Correlations between preprocedure mood and clinical outcome in patients undergoing coronary angioplasty.

We studied the relationship between mood and mood shift immediately before percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) and 3 end points: total ischemic burden during PCI, adverse cardiac end points (ACE) after PCI, and death by 6-month follow up. Patients (n = 119) with unstable angina or myocardial infarction completed a visual analog scale (VAS) twice before PCI; before and after a session of stress relaxation, imagery, or touch; or approximately 30 minutes apart for patients assigned to prayer or to standard care. VAS included happiness, satisfaction, calm, hope, worry, shortness of breath, fear, and sadness.

Outcome after elective infrarenal aortic aneurysm surgery.

We conducted a prospective case series study to investigate the causes of and factors influencing morbidity and mortality in 102 consecutive patients after elective infrarenal abdominal aneurysm (AAA) surgery between 1992 and 1995. Preoperative factors (demographics, risk factor indexes, electrocardiographic findings, ejection fraction, and stress imaging scans were indicated) and intraoperative factors (duration of surgery, size of aneurysm, complications, units of blood transfused, and additional procedures performed) were recorded. Patients were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) for at least 24 hours and followed for 30 days postoperatively.

Acute beriberi following liver transplantation.

Patients scheduled for orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) undergo extensive routine preoperative cardiac assessment. We describe a 32-year-old male who underwent uneventful OLT for endstage liver failure on the basis of chronic hepatitis C and alcoholism. Despite a normal preoperative cardiac workup, the patient developed acute pulmonary edema on the second postoperative day.