Case Report: The woman with the big heart-an imaging-guided attempt of surgical reduction.

In a female patient with acute cardiac decompensation, an auxiliary finding of a giant left atrium emerged. The surgical therapy of the atrial reduction, in addition to a mitral valve replacement and a coronary artery bypass grafting, is hereby presented.

ICU Readmission after Cardiac Surgery-Still a Matter of Concern?

Background: Despite improvements in diagnostics and perioperative care, readmission to intensive care unit (ICU) after cardiac surgery is still a severe drawback for patients with considerable morbidity, mortality, and costs. Aim of this retrospective analysis was to disentangle independent risk factors for ICU readmission.

Material And Methods: Between 01/2004 and 12/2012, 336 out of 9,555 (3.