Epicardial clip occlusion of the left atrial appendage during cardiac surgery provides optimal surgical results and long-term stability.

Objectives: Occlusion of the left atrial appendage (LAA) has become an integral and important part of the surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation. Different methods of surgical occlusion of the LAA have been associated with varying levels of short- and long-term success for closure. The purpose of this study was to evaluate long-term results of epicardial placement and endocardial occlusion in patients undergoing cardiac operative procedures.

Sutureless aortic valve and mitral valve repair in redo cases - really an off-label approach?

Sutureless aortic valve replacement (AVR) was developed as an alternative treatment option to conventional open-heart surgery and transcatheter aortic valve implantation for "gray zone" patients. The need for concurrent mitral valve surgery is generally viewed as a contraindication to sutureless AVR. The purpose of this brief paper is to report our experiences with sutureless valves in patients after previous cardiac procedures with degenerated aortic bioprostheses and concomitant mitral valve disease.

Short-term and medium-term outcomes of transapical aortic valve implantation as a single-strategy approach: one center's experience.

Introduction: Transcatheter aortic valve replacement has been developed as an alternative option for surgical high-risk or inoperable patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis.

Aim Of The Study: Aim of the study was to evaluate the outcomes of patients undergoing transapical aortic valve replacement as a single-strategy option by a single-center multidisciplinary heart team.

Material And Methods: Between June 2009 and December 2014, 41 patients underwent transapical transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TA-TAVI) at our institution.

How to manage left ventricular embolization of the transcatheter valve.

Transcatheter aortic valve implantation is a treatment alternative for high-risk patients with severe aortic stenosis who are not eligible for conventional open aortic valve replacement. We describe a case of a rare but serious complication in the form of ventricular embolization of an Edwards Sapien-XT aortic valve following its transapical implantation. The valve was successfully captured and reimplanted into the aortic annulus, which did not require conversion to median sternotomy or use of extracorporeal circulation.

Health-related quality of life after cardiac surgery--the effects of age, preoperative conditions and postoperative complications.

Background: Factors influencing the postoperative health-related quality of life (HRQOL) after cardiac surgery have not been well described yet, mainly in the older people. The study's aim was to explore differences in clinical conditions and HRQOL of patients before and after cardiac surgery taking into account the influence of age and to describe factors influencing changes of HRQOL in the postoperative period.

Methods: This was a prospective consecutive observational study with two measurements using the SF-36 questionnaire before surgery and 1 year after surgery.

Two-staged hybrid treatment of persistent atrial fibrillation: short-term single-centre results.

Objectives: The treatment of persistent and long-standing persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) has unsatisfactory results using both medical therapy and/or catheter ablation, where incomplete ablation lines remain a significant problem. This study evaluates the feasibility, efficacy and safety of the sequential, two-staged hybrid treatment combining thoracoscopic surgical and transvenous catheter AF ablation.

Methods: Thirty patients with persistent and long-standing persistent AF underwent surgical thoracoscopic radiofrequency (RF) ablation procedure using a predefined protocol (pulmonary veins isolation, box lesion, isthmus line lesion, dissection of the ligament of Marshall, left atrial appendage exclusion with an epicardial clip and ganglionated plexi ablation) followed by diagnostic catheterization and RF ablation 3 months later.

Re-exploration for bleeding or tamponade after cardiac operation.

The aim of this study was to determine the outcome of patients who had a chest resternotomy and to identify risk factors for higher in-hospital mortality after re-exploration for bleeding and/or tamponade after cardiac operations. We present our experience of an acceptably low re-exploration rate after cardiac surgery, and the outcomes of those re-explored. This was a retrospective analysis of medical records of all patients who had a chest re-exploration for the control of bleeding and cardiac tamponade over a 7-year period (2000-06), at the Cardiothoracic Centre of the Hospital České Budějovice, Czech Republic.

Leiomyosarcoma of the left atrium.

A 41-year-old woman underwent successful excision of a leiomyosarcoma of the left atrium. The preferential left atrial location and frequent myxoid appearance of leiomyosarcoma of the heart make it particularly difficult to distinguish preoperatively from atrial myxoma. Early diagnosis and aggressive surgical intervention with chemotherapy may improve the prognosis.