[Combined single coronary artery by-pass graft surgery and aortic valve replacement through bilateral mini-thoracotomies].

The efficiency of minimally invasive aortic valve surgery via right anterior thoracotomy is now well established. As far as coronary artery bypass graft surgery is concerned, many specialized centres are performing minimally invasive procedures with a left mini-thoracotomy either off-pump or on-pump. Multivessel operation is feasible.

Surgery of the ascending aorta via a right anterior minithoracotomy: initial surgical experience of a single center.

Objectives: Full median sternotomy (FMS) is the common surgical access for patients undergoing replacement of the ascending aorta (AA) with or without aortic valve replacement (AVR). The right anterior mini-thoracotomy (RAMT) approach has been increasingly adopted for AVR. This approach has been shown to decrease blood loss and hospital length of stay (LOS) compared with FMS.

Successful heart transplantation from donation after euthanasia with distant procurement using normothermic regional perfusion and cold storage.

While euthanasia has been legalized in a growing number of countries, organ donation after euthanasia is only performed in Belgium, the Netherlands, Spain, and Canada. Moreover, the clinical practice of heart donation after euthanasia has never been reported before. We describe the first case of a heart donated after euthanasia, reconditioned with thoraco-abdominal normothermic regional perfusion, preserved using cold storage while being transported to a neighboring transplant center, and then successfully transplanted following a procurement warm ischemic time of 17 min.

Efficacy of the RemoweLL cardiotomy reservoir for fat and leucocyte removal from shed mediastinal blood: a randomized controlled trial.

Introduction: Re-transfusion of lipid particles and activated leucocytes with shed mediastinal blood (SMB) can aggravate cardiopulmonary bypass-associated inflammation and increase the embolic load. This study evaluated the fat and leucocyte removal capacity of the RemoweLL cardiotomy reservoir.

Methods: Forty-five patients undergoing elective on-pump cardiac surgery were randomly allocated to filtration of SMB using the RemoweLL or the Admiral cardiotomy reservoir.

Hydroxyethyl Starch 130/0.4 and the Risk of Acute Kidney Injury After Cardiopulmonary Bypass: A Single-Center Retrospective Study.

Objectives: To investigate whether using hydroxyethyl starch (HES) 130/0.4 as a pump prime and for intraoperative fluid therapy is associated with postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) after adult cardiac surgery.

Design: Retrospective observational study.

Incidence and outcomes of acute kidney injury after cardiac surgery using either criteria of the RIFLE classification.

Background: Adult cardiac surgery is significantly associated with the development of acute kidney injury (AKI). Still, the incidence and outcomes of AKI vary according to its definition. Our retrospective monocentric study comparatively investigates the yield of RIFLE definition, which is based on the elevation of serum creatinine levels (SCr) or the reduction of urine output (UO), taking into account only one or both criteria.