Twenty-year single-center experience with the medtronic open pivot mechanical heart valve.

Background: Since May 1992 the Medtronic Open Pivot mechanical heart valve has been implanted routinely at the authors' institution. The study aim was to analyze, retrospectively, the 20-year clinical results of the valve.

Methods: Between May 1992 and December 2011 a total of 1,520 valves was inserted into 1,382 consecutive patients (1,012 aortic, 473 mitral, 26 tricuspid, 9 pulmonary).

Reappraisal of a single-centre policy on the contemporary surgical management of active infective endocarditis.

Objectives: We studied a contemporary cohort of adult patients treated surgically for infective endocarditis (IE) in order to evaluate the surgical approach and predictors of outcomes, in relation to the intercurrent adaptation of the 2006 ACC/AHA guidelines.

Methods: One hundred and eighty-six consecutive patients operated on for active IE from August 1999 to September 2012 were reviewed retrospectively. Clinical presentation, surgical management and outcomes in the two study periods before and after January 2007 were compared (Period 1: n = 95 and Period 2: n = 91).

Relation between mixed venous oxygen saturation and cerebral oxygen saturation measured by absolute and relative near-infrared spectroscopy during off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting.

Background: We hypothesized that previously reported contradictory results regarding the equivalence of mixed venous (Smv(O(2))) and cerebral (rS(c)O(2)) oxygen saturation might be related to time delay issues and to measurement technology. In order to explore these two factors, we designed a prospective clinical study comparing with relative (INVOS(®)) and absolute (Foresight(®)) rS(c)O(2) measurements.

Methods: Forty-two consenting patients undergoing elective off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting were included.

Secretory products from epicardial adipose tissue of patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus induce cardiomyocyte dysfunction.

Background: Secreted factors from epicardial adipose tissue (EAT) have been implicated in the development of cardiomyocyte dysfunction. This study aimed to assess whether alterations in the secretory profile of EAT in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (DM2) affect contractile function and insulin action in cardiomyocytes.

Methods And Results: Contractile function and insulin action were analyzed in primary adult rat cardiomyocytes incubated with conditioned media (CM) generated from explants of EAT biopsies obtained from patients without and with DM2.