Transplantation in Congenital Heart Disease: A Challenge.

Background: Heart failure is the leading cause of death in grown-up congenital heart disease patients (GUCH). Although heart transplantation (OHT) remains the gold standard in end-stage heart failure, the ratio of GUCH patients undergoing this procedure remains low.

Objective: Describe the cohort of GUCH patients undergoing heart transplantation at a third-level hospital.

Donor-specific circulating cell free DNA as a noninvasive biomarker of graft injury in heart transplantation.

Background: Considerable effort has been exerted to develop noninvasive diagnostic biomarkers that might replace or reduce the need to perform endomyocardial biopsies. In this context, graft DNA circulating on transplant recipients has been proposed as a potential biomarker of organ rejection or cellular graft injury.

Methods: We propose a digital PCR (dPCR) method based on the amplification of ten specific InDels sufficiently sensitive to detect small amounts of specific donor circulating DNA diluted on the host cell free DNA (cfDNA).

Prolonged Mechanical Ventilation as a Predictor of Mortality After Cardiac Surgery.

Background: Mortality among the small percentage of cardiac surgery patients receiving prolonged mechanical ventilation is high, but this issue appears to be inadequately addressed in guidelines.

Methods: This study is a retrospective analysis of prospective, multi-center, and observational study in Spain including all adults undergoing cardiac surgery in 3 Andalusian hospitals between June 2008 and December 2012.

Results: The study included 3,588 adults with mean ± SD age of 63.

Mortality and complications in elderly patients undergoing cardiac surgery.

Purpose: The purpose of the study was to analyze postoperative complications, mortality, and related factors of elderly patients undergoing cardiac surgery.

Methods: An observational, retrospective, and multicenter study of cardiac surgery patients, obtained from the ARIAM registry, was performed between 2008 and 2011. Clinical-surgical data, postoperative complications, and mortality were analyzed in a group of patients older than 75 years and in a younger group.

Influence of erythrocyte concentrate storage time on postsurgical morbidity in cardiac surgery patients.

Background: The transfusion of erythrocytes that have been stored for long periods of time can produce visceral ischemia and favor the acquisition of postsurgical infections. To estimate the role of the duration of storage of erythrocytes on morbidity in cardiac surgery, we performed an observational study.

Methods: All patients (n = 897) undergoing cardiac surgery during three consecutive years were included.