Publications by authors named "Kevin Beers"

Background: Management of total anomalous pulmonary venous connections has been extensively studied to further improve outcomes. Our institution previously reported factors associated with mortality, recurrent obstruction, and reintervention. The study purpose was to revisit the cohort of patients and evaluate factors associated with reintervention, and mortality in early and late follow-up.

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Atrial-esophageal fistula (AEF) is a rare, but life-threatening complication of ablative treatments for atrial fibrillation. Although the incidence of this complication is low, the mortality is very high. There are many surgical approaches to this disease but we offer a novel technique to reduce the number of incisions used and provides central cannulation.

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Background: Neonates undergoing congenital heart defect repair require optimized nutritional support in the perioperative period. Utilization of a gastrostomy tube is not infrequent, yet optimal timing for placement is ill-defined. The objective of this study was to identify characteristics of patients whose postoperative course included gastrostomy tube placement to facilitate supplemental tube feeding following neonatal repair of congenital heart defects.

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Cardiac tamponade is a common complication after cardiac surgery and is usually caused by bleeding or thrombus in the early postoperative period. Postoperative serous tamponade is more rare and usually of gradual onset. We report an unusual and life-threatening case of serous tamponade occurring on postoperative day 1 following a third-time paraesophageal hernia repair.

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Reparative procedures are not always feasible in congenitally abnormal mitral valves. Mechanical prosthesis has been accepted as the choice for valve replacement in the pediatric population. This report describes a case of congenital mitral valve disease requiring mitral valve replacement.

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Parturients with Fontan physiology provide unique and complex challenges to anesthesiologists. Such challenges include the maintenance of a perfect balance between preload, pulmonary vascular resistance, afterload, and cardiac output in a setting of a single ventricle physiology. The physiological changes of pregnancy add additional burden to an already "fragile" physiology, making the anesthetic management for labor and/or cesarean delivery even more complex.

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