Successful Resuscitation of Porcine Hearts After 12 and 24 h of Static Cold Storage With Normothermic Ex Situ Perfusion.

Background: Heart transplantation is always an emergency because the transplant needs to occur within 6 h after procurement to prevent primary graft dysfunction. Static cold storage (SCS) is the gold-standard preservation method. This study describes the outcomes of hearts preserved after prolonged SCS (12 and 24 h); those are then resuscitated with a novel normothermic ex situ heart perfusion (NEHP) system.

Reducing Hyperoxia Exposure in Infants Requiring Veno-Arterial Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation after Cardiac Surgery.

Recent studies have suggested worse outcomes in patients exposed to hyperoxia while supported on veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO). However, there are no data regarding the effect of reducing hyperoxia exposure in this population by adjusting the fraction of inspired oxygen (FiO) of the sweep gas of the ECMO circuit. A retrospective review of 143 patients less than 1 year of age requiring VA-ECMO following cardiac surgery from 2007 to 2018 was completed.

Failed Extubation in Neonates After Cardiac Surgery: A Single-Center, Retrospective Study.

Objectives: To describe factors associated with failed extubation (FE) in neonates following cardiovascular surgery, and the relationship with clinical outcomes.

Design: Retrospective cohort study.

Setting: Twenty-bed pediatric cardiac ICU (PCICU) in an academic tertiary care children's hospital.

A Model of High-Speed Endovascular Sonothrombolysis with Vortex Ultrasound-Induced Shear Stress to Treat Cerebral Venous Sinus Thrombosis.

This research aims to demonstrate a novel vortex ultrasound enabled endovascular thrombolysis method designed for treating cerebral venous sinus thrombosis (CVST). This is a topic of substantial importance since current treatment modalities for CVST still fail in as many as 20% to 40% of the cases, and the incidence of CVST has increased since the outbreak of the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic. Compared with conventional anticoagulant or thrombolytic drugs, sonothrombolysis has the potential to remarkably shorten the required treatment time owing to the direct clot targeting with acoustic waves.

Methods to Enhance Causal Inference for Assessing Impact of Clinical Informatics Platform Implementation.

Background: Hospitals are increasingly likely to implement clinical informatics tools to improve quality of care, necessitating rigorous approaches to evaluate effectiveness. We leveraged a multi-institutional data repository and applied causal inference methods to assess implementation of a commercial data visualization software in our pediatric cardiac intensive care unit.

Methods: Natural experiment in the University of Michigan (UM) Cardiac Intensive Care Unit pre and postimplementation of data visualization software analyzed within the Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care Consortium clinical registry; we identified N=21 control hospitals that contributed contemporaneous registry data during the study period.

Prolonged (24-hour) Normothermic ex vivo Heart Perfusion Facilitated by Perfusate Hemofiltration.

Currently, normothermic ex vivo heart perfusion (NEVHP) is limited to 6-12 hours. NEVHP for 24 hours or more would allow organ treatment, assessment of organ function, and near-perfect recipient matching. We present a model of NEVHP using continuous hemofiltration (HFn) with sustained myocardial viability up to 24 hours.

Functional Status Change Among Infants, Children, and Adolescents Following Extracorporeal Life Support: a Multicenter Report.

In our retrospective multicenter study of patients 0 to 18 years of age who survived extracorporeal life support (ECLS) between January 2010 and December 2018, we sought to characterize the functional status scale (FSS) of ECLS survivors, determine the change in FSS from admission to discharge, and examine risk factors associated with development of new morbidity and unfavorable outcome. During the study period, there were 1,325 ECLS runs, 746 (56%) survived to hospital discharge. Pediatric patients accounted for 56%.

Prediction of extubation failure in the paediatric cardiac ICU using machine learning and high-frequency physiologic data.

Background: Cardiac intensivists frequently assess patient readiness to wean off mechanical ventilation with an extubation readiness trial despite it being no more effective than clinician judgement alone. We evaluated the utility of high-frequency physiologic data and machine learning for improving the prediction of extubation failure in children with cardiovascular disease.

