[Analysis of the cases admitted to a regional ethics court of the Chilean medical association].

Background: The Ethics Committees of medical associations define standards of conduct to avoid improper professional behavior.

Aim: To identify the areas of professional behavior with most allegations of misconduct.

Material And Methods: Analysis of all ethical claims received at the Regional Ethics Court of the Chilean Medical Association between 2016 and 2021.

[Cardiac myxomas. Analysis of 78 cases].

Background: The incidence rates of cardiac tumors are low.

Aim: To report the clinical presentation of cardiac myxomas and long-term evolution after resection.

Material And Methods: Review of a database of surgical patients undergoing surgical resection of a cardiac myxoma in a public hospital between 1990 and 2018.

[Hospital mortality and long-term survival of 103 patients with infective endocarditis requiring surgery].

Background Infective endocarditis (IE) is a serious disease with high mortality, especially among the most severe cases undergoing surgery. Aim To analyze the clinical features, perioperative mortality and long-term survival of patients with infective endocarditis requiring surgery. Material and Methods Review of medical records of patients who underwent heart valve surgery for active infective endocarditis in a public hospital between 1995 and 2008.

Left ventricular assist device (LVAD) program in Chile: first successful experience in South America.

Background: The need to have a variety of tools to deal with end-stage heart failure (ES-HF), along with the limited heart transplantation availability encouraged us to create a pilot Left ventricular assist device (LVAD) program in a public health care system hospital in Chile.

Methods: A retrospective analysis of the first nine patients of an ongoing LVAD program initiated on August 2013 was performed, completing an average of 30 months of follow-up. The most important events regarding to morbidity and mortality are described.

[Recommendations for the management of patients with short-term mechanical circulatory assistance].

There has been a progressive increase in the use of mechanical circulatory support in our country in the last years, mainly in the short-term: as a bridge to cardiac transplant or recovery, which has allowed to rescue patients from a population that concentrates high rates of complications and mortality. This motivated that the Ministry of Health convened a series of experts in the area of heart failure, transplantation and mechanical circulatory support, representatives of different public and private health centers in Chile, with the objective of developing recommendations on the use of short-term mechanical assistance devices, which would serve as a reference for the proper management of these patients. This clinical experts consensus document contains topics related to: definitions and general concepts; indications; contraindications; specific aspects of starting, follow-up and weaning of the devices; process of transfer of patients in circulatory assistance from one center to another and finally criteria of organization, means and competences to be fulfilled by the centers that offer this therapeutic option.

[Lactococcus garvieae endocarditis in a patient undergoing chronic hemodialysis. First case report in Chile and review of the literature].

Reports of Lactococcus garvieae infections in humans are scarce, and only one of them in a patient under-going hemodialysis. We report the first case of Lactococcus garvieae infection in Chile, presenting as an infective endocarditis, ultimately fatal, in a patient with uncomplicated colonic diverticulosis and end stage renal failure undergoing chronic hemodialysis. We review the published cases and discuss the diagnostic and therapeutic challenges associated with this new, increasingly diagnosed pathogen, capable of producing serious infections in susceptible patients.

[Left ventricular assistant devices for end-stage heart failure: report of two cases].

In the last 2 decades, there have been significant advances in medical treatment of heart failure. However, there is a group of patients who are refractory to the available medical therapy and progress inevitably to a state of end-stage heart failure, whose only therapeutic alternative is cardiac transplantation. But this is an option limited by the scarce availability of donors.

[Protection against ionizing radiation by leaded glass googles during interventional cardiology].

Background: It is not known whether leaded glass goggles with 0.25 mm Pb equivalency, used in interventional cardiology procedures, attenuate radiation below the levels established by the latest recommendation of the International Commission on Radiological Protection (ICRP).

Aim: To assess if the degree of attenuation of the secondary ionizing radiation achieved by the use of 0.

Risk scores do not predict high mortality after coronary artery bypass surgery in the presence of diastolic dysfunction.

Background: Although global postoperative mortality after on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting is approximately 3%, in some groups it can be considerably higher. Many conditions are known to increase mortality and have been included in well-known scoring systems; however, left ventricular diastolic dysfunction has not been sufficiently evaluated to identify its predictive value for mortality after coronary artery bypass grafting, nor is it integrated in currently used risk scores.

Methods: Left ventricular filling pattern was prospectively evaluated in 191 patients scheduled for on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting.