Mycotic Thoracic Aortic Aneurysm: Epidemiology, Pathophysiology, Diagnosis, and Management.

Mycotic thoracic aortic aneurysm (MTAA) is an aneurysm of the aorta caused by infection of the vessel tissue through microbial inoculation of the diseased aortic endothelium. It is most commonly caused by bacteria. Rarely, it can be caused by fungi.

Accelerated LVAD pump thrombosis in COVID-19 patient: Case report and mini review.

Background: Coronavirus (COVID-19) infection exposes patients with heart failure specially who are on mechanical support to a higher risk of morbidity and mortality.

Aims: To investigate the impact of COVID-19 infection on left ventricular assist device (LVAD) thrombosis in heart failure patients.

Materials & Methods: We searched the medical electronic records, Medline, PubMed and Cochrane databases for; (LVAD) AND (thrombosis)) AND (covid-19)) AND (heart failure).

Normothermic Regional Perfusion is an Emerging Cost-Effective Alternative in Donation After Circulatory Death (DCD) in Heart Transplantation.

In donation after circulatory death (DCD) organ transplantation, normothermic regional perfusion (NRP) restores oxygenated blood flow following cardiac arrest and reverses warm ischemia. Recently, NRP has also been used to help recover DCD hearts in addition to the abdominal organs. While DCD donation has increased the number of abdominal organs and lungs pool, it has not been able to increase the number of heart transplants, despite the fact that it has the potential to increase the number of heart transplants by 15-30%.

Evolution of Xenotransplantation as an Alternative to Shortage of Donors in Heart Transplantation.

This review aims to show and illustrate the history, current, ethical considerations, and limitations concerning xenotransplantation. Due to the current shortage of available donor organs for transplantation, many alternative sources are being examined to solve the donor shortage. One of them is xenotransplantation which refers to the transplantation of organs from one species to another.

Is the Organ Care System (OCS) Still the First Choice With Emerging New Strategies for Donation After Circulatory Death (DCD) in Heart Transplant?

The scarcity of donor hearts continues to be a challenge in transplants for advanced heart failure patients. With an increasing number of patients on the waiting list for a heart transplant, the discrepancy in the number between donors and recipients is gradually increasing and poses a new challenge that plagues the healthcare systems when it comes to the heart. Several technologies have been developed to expand the donor pool in recent years.