Long-Term Results Following Pericardial Patch Augmentation for Incompetent Bicuspid Aortic Valves: A Single Center Experience.

Background: Many techniques for repair of bicuspid aortic valves have been described and long-term results differ considerably. The current study evaluates our institutional results using the pericardial patch augmentation technique with the aim of increasing coaptation height.

Methods: From November 2002 through April 2015, 103 consecutive patients underwent aortic valve repair using pericardial patch augmentation for incompetent bicuspid aortic valve.

A Decade of Transapical Aortic Valve Implantation.

Background: Transcatheter-based aortic valve procedures have undergone tremendous evolution during the past decade and have led to great changes in the treatment of valvular heart disease. The Hospital of the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany is one of the three pioneering centers that started performing transapical transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TA-TAVI) back in 2005, and this study reviews the 10-year institutional experience with this approach.

Methods: From January 2005 through January 2015, 312 consecutive high-risk patients underwent TA-TAVI.

Successful fast track protocol implementation for patients undergoing transapical transcatheter aortic valve implantation.

Background: The aim of the current study is to report our experience with fast-track treatment of patients undergoing transapical transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TA-TAVI) and to determine perioperative predictors for fast-track protocol failure.

Methods: Being one of the pioneering centers to start performing TA-TAVI back in 2005, we routinely included patients undergoing this procedure into our fast-track management program since 2008. Between January 2008 and June 2013, 207 consecutive high-risk patients (mean age 79 ± 7 years, mean Log.

The influence of selective pulmonary perfusion on the inflammatory response and clinical outcome of patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass.

Objectives: Patients undergoing cardiac surgery presenting with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) have a higher 30-day mortality risk. In these patients, pulmonary dysfunction linked to an inflammatory response is frequent after cardiac operations using cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), which causes pulmonary hypoperfusion. We hypothesize that selective pulmonary perfusion (sPP) of the lungs leads to a reduction of pulmonary inflammation and a better clinical outcome.