A randomized, controlled trial of daclizumab vs anti-thymocyte globulin induction for lung transplantation.

Background: Rejection remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality after lung transplantation. The purpose of this study was to test the efficacy and safety of daclizumab (DZM) vs anti-thymocyte globulin (ATG) as a component of induction therapy.

Methods: Fifty adults undergoing lung transplantation were randomized to receive either ATG or DZM during induction therapy.

Pretransplant diabetes, not donor age, predicts long-term outcomes in cardiac transplantation.

Background And Aim: Accepting donors of advanced age may increase the number of hearts available for transplantation. Objectives were to review the outcomes of using cardiac donors 50 years of age and older and to identify predictors of outcome at a single institution.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of all adult cardiac transplants (n = 338) performed at our institution between 1988 and 2002 was conducted.

Saphenous vein harvest with SaphLITE system versus conventional technique: a prospective, randomized study.

Background: Minimally invasive saphenous vein harvest (MIVH) techniques have been evaluated and reported with heterogeneous results. The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of MIVH on the outcomes of postoperative leg wound healing and pain using the SaphLITE retractor system.

Methods: Two hundred twenty-five patients undergoing elective coronary artery bypass grafting surgery were randomized to receive either SaphLITE vein harvest (SVH) or conventional open vein harvest (OVH).

Declining need for permanent pacemaker insertion with the bicaval technique of orthotopic heart transplantation.

Background: The bicaval technique of orthotopic heart transplantation, in contrast to the standard biatrial technique, may better preserve right atrial anatomy and, thus, may be associated with less sinus node dysfunction and less atrioventricular valve dysfunction.

Objectives: To compare the requirement for permanent pacemaker insertion and the incidence of atrioventricular valve dysfunction following heart transplantation with either the standard or the bicaval technique.

Patients And Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted of a consecutive cohort of 105 patients, older than 18 years of age, undergoing heart transplantation with either the standard (n=48) or the bicaval (n=57) technique from December 1998 to December 2001.

Coronary artery bypass surgery with heparin-coated perfusion circuits and low-dose heparinization.

Objective: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of heparin-coated perfusion circuits with low-dose heparinization and centrifugal pumping compared with the standard method during coronary artery bypass grafting.

Design: Prospective, randomized, single-blind clinical trial.

Setting: A primary care institution.