Construction and Evaluation of a Realistic Low-Cost Model for Training in Chest-Tube Insertion.

Introduction: Emergency thoracostomy is applied in life-threatening situations. Simulation plays a pivotal role in training in invasive techniques used mainly in stressful situations. Currently available commercial simulation models for thoracostomy have various drawbacks.

Preintervention imaging and intraoperative management care of the hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy patient.

With an estimated overall mortality of less than 1 percent per year, hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, is the most common genetic cardiomyopathy. Intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography is the standard of care for assessing patients with hypertrophic obstructive cardiomyopathy undergoing surgical septal myectomy, allowing surgical planning, intraoperative hemodynamic monitoring, and postprocedural assessment of the repair, including detection of immediate complications. At various phases during surgical septal myectomy, the changing hemodynamic conditions may lead to worsening or improvement in left ventricle outflow tract obstruction by change in preload or afterload, systolic anterior motion of the mitral valve, or sympathetic stimulation.

Safety and outcomes of MitraClip implantation in functional mitral regurgitation according to degree of left ventricular dysfunction.

Introduction And Objectives: Recent randomized trials of the MitraClip system have reported controversial results in the treatment of patients with functional mitral regurgitation (FMR). The aim of the present study was to evaluate the safety and impact of MitraClip implantation on outcomes in FMR according to left ventricular (LV) status.

Methods: Patients with FMR undergoing MitraClip implantation in our center were retrospectively screened and divided into 2 groups according to LV ejection fraction (LVEF) and LV end-diastolic dimension: "very poor LV" (LVEF ≤ 20% and/or LV end-diastolic dimension ≥ 70 mm) and "poor LV" (LVEF> 20% and LV end-diastolic dimension <70 mm).

Comparative study of NOTES alone versus NOTES guided by a new image registration system for navigation in the mediastinum: a study in a porcine model.

Background: Natural orifice transluminal endoscopic surgery (NOTES) mediastinoscopy (MED) through the esophagus has proved to be feasible in the animal model. However, injury of the adjacent pleura and pneumothorax has been reported as a frequent adverse event when using a blind access.

Objective: To assess the utility and safety of a CT-based image registration system (IRS) for navigation in the mediastinum.