Methods: This was a retrospective analysis of clinical registry data and streamed physiologic extubation readiness trial data from one paediatric cardiac ICU (12/2016-3/2018).

In Vivo Porcine Aged Deep Vein Thrombosis Model for Testing Ultrasound-based Thrombolysis Techniques.

As blood clots age, many thrombolytic techniques become less effective. To fully evaluate these techniques for potential clinical use, a large animal aged-clot model is needed. Previous minimally invasive attempts to allow clots to age in an in vivo large animal model were unsuccessful because of the clot clearance associated with relatively high level of cardiac health of readily available research pigs.

Standardized Training for Physicians Practicing Pediatric Cardiac Critical Care.

Objectives: In the vast majority of Children's Hospitals, the critically ill patient can be found in one of three locations: the PICU, the neonatal ICU, and the cardiac ICU. Training, certification, and maintenance of certification for neonatology and critical care medicine are over seen by the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and American Board of Pediatrics. There is no standardization of training or oversight of certification and maintenance of certification for pediatric cardiac critical care.

Twenty-four-hour normothermic perfusion of isolated ex vivo hearts using plasma exchange.

Objective: Cross-circulation of plasma from a paracorporeal animal allows successful ex vivo heart perfusion (EVHP) for 3 days. Little is known about the feasibility of prolonged EVHP without a paracorporeal animal. These experiments evaluated plasma exchange (PX) that infuses fresh plasma, whereas an equal amount is removed to replace paracorporeal cross-circulation.

Predicting and Surviving Prolonged Critical Illness After Congenital Heart Surgery.

Objectives: Prolonged critical illness after congenital heart surgery disproportionately harms patients and the healthcare system, yet much remains unknown. We aimed to define prolonged critical illness, delineate between nonmodifiable and potentially preventable predictors of prolonged critical illness and prolonged critical illness mortality, and understand the interhospital variation in prolonged critical illness.

Design: Observational analysis.

Three-dimensional US Fractional Moving Blood Volume: Validation of Renal Perfusion Quantification.

Background Three-dimensional (3D) fractional moving blood volume (FMBV) derived from 3D power Doppler US has been proposed for noninvasive approximation of perfusion. However, 3D FMBV has never been applied in animals against a ground truth. Purpose To determine the correlation between 3D FMBV and the reference standard of fluorescent microspheres (FMS) for measurement of renal perfusion in a porcine model.

Ex Vivo Heart Perfusion for 72 Hours Using Plasma Cross Circulation.

Preservation of a donor heart for transplantation is limited to 6-8 hours. Based on our demonstration of 12 hour perfusion with plasma cross circulation, this study aimed to evaluate ex vivo heart perfusion (EVHP) for up to 72 hours using cross plasma circulation (XC-plasma) from a live, awake paracorporeal sheep (PCS). Six ovine hearts were perfused for 72 hours using plasma cross circulation at a rate of 1 L/min with a live, awake PCS.

Integrated Histotripsy and Bubble Coalescence Transducer for Thrombolysis.

After the collapse of a cavitation bubble cloud, residual microbubbles can persist for up to seconds and function as weak cavitation nuclei for subsequent pulses in a phenomenon known as cavitation memory effect. In histotripsy, the cavitation memory effect can cause bubble clouds to repeatedly form at the same discrete set of sites. This effect limits the efficacy of histotripsy-based tissue fractionation.

Current monitoring and innovative predictive modeling to improve care in the pediatric cardiac intensive care unit.

The objectives of this review are (I) to describe the challenges associated with monitoring patients in the pediatric cardiac intensive care unit (PCICU) and (II) to discuss the use of innovative statistical and artificial intelligence (AI) software programs to attempt to predict significant clinical events. Patients cared for in the PCICU are clinically fragile and at risk for fatal decompensation. Current monitoring modalities are often ineffective, sometimes inaccurate, and fail to detect a deteriorating clinical status in a timely manner.

Ultrasonic Cavitation-Enabled Treatment for Therapy of Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy: Proof of Principle.

Ultrasound myocardial cavitation-enabled treatment was applied to the SS-16 rat model of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy for proof of the principle underlying myocardial reduction therapy. A focused ultrasound transducer was targeted using 10-MHz imaging (10 S, GE Vivid 7) to the left ventricular wall of anesthetized rats in a warmed water bath. Pulse bursts of 4-MPa peak rarefactional pressure amplitude were intermittently triggered 1:8 heartbeats during a 10-min infusion of a microbubble suspension.

Functional Status Change Among Children With Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation to Support Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation in a Pediatric Cardiac ICU: A Single Institution Report.

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to describe the functional status of survivors from extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation instituted during in-hospital cardiac arrest using the Functional Status Scale. We aimed to determine risk factors leading to the development of new morbidity and unfavorable functional outcomes.

Design: This was a single-center retrospective chart review abstracting patient characteristics/demographic data, duration of cardiopulmonary resuscitation, duration of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation support, as well as maximum lactate levels within 2 hours before and after extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation.

Extracorporeal Life Support as a Rescue Measure for Managing Life-Threatening Arrythmia and Brugada Syndrome.

We describe the use of extracorporeal cardiopulmonary resuscitation (E-CPR) to transiently stabilize a 3-month-old patient who presented with ventricular tachyarrhythmias leading to spontaneous cardiac arrest. The patient required 4 days of extracorporeal life support (ECLS) where he was diagnosed with probable Brugada syndrome (BS). The patient was discharged home in stable condition after implantable cardioverter defibrillator placement.

Multiple ultrasound cavitation-enabled treatments for myocardial reduction.

Background: Ultrasound myocardial cavitation enabled treatment (MCET) is an image-guided method for tissue reduction. In this study, a strategy of fractionated (multiple) treatments was tested for efficacy.

Methods: Dahl SS rats were anesthetized and prepared for treatment with a focused ultrasound transducer in a warm water bath.

Incidence of Fever and Positive Bacterial Cultures in Neonates Receiving Prostaglandin.

Prostaglandin E (PGE) is necessary to maintain ductus arteriosus patency in many newborns with congenital heart disease. Because PGE therapy commonly leads to fever, and given this population's fragile state, a complete sepsis workup is often performed in febrile, but otherwise asymptomatic, patients. This practice of liberal evaluation with bacterial cultures, empiric antibiotic treatment, and delays in essential surgical intervention may result in poor resource utilization and lead to increased iatrogenic morbidity.

Non-Invasive Thrombolysis Using Microtripsy in a Porcine Deep Vein Thrombosis Model.

Histotripsy is a non-invasive therapeutic technique that uses ultrasound generated from outside the body to create controlled cavitation in targeted tissue, and fractionates it into acellular debris. We have developed a new histotripsy approach, termed microtripsy, to improve targeting accuracy and to avoid collateral tissue damage. This in vivo study evaluates the safety and efficacy of microtripsy for non-invasive thrombolysis in a porcine deep vein thrombosis model.

Normothermic Ex Vivo Heart Perfusion: Effects of Live Animal Blood and Plasma Cross Circulation.

Prolonged normothermic ex vivo heart perfusion could transform cardiac transplantation. To help identify perfusate components that might enable long-term perfusion, we evaluated the effects of cross-circulated whole blood and cross-circulated plasma from a live paracorporeal animal on donor porcine hearts preserved via normothermic ex vivo heart perfusion. Standard perfusion (SP; n = 40) utilized red blood cell/plasma perfusate and Langendorff technique for a goal of 12 hours.

Non-Invasive Liver Ablation Using Histotripsy: Preclinical Safety Study in an In Vivo Porcine Model.

This study investigates the safety profile for use of histotripsy, a non-invasive ultrasonic ablation method currently being developed for the treatment of liver cancer, for liver ablation in an in vivo porcine model. Histotripsy treatments were applied to the liver and hepatic veins of 22 porcine subjects, with half of the subjects receiving systemic heparinization. Vital signs (heart rate, blood pressure, temperature, electrocardiogram and SpO) were monitored throughout the procedure and for 1 h post-treatment.