which is open access.
July 6, 2023
Submitted by: Jo Chikwe
In a single-center experience of 397 patients undergoing esophagectomy for adenocarcinoma (76 percent) or squamous cell carcinoma (22 percent)—of whom 60 percent were either pathologic stage one or two and 90 percent had neoadjuvant therapy—forty-two patients had fewer than fifteen lymph nodes resected and examined. Resecting at least fifteen lymph nodes was associated with a survival benefit in multivariate analysis. The authors conclude that a minimum nodal yield of fifteen should remain standard of care.
July 6, 2023
Submitted by: EACTS Staff
Prevalence and etiology of type A acute aortic dissection (AADA) in patients less than thirty years of age was investigated through retrospective data collection at sixteen international institutions. 139 cases were identified, representing 1.8 percent of all AADA. Connective tissue disease (CTD) was evident in 36.7 percent of patients. Non-CTD patients had an approximately five-fold higher incidence of arterial hypertension than CTD patients (47 percent versus 10 percent). 9.4 percent of the cohort had a family history of aortic disease. Actuarial survival at ten years postoperatively was 80 percent. The authors concluded that open surgery has good early results and excellent mid- to long-term outcomes.
July 6, 2023
Submitted by: Jessica Bogensberger
Although septal myectomy and concomitant mitral valve surgery are typical in the treatment of hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy (HOCM), the combination of these procedures through right anterior mini-thoracotomy has rarely been presented in the literature. This study presents a minimally invasive surgical technique and the clinical results of one institution’s experience with this technique over the past four years.
June 29, 2023
Submitted by: Jo Chikwe
This specialist review of congenital aortic root anatomy provides a detailed framework for evaluating and treating pediatric and adult patients across the whole spectrum of congenital aortic root pathology.