Active Bleeding after Cardiac Surgery: A Prospective Observational Multicenter Study.

Main Objectives: To estimate the incidence of active bleeding after cardiac surgery (AB) based on a definition directly related on blood flow from chest drainage; to describe the AB characteristics and its management; to identify factors of postoperative complications.

Methods: AB was defined as a blood loss > 1.5 ml/kg/h for 6 consecutive hours within the first 24 hours or in case of reoperation for hemostasis during the first 12 postoperative hours.

Prospective comparison of minimally invasive and standard techniques for aortic valve replacement: initial experience in the first hundred patients.

Background: Aortic valve replacement (AVR) can be performed through a partial upper sternotomy. In this study we compared the early postoperative outcome in two groups of patients who underwent AVR with a minimally invasive procedure (n = 30) or with a conventional approach (n = 70). The predicted operative mortality (Parsonnet Index) was slightly higher in the conventional group (17.