Student survey after ten years of continuous blended teaching of echocardiography.

Objective: To analyse the impact of 10 years of blended echocardiography teaching.

Methods And Results: A questionnaire was emailed to all medical doctors who graduated from the blended learning diploma in echocardiography developed by the University of Chile and taught by a team from Chile and Spain. One hundred and forty of the 210 students who graduated from the program between 2011 and 2020 completed the questionnaire: 53.

Assessment of tricuspid annulus: anatomic and echocardiographic correlation.

Tricuspid regurgitation is associated with a poor outcome and its quantification remains a challenge. Tricuspid annulus dilatation is one of the parameters that influences clinical decision-making. The aim of this study was to compare the use of 2D transoesophageal echocardiography with surgical assessment for the measurement of the tricuspid annulus.

Role of age and comorbidities in mortality of patients with infective endocarditis.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to analyse the characteristics of patients with IE in three groups of age and to assess the ability of age and the Charlson Comorbidity Index (CCI) to predict mortality.

Methods: Prospective cohort study of all patients with IE included in the GAMES Spanish database between 2008 and 2015.Patients were stratified into three age groups:<65 years,65 to 80 years,and ≥ 80 years.

Infarct transmurality as a criterion for first-line endo-epicardial substrate-guided ventricular tachycardia ablation in ischemic cardiomyopathy.

Background: There is no consensus on the appropriate indications for the epicardial approach in substrate ablation of post-myocardial infarction (MI) ventricular tachycardia (VT).

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate whether infarct transmurality (IT) could identify patients who would benefit from a combined first-line endo-epicardial approach.

Methods: Before ablation, IT was assessed by contrast-enhanced cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (hyperenhancement ≥75% of the wall thickness in ≥1 segment), echocardiography (dyskinesia/akinesia + hyperrefringency + wall thinning), computed tomography (wall thinning), or scintigraphy (transmural necrosis).

[Neuropsychological dysfunction after cardiac surgery: Cerebral saturation and bispectral index: A longitudinal study].

Background: Neuropsychological dysfunction is a major cause of morbidity and mortality after cardiac surgery.

Aim: To evaluate if intraoperative cerebral desaturation and depth of anesthesia measured by bispectral index are related to postoperative cognitive dysfunction in cardiac surgery.

Material And Methods: Prospective study in patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass.

Role of echocardiogram in decision making for surgery in endocarditis.

Infective endocarditis is a serious disease that carries significant morbidity and mortality. Adequate treatment is based on a high degree of clinical suspicion, accurate microbiologic diagnosis, and high-quality imaging. Echocardiography has been shown to be a fundamental tool for diagnosis and management.

Port-Access cardiac surgery: from a learning process to the standard.

Background: Port-Access surgery has been one of the most innovative and controversial methods in the spectrum of minimally invasive techniques for cardiac operations and has been widely used for the treatment of several cardiac diseases. The technique was introduced in our center to evaluate its efficacy in reproducing standardized results without an additional risk.

Methods: Endovascular cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) through femoral access and endoluminal aortic occlusion were used in 129 patients for a variety of surgical procedures, all of which were video-assisted.