Bilateral Internal Thoracic Artery Grafting Concomitant With Other Cardiac Operations - Insights From a European Multicenter Retrospective Study on 1,123 Consecutive Patients.

Background: The use of bilateral internal thoracic artery (BITA) grafting concomitant with other cardiac operations is regarded as a risky strategy and the long-term advantages of BITA use remain unproven.

Methods and results: Pooled results from 3 series of patients (totaling 1,123 patients; mean age, 71.3 years; mean EuroSCORE II, 7.

The Risk of Neurological Dysfunctions after Deep Hypothermic Circulatory Arrest with Retrograde Cerebral Perfusion.

Objective: Retrograde cerebral perfusion (RCP) is a brain protection technique that is adopted generally for anticipated short periods of deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (DHCA). However, the real impact of this technique on cerebral protection during DHCA remains a controversial issue.

Methods: For 344 (59.