Impact of antimicrobial therapy on prognosis of patients requiring valve surgery during active infective endocarditis.

Objectives: We examined the characteristics and outcomes of patients requiring valve surgery during active infective endocarditis (IE), focusing on the impact of antimicrobial therapy.

Methods: In this retrospective study, medical charts of all consecutive patients admitted to our cardiovascular surgery department from January 1998 to December 2010, with a diagnosis of IE requiring surgical management, were reviewed. Adult patients were enrolled in the study if they had definite or possible active IE and if the antimicrobial treatment was evaluable.

Endovascular fenestration in aortic dissection with acute malperfusion syndrome: immediate and late follow-up.

Objective: To evaluate the immediate and long-term results of fenestration in aortic dissection with acute malperfusion syndrome.

Methods: Between 1999 and 2007, 35 patients (31 men; age, 57 ± 11 years) with aortic dissection (19 with type A and 16 with type B) were treated by fenestration for malperfusion syndrome (27 renal, 27 bowel, and 14 lower limb) due to dynamic compression. Fenestration was performed with 2 rigid guidewires inserted in one 8F sheath (45 cm long).

[Chronic aortic syndrome: how to follow patients, which complications and when to treat?].

After the acute phase, if patient survives, the disease is still present. Chronic stage is defined as the period after the first month following the acute phase. Follow-up of the thoracic aorta is mandatory and even at the abdominal level to check the risk of rupture.

Profile of macrophages in human abdominal aortic aneurysms: a transcriptomic, proteomic, and antibody protein array study.

Abdominal aortic aneurysms (AAA) are defined by an increased aortic diameter and characterized by impairment of the extracellular matrix, macrophages infiltration and decreased density of smooth muscle cells. Our aim is to identify the key molecules involved in the pathogenesis of AAAs. This study investigated transcriptomic and proteomic profiles of macrophages from AAA patients (>50 mm aortic diameter) (n = 24) and peripheral arterial occlusion (PAO) patients without AAA detected (n = 18), who both needed a surgery.

A new form of coronary subclavian steal syndrome: 'the spinning wheels' syndrome.

Coronary subclavian steal syndrome refers to decreased or reversed internal mammary artery flow, which causes angina related to severe subclavian steno-occlusive disease in patients with in situ internal mammary-to-coronary artery graft. We report a case, the first in the literature, of a right internal mammary artery-coronary-subclavian unidirectional steal syndrome. Clinical features, pathophysiology, and diagnostic and therapeutic strategies of this unusual adverse event are discussed.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in severe acute respiratory failure in postpartum woman with rheumatic mitral valve disease: benefit, factors furthering the success of this procedure, and review of the literature.

Pregnancy is a common decompensation factor for women with post-rheumatic mitral disease. However, valvular heart diseases causing severe acute respiratory distress are rare. Use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) early in the event of cardiorespiratory failure after cardiac surgery may be of benefit.