Survival trends of adults with congenital heart disease after heart surgery in Sweden.

Objective: Congenital heart disease is the most common congenital anomaly. This study evaluated long-term mortality in patients who underwent childhood heart surgery and survived to adulthood.

Methods: Using Swedish national registries, we identified 24,774 adults with congenital heart disease born between 1970 and 1999 who were alive at 18 years.

Outcome and survival after open heart surgery for adults with congenital heart disease - a single center experience.

Congenital heart disease (CHD) is the most common type of birth defect today. The adult congenital heart disease (ACHD) population is constantly growing and becoming older and more patients require cardiac surgery. The objective of this study was to review the surgical outcome of the open heart procedures performed on ACHD patients in the last 10 years at Sahlgrenska University Hospital (SUH) through a retrospective descriptive cohort study.

Survival in Children With Congenital Heart Disease: Have We Reached a Peak at 97%?

Background Despite advances in pediatric health care over recent decades, it is not clear whether survival in children with congenital heart disease (CHD) is still increasing. Methods and Results We identified all patients with CHD using nationwide Swedish health registries for 1980 to 2017. We examined the survival trends in children with CHD; we investigated the mortality risk in patients with CHD compared with matched controls without CHD from the general population using Cox proportional regression models and Kaplan-Meier survival analysis.

Continuous improvement in outcome after heart transplantation - Long-term follow-up after three decades of experience.

Aims: Heart transplantation (HTx) has become the standard treatment for patients with end-stage heart disease. We report on the long-term outcome after HTx at our centre and investigate trends in outcome over time.

Methods: During the period, between 1984 and 2014, a total of 610 HTx procedures were performed in 595 patients (median 48years; IQR 31-57years; range 24days-71years; mean 43years; 75% male) in our institution.

Are biventricular assist devices underused as a bridge to heart transplantation in patients with a high risk of postimplant right ventricular failure?

Objective: Right ventricular failure in patients treated using left ventricular assist devices is associated with poor outcomes. We assessed the strategy of preplanned biventricular assist device implantation in patients with a high risk for right ventricular failure.

Methods: Between 2010 and 2014, we assigned 20 patients to preplanned biventricular assist device and 21 patients to left ventricular assist device as a bridge to heart transplantation on the basis of the estimated risk of postimplant right ventricular failure.

The Berglin apical stitch: a simple technique to straighten things out in atrial fibrillation surgery.

In the Cox-Maze IV procedure, or in endocardial left atrial ablation, correct positioning of the surgical ablation probe within the left atrium might be difficult due to bulging or folds in the posterior left atrial wall. The Berglin apical stitch is a simple trick of the trade to create a smooth surface in the posterior left atrium that facilitates performing a safe transmural lesion and, consequently, may increase antiarrhythmic efficiency.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation as a bridge to lung transplantation: a long-term study.

Objectives: We investigated early outcomes in patients with end-stage pulmonary disease bridged with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) with the intention to perform lung transplantation (LTx).

Methods: ECMO was used as a bridge to LTx in 20 patients between 2005 and 2013. Most patients suffered from rapid progress of disease and most failed to stabilize on mechanical ventilation.

Early results in transplantation of initially rejected donor lungs after ex vivo lung perfusion: a case-control study.

Objectives: An increasing number of studies have shown that ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) is safe and that rejected donor lungs can be resuscitated and used for lung transplantation (LTx). Early clinical outcomes in patients transplanted with reconditioned lungs at our centre were reviewed and compared with those of contemporary non-EVLP controls.

Methods: During 18 months starting January 2011, 11 pairs of donor lungs initially deemed unsuitable for transplantation underwent EVLP.

Transplantation of initially rejected donor lungs after ex vivo lung perfusion.

Objective: Ex vivo lung perfusion has the potential to increase the number of patients treated with lung transplantation. Our initial clinical experience with ex vivo lung perfusion is reviewed as well as early clinical outcome in patients transplanted with reconditioned lungs.

Methods: Six pairs of donor lungs deemed unsuitable for transplantation underwent ex vivo lung perfusion with Steen solution mixed with red blood cells to a hematocrit of 10% to 15%.

Heparin does not improve graft function in uncontrolled non-heart-beating lung donation: an experimental study in pigs.

Objectives: Non-heart-beating donation (NHBD) has the potential to increase the number of patients treated with lung transplantation. Our study investigated, in a simulated clinical situation in the uncontrolled NHBD setting, whether or not heparin administration after death affects the donor lung function.

Methods: Twelve Swedish domestic pigs underwent ventricular fibrillation and were left untouched for 7 min followed by cardiopulmonary resuscitation with mechanical compressions for 20 min.

Does pretransplant left ventricular assist device therapy improve results after heart transplantation in patients with elevated pulmonary vascular resistance?

Objective: Pulmonary hypertension (PH), defined as a pulmonary vascular resistance (PVR) >2.5 Wood units (WU) and (or) a transpulmonary gradient (TPG) >12 mmHg, is an established risk factor for mortality in heart transplantation. Elevated PVR in heart transplant candidates can be reduced using a left ventricular assist device (LVAD), and LVAD is proposed to be the treatment of choice for candidates with PH.

Health care consumption due to atrial fibrillation is markedly reduced by Maze III surgery.

Background: Health care consumption and costs for the treatment of atrial fibrillation are high. Atrial fibrillation is effectively treated by the surgical Maze III procedure according to the Cox method. We describe the effects of this procedure on health care consumption and economy.

The feasibility of left ventricular mechanical support as a bridge to cardiac recovery.

Objective: To study the achievability of device weaning in patients receiving left ventricular assist devices (LVADs) as a bridge to transplantation.

Methods: Eighteen consecutive patients receiving a LVAD between September 1997 and June 2002 were included in the study. During a four-month follow-up, patients were repeatedly evaluated with right heart catheterization and echocardiography and, if functional improvement was observed, studied with the device turned off.

Surgical repair of post infarction ventricular septal defects: a national experience.

Objectives: Ventricular septal rupture is a rare but feared complication after acute myocardial infarction. Most reports about outcome after surgical treatment are single center experiences. We investigated the results after surgical repair in all patients in Sweden during a 7-year period.

Laser-Doppler flowmetry is reliable for early diagnosis of small-bowel acute rejection in the mouse.

The purpose of the study was to investigate intestinal mucosal perfusion in mouse small-bowel transplantation (SBT), using laser-Doppler flowmetry. Heterotopic SBT was performed in syngeneic and allogeneic combinations. Mucosal perfusion was measured both in the native and in the grafted intestine at time of surgery and at 1, 3, 6, and 8 days postoperatively.