The surgical treatment of pulmonary hypertension (PH), with or without pulmonary artery aneurysm, has evolved during the last 40 years from heart-lung transplants to bilateral lung transplants as the treatment of choice for PH patients with preserved right and left ventricular function and without complex cardiac abnomalies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Ventricular assist devices driveline infections are common, recalcitrant, and carry high morbidity and mortality. Herein, we reported a patient with driveline infection that was successfully treated with a combination of systemic antibiotics, surgical debridement, and instillation of absorbable antibiotic beads to the wound bed.
Methods And Results: A 39-year-old man with nonischemic cardiomyopathy underwent insertion of a continuous flow left ventricular assist device.
Patients undergoing heart-kidney transplants who have primary graft dysfunction (PGD) of the heart are at risk of losing both organs, which may cause reluctance on the part of the transplant team to proceed with transplanting the kidney while the transplanted heart is being supported by mechanical device. We describe a case series in which 2 patients received kidney transplants while on veno-arterial ECMO support for PGD after heart transplant. Both patients are alive more than 1 year following transplant, with good cardiac and renal function and no signs of cardiac rejection.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFInfection of an endoventricular patch used for left ventricular aneurysm repair with formation of cardiocutaneous fistula is a rare but potentially serious complication. We report an adult patient who developed a cardiocutaneous fistula 1 year after repair of a third left ventricular aneurysm. The patient was successfully treated with a redo operation using a bovine pericardial patch with omental flap coverage.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground Herbal formulations, traditional medicine, and complementary and alternative medicine are used by the majority of the world's population. Toxicity associated with use of Ayurvedic products due to metal content is an increasingly recognized potential public health problem. Objectives Report on toxic metals content of Ayurvedic products obtained during an investigation of lead poisoning among users of Ayurvedic medicine.
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