Changes in pulmonary artery pressure affect survival differently in lung transplant recipients who have pulmonary hypertension or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

Objectives: Pulmonary hypertension and right ventricular dysfunction can complicate lung transplant. Pulmonary artery pressures affect outcome are uncertain during wait list. We evaluated changes in wait list pulmonary artery pressures on survival after lung transplant.

Early catastrophic stentless valve failure secondary to possible immune reaction.

Aortic valve replacement with stentless xenografts has become routine since their introduction in the early 1990s. Although concerns of structural valve deterioration and long-term durability have been voiced, the reports on the causes or pathology associated with early valve failure have been sparse. We report two unusual cases of failure leading to patient death within the first year after implantation of the aortic valve and root with the Freestyle prostheses (Medtronic Inc, Minneapolis, MN).

Bariatric surgery outcomes in patients aged 65 years and older at an American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Center of Excellence.

Background: Although morbid obesity rates in patients >or=65 years of age are increasing, few centers have reported weight loss surgery outcomes in elderly patients, resulting in a paucity of literature on perioperative mortality and morbidity.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was performed on 197 consecutive patients >or=65 years old who underwent weight loss surgery from January 2000 to December 2007. Primary data points included 30-day and 1-year mortality rates, length of stay (LOS), percent excess weight loss (EWL), change in daily medication use, and quality of life (QOL).