Publications by authors named "Prasad V Atluri"
Importance: The US Food and Drug Administration recently approved the use of a transcatheter aortic valve in patients for whom traditional valve replacement surgery poses a high or prohibitive risk. Our hospital was one of the first Veterans Affairs facilities to launch a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) program.
Objective: To evaluate our early experience with transfemoral TAVR.
Background: The US Food and Drug Administration recently approved a transcatheter aortic valve for patients for whom open heart surgery is prohibitively risky.
Methods: A multidisciplinary heart valve team partnered with administration to launch a transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) program. Clinical registries were used to show robust valve caseloads and outcomes at our Veterans Affairs (VA) facility and to project future volumes.
Background: The outcomes of thoracic aortic surgery involving hypothermic circulatory arrest at a US Department of Veterans Affairs medical center were evaluated.
Methods: Using the Veterans Affairs Continuous Improvement in Cardiac Surgery Program, all thoracic aortic operations performed with hypothermic circulatory arrest between December 1999 and December 2009 were identified (n = 24). Operative mortality and morbidity were evaluated, and survival was assessed by using the Kaplan-Meier method.
Background: Because surgical residents' level of experience may be at its nadir early in the academic year, academic seasonality-or the "July effect"-could affect cardiac surgical outcomes.
Methods: Prospectively collected data from the Department of Veterans Affairs Continuous Improvement in Cardiac Surgery Program were used to identify 70,616 consecutive cardiac surgical procedures performed between October 1997 and October 2007. Morbidity and mortality rates were compared between early (July 1 to August 31, n = 11,975) and late (September 1 to June 30, n = 58,641) periods in the academic year.
Papillary fibroelastomas are the most common benign neoplasms of the cardiac valvular structures, and they are being recognized more frequently because of higher-resolution imaging technology. Papillary fibroelastomas are associated with substantial complications that are secondary to systemic embolism. Incidentally discovered papillary fibroelastomas are treated on the basis of their size, mobility, and associated comorbidities and symptoms.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHurricane Katrina produced a surge of patient referrals to our facility for cardiac surgery. We sought to determine the impact of this abrupt volume change on operative outcomes. Using our cardiac surgery database, which is part of the Department of Veterans Affairs' Continuous Improvement in Cardiac Surgery Program, we compared procedural outcomes for all cardiac operations that were performed in the year before the hurricane (Year A, 29 August 2004-28 August 2005) and the year after (Year B, 30 August 2005-29 August 2006).
View Article and Find Full Text PDFHypothesis: We hypothesized that the relationship among beta-blocker use, heart rate control, and perioperative cardiovascular outcome would be similar in patients at all levels of cardiac risk.
Design: Retrospective cohort study.
Setting: Michael E.
Background: The objective of our study was to evaluate the outcomes of open-heart surgery in patients with a spinal cord injury.
Methods: A retrospective analysis of all patients (n = 8) with a spinal cord injury who underwent open-heart operations in a single institution from April 1994 to November 2006 was conducted.
Results: All patients had a permanent spinal cord