Ethical process in human research published in thoracic surgery journals.

Background: Media reports of ethical transgressions in research with human subjects have increasingly focused attention on clinical investigators and have served to undermine public confidence in medical research. A series of editorials in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery and The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery in 2002 and 2003 emphasized integrity in research publication. We investigated the extent to which the ethical process was mentioned in reports of thoracic surgical research with human subjects since 2002.

Prevention of thrombosis and embolism in children and adolescents with mechanical valve prostheses: warfarin versus antiplatelet agents.

Background And Aim Of The Study: Postoperative thromboembolic complications associated with mechanical valve prosthesis implantation can be reduced with either antiplatelet agents or warfarin. Warfarin been shown to be more effective in adults, but the data are less clear in the pediatric population.

Methods: Seventy-two children and adolescents who survived mechanical valve implantation on the left side of the heart at the authors' institution were followed prospectively from August 1979 until December 2003.

An aneurysm of right-sided aortic arch with mirror-image brachiocephalic branching.

The patient is a 63-year-old man whose right retroesophageal aortic arch with mirror-image braciocephalic branching was discovered incidentally on computer tomography (CT), performed after a minor motor vehicle accident 12 years ago. The size of the aortic arch was normal at that time. The patient had no other congenital cardiac anomalies.

Transxyphoid approach to retrieval of retained pacemaker leads using laser sheath.

The problem of retained intracardiac foreign bodies remains a concern, particularly in symptomatic patients with endocarditis. This report describes a recently applied technique using transxyphoid application of the Spectranetics Laser Sheath (SLS) for retrieval of a retained right atrial (RA) pacemaker lead. This approach represents modification of the Byrd's technique.

Cancer in the gastric remnant after gastric bypass: a case report.

Gastric cancer in the gastric stump after a Bilroth II subtotal gastrectomy is a well-recognized entity. However, gastric cancer in the bypassed gastric remnant after a gastric bypass operation for morbid obesity has not been well described, and only 2 such cases have been reported in the English literature. This case report presents a patient who developed gastric cancer in the defunctionalized, bypassed stomach 22 years after undergoing an open gastric bypass with a Roux-en-Y gastro-jejunostomy for morbid obesity.