Objective: The relationship between atrial fibrillation (AF) and heart failure with depressed ejection fraction (EF) is complex. AF-related tachycardia-mediated cardiomyopathy (TMC) can lead to worsening EF and clinical heart failure. We sought to determine whether a hybrid team ablation approach (HA) can be performed safely and restore normal sinus rhythm in patients with TMC and heart failure and to delineate the effect on heart failure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Benefits of concomitant atrial fibrillation (AF) surgical treatment are well established. Cardiac societies support treating AF during cardiac surgery with a class I recommendation. Despite these guidelines, adoption has been inconsistent.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFLeft atrial appendage (LAA) occlusion at the time of cardiac surgery in patients with atrial fibrillation has been shown to reduce the incidence of postoperative embolic stroke. However, the optimal method for LAA occlusion is not universally accepted. We sought to examine the safety and effectiveness of LAA occlusion with the AtriClip epicardial occlusion device.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: The Cox-maze IV is the gold standard for surgical ablation of atrial fibrillation (AF). A heart-team hybrid approach using selected epicardial thoracoscopic surgical ablations and completion endocardial ablations to replicate the Cox-maze IV lesion set has gained popularity and early results have been promising. We herein report our single-centre long-term clinical outcomes using the heart-team hybrid approach with 455 patients.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Percutaneous left atrial appendage exclusion (LAAE) has evolved as an alternative strategy for stroke prevention in atrial fibrillation (AF). Recent observational data have suggested that epicardial LAAE can have substantial impact on arrhythmia burden and hemodynamic profile.
Objectives: The authors aimed to study the impact of epicardial versus endocardial LAAE on systemic blood pressure in hypertensive AF patients.
Rosai-Dorfman disease is rare and typically presents with cervical lymphadenopathy, but may manifest as extranodal disease. This disease is generally indolent and self-limited, but it carries a poor or fatal prognosis when it is advanced or when it involves and compresses vital structures. We present a case of Rosai-Dorfman disease affecting the pulmonary arteries in a 22-year-old woman with severe, symptomatic right heart failure.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe EXCOR Berlin Heart (Berlin Heart, Berlin, Germany) was successfully used as a pediatric left ventricular assist device as a bridge to cardiac transplantation. The pneumatically driven paracorporeal device successfully supported a 7 kg patient for 53 days until a suitable heart was obtained for transplantation.
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