Bicuspid Aortic Valve in Children and Young Adults for Cardiologists and Cardiac Surgeons: State-of-the-Art of Literature Review.

Bicuspid aortic valve disease is the most prevalent congenital heart disease, affecting up to 2% of the general population. The presentation of symptoms may vary based on the patient's anatomy of fusion, with transthoracic echocardiography being the primary diagnostic tool. Bicuspid aortic valves may also appear with concomitant aortopathy, featuring fundamental structural changes which can lead to valve dysfunction and/or aortic dilatation over time.

Preoperative anemia increases mortality and postoperative morbidity after cardiac surgery.

Background: Anemia is an established adverse risk factor in cardiovascular disease. However, the effect of preoperative anemia is not well defined in heart surgery. This study evaluates the effect of preoperative anemia on early clinical outcomes in patients undergoing cardiac surgery.

Combined clopidogrel and aspirin treatment up to surgery increases the risk of postoperative myocardial infarction, blood loss and reoperation for bleeding in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting.

Objectives: Recent guidelines suggest that patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) should discontinue clopidogrel and aspirin (ASA) 5 and 2-10 days, respectively, before surgery to reduce postoperative bleeding and its complications. The aim of our study was to evaluate the relationship between the timing of discontinuing clopidogrel + ASA and early clinical outcomes in patients undergoing CABG.

Methods: Four thousand three hundred and thirty consecutive patients underwent isolated CABG from April 2004 to February 2009.