Multicentered European study on safety and effectiveness of the On-X prosthetic heart valve: intermediate follow-up.

Background: This study was performed to determine the safety and effectiveness of the On-X valve, a novel mechanical valve substitute.

Methods: Eleven centers participated in a European, multicentered, longitudinal, nonrandomized study of the On-X valve performance. Isolated aortic or mitral valve replacement with an On-X valve was studied in 301 patients.

Optimizing revascularization strategies in patients with multivessel coronary disease: impact of intracoronary pressure measurements.

Objectives: In patients with multivessel coronary disease, the functional significance of each lesion is often unclear, and preinterventional stress tests may be inconclusive. In this setting, intracoronary pressure measurements may be helpful to define the optimal revascularization strategy.

Methods: Twenty-five consecutive patients (aged 64 +/- 11 years) with multivessel disease, inconclusive stress tests or not performed stress tests, and an angiographically intermediate coronary artery stenosis in at least 1 major vessel underwent intracoronary pressure measurements.

[Off-pump versus on-pump coronary artery bypass surgery. Comparison of 270 case-matched elderly patients].

Introduction: Off-pump versus on-pump coronary artery bypass surgery: it still remains a matter of debate which method results in a lower incidence of perioperative morbidity and mortality. This case-matched study evaluates the outcome of elderly patients in both groups.

Methods: All patients aged 75 and older, who underwent CABG from 1998 to 2002, were examined retrospectively.