Aorto-mitral curtain reconstruction in invasive double-valve endocarditis: mid-term outcomes.

Background: Invasive double-valve endocarditis with structural damage (abscess or perforation) of the aorto-mitral curtain is a relatively rare but fatal diagnosis requiring complex surgical reconstruction. This study presents the short-term and mid-term outcomes from a single center.

Methods: From 2014 to 2021, 20 patients with double-valve endocarditis with structural damage of the aorto-mitral curtain underwent surgical reconstruction (Hemi-Commando procedure  = 16 and Commando procedure  = 4).

Robot-assisted vs. conventional MIDCAB: A propensity-matched analysis.

Background: Robotic assistance (RA) in the harvesting of internal thoracic artery during minimally invasive direct coronary artery bypass grafting (MIDCAB) provides several potential benefits for surgeon and patient in comparison with conventional MIDCAB. The two technical options have not been thoroughly compared in the literature yet. We aimed to perform this in our cohort with the use of propensity-score matching (PSM).

New biomarkers in the selection of patients for talcage of pleural cavity in the palliative therapy of malign pleural exudate.

Background: Chemical pleurodesis using videothoracoscopically applied powdered talc under general anaesthesia and selective pulmonary ventilation is the most effective method of palliative therapy for malign pleural exudate. Talc produces an intense systemic inflammatory reaction with the development of aseptic pleurisy. The result is obliteration of the pleural cavity provided there is an intense inflammatory reaction in the pleural cavity and good contact of both pleural leaves.

Cardiac sarcoidosis.

Cardiac sarcoidosis is a rare entity and may be difficult to diagnose prior to cardiac surgery. We review the imaging and diagnostic studies necessary to make the diagnosis and discuss therapeutic algorithms to manage this disease.

Broncho-pleural fistula following vacuum-assisted closure therapy.

We report a case of bronchopleural-cutaneous fistula following long-term vacuum-assisted closure therapy to manage a sternal dehiscence after coronary artery bypass surgery.

Coronary subclavian steal syndrome causing acute myocardial infarction in a patient undergoing coronary-artery bypass grafting.

Coronary subclavian steal syndrome with retrograde blood flow in the left internal mammary-coronary bypass graft is a rare but severe complication of cardiac surgery. The authors present a case of a 68-year-old man after coronary-artery bypass grafting using an internal mammary artery. He had been suffering from angina pectoris for the last several years before surgery.

Role of ischemia-modified albumin in estimating the extent and scope of cardiac ischemia in patients with ST elevation myocardial infarction.

Ischemia-modified albumin (IMA) is a laboratory biomarker of cardiac ischemia. Our study aims to determine whether IMA can estimate or represent to any degree the extent of myocardial ischemia. We expect that the higher the marker of cardiac necrosis (maximum value after serial measurements) the greater the preceding cardiac ischemia, indicated by IMA in patients diagnosed with STEMI prior to direct percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI).