Association between preoperative statin use and acute kidney injury biomarkers in cardiac surgical procedures.

Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a serious complication of cardiac operations for which there remains no specific therapy. Animal data and several observational studies suggest that statins prevent AKI, but the results are not conclusive, and many studies are retrospective in nature.

Methods: We conducted a multicenter prospective cohort study of 625 adult patients undergoing elective cardiac operations.

Coronary artery spasm: a rare but important cause of postoperative myocardial infarction.

Myocardial infarction that is attributed to native coronary artery spasm in the early postoperative phase has rarely been documented. We report three cases of postoperative myocardial infarction secondary to angiographically demonstrated coronary spasm. Native coronary artery spasm is a rare, but important cause of postoperative ischemia and infarction.

Traumatic innominate artery disruption and aortic valve rupture.

Rapid deceleration injury causing blunt thoracic trauma can result in injury to the thoracic aorta. Rupture of the aortic isthmus is the most common presentation; however, injury can occur more proximally in the arch vessels or the aortic root. We present an unusual case of simultaneous innominate artery disruption with aortic valve rupture after a motor vehicle accident, and we discuss issues surrounding the diagnosis and operative management of this rare, but life-threatening condition.