Twenty-five-year outcomes after multiple internal thoracic artery bypass.

Objective: Coronary artery bypass grafting with multiple internal thoracic artery grafts is currently controversial. This study assessed single institutional outcomes with multiple internal thoracic artery grafting for guidance with future clinical decisions.

Methods: In 19,482 patients undergoing multivessel coronary artery bypass grafting (1984-2009), baseline characteristics were recorded in a prospective databank, and follow-up was obtained by questionnaires, phone contact, or National Death Index.

Midterm results with thoracic endovascular aortic repair for chronic type B aortic dissection with associated aneurysm.

Objective: Thoracic endovascular aortic repair for chronic type B aortic dissection with associated descending thoracic aneurysm remains controversial. Concerns include potential ischemic complications due to branch vessel origin from the chronic false lumen and continued retrograde false lumen/aneurysm sac pressurization via fenestrations distal to implanted endografts. The present study examines midterm results with thoracic endovascular aortic repair for chronic (>2 weeks) type B aortic dissection with associated aneurysm to better understand the potential role of thoracic endovascular aortic repair for this condition.

Novel approach to the treatment of distal malperfusion secondary to ascending aortic dissection.

Acute Type A dissection is a surgical emergency. The presence of visceral and extremity malperfusion syndromes increases perioperative mortality twofold. On occasion, significant malperfusion may best be addressed in a staged fashion with preliminary attention to specific vascular beds with delayed repair of the dissection itself.

Utility of remote wireless pressure sensing for endovascular leak detection after endovascular thoracic aneurysm repair.

Background: The goal of thoracic endovascular aneurysm repair (TEVAR) is to exclude and depressurize the aneurysm sac. Type I and III endovascular leaks (EL) transmit systemic pressure and represent treatment failures. The significance of type II EL is more controversial.

Midterm results for endovascular repair of complicated acute and chronic type B aortic dissection.

Background: Thoracic endovascular aortic repair (TEVAR) for the management of type B aortic dissections has become more commonplace despite some controversy. Results of endovascular management of complicated acute (<2 weeks from symptom onset) and chronic (>2 weeks) type B aortic dissection with a view towards determining safety, efficacy, and requirement for secondary procedures are reviewed.

Methods: Between June 2005 and November 2008, 55 patients (41 men) with a mean age of 59 +/- 12 years (range, 31 to 77 years) underwent TEVAR for the management of complicated acute (n = 22) or chronic (n = 33) type B dissection.

A previously unreported complication of apicoaortic conduit for severe aortic stenosis.

Given the aging population, use of an apicoaortic conduit serves as an alternative method to treat severe aortic stenosis, especially in patients with a heavily calcified ascending aorta or prior cardiac surgery. Although an apicoaortic conduit fractionates systemic blood flow, it does so without significant deleterious effects. However, we report a novel complication with thrombosis of the aortic root and subsequent coronary insufficiency that likely resulted from a preponderance of cardiac output though the apicoaortic conduit with stagnation of native antegrade blood flow.

Pannus-related prosthetic valve dysfunction and life-threatening aortic regurgitation.

Prosthetic valve dysfunction is a rare but life-threatening condition. A 66-year-old woman presented with shock 15 years after aortic valve replacement with a tilting-disc valve. Imaging demonstrated severe aortic insufficiency and a fixed-open prosthetic valve.

A Gbetagamma inhibitor reduces intimal hyperplasia in aortocoronary saphenous vein grafts.

Objective: Approximately 50% of aortocoronary saphenous vein grafts are occluded 10 years after coronary revascularization surgery. Intimal hyperplasia, a critical component in saphenous vein graft failure, is defined by vascular smooth muscle cell proliferation, which is mediated in part by betagamma subunits of heterotrimeric G proteins (G(betagamma)) and downstream effectors such as mitogen-activated protein kinases. A peptide consisting of the carboxyl-terminus of the beta-adrenergic receptor kinase (betaARKct) binds G(betagamma), thereby inhibiting G(betagamma) signaling.

Catheter-mediated subselective intracoronary gene delivery to the rabbit heart: introduction of a novel method.

Background: Recent studies suggest that gene therapy using replication-deficient adenoviruses will benefit treatment of cardiovascular diseases including heart failure. A persistent hurdle is the effective and reproducible delivery of a transgene to the myocardium with minimal iatrogenic morbidity. In this study, we sought to design a relatively non-invasive percutaneous gene delivery system that would maximize cardiac transgene expression and minimize mortality after intracoronary adenovirus injection.

Video-assisted thoracoscopic transplantation of myoblasts into the heart.

Purpose: Currently, cells are transplanted into injured myocardium either through thoracotomy for open surgical delivery or through catheterization for endoventricular or intracoronary delivery; both methods have limitations. Open surgical delivery limits the potential patient population, whereas catheter-based delivery limits the ability to visualize the injection site and confirm delivery of the cells to the appropriate region. In this study, we examine the feasibility of cell transplantation into myocardium using a minimally invasive thoracoscopic approach.

Cardioprotective effects of erythropoietin in the reperfused ischemic heart: a potential role for cardiac fibroblasts.

Erythropoietin has recently been shown to have effects beyond hematopoiesis such as prevention of neuronal and cardiac apoptosis secondary to ischemia. In this study, we evaluated the in vivo protective potential of erythropoietin in the reperfused rabbit heart following ventricular ischemia. We show that "preconditioning" with erythropoietin activates cell survival pathways in myocardial tissue in vivo and adult rabbit cardiac fibroblasts in vitro.

Gene delivery to aortocoronary saphenous vein grafts in a large animal model of intimal hyperplasia.

Objective: More than 50% of aortocoronary saphenous vein grafts are occluded 10 years after surgery. Intimal hyperplasia is an initial, critical step in the progression toward occlusion. To date, no clinically relevant large animal models of aortocoronary saphenous vein graft intimal hyperplasia have been fully characterized.

Fluid and electrolytes in the aged.

Objective: To review the physiological changes in fluid and electrolytes that occur in aging.

Data Sources: Data collected for this review were identified from a MEDLINE database search of the English-language literature. The indexing terms were fluids, intravenous fluids, fluid resuscitation, fluid management, perioperative, electrolytes, aged, elderly, hemodynamics, hyponatremia, hypernatremia, hypocalcemia, hypercalcemia, hypomagnesemia, hypermagnesemia, hypophosphatemia, hypokalemia, and hyperkalemia.

A novel protective effect of erythropoietin in the infarcted heart.

Erythropoietin (EPO) has been shown to protect neurons from ischemic stroke, but can also increase thrombotic events and mortality rates in patients with ischemic heart disease. We reasoned that benefits of EPO might be offset by increases in hematocrit and evaluated the direct effects of EPO in the ischemic heart. We show that preconditioning with EPO protects H9c2 myoblasts in vitro and cardiomyocytes in vivo against ischemic injury.

Gene interventions in the beta-adrenergic system for treating heart failure.

Cardiovascular disease accounts for nearly 40% of all deaths annually in this country. Prevention management and advances in medical treatments have dramatically reduced the overall mortality rate due to heart disease. However, death due to chronic heart failure (HF) continues to rise, and effective therapy, particularly for end-stage HF, has been elusive.

Vascular rarefaction in peripheral skeletal muscle after experimental heart failure.

A decrease in vascular density in peripheral skeletal muscle has been associated with exercise intolerance in humans with congestive heart failure (CHF). The purpose of this study was to determine whether CHF results in a reduction in vascular density in peripheral skeletal muscle. In this established model, CHF was induced by coronary artery ligation in New Zealand White rabbits and sham rabbits that underwent an identical surgical procedure without ligation of the coronary artery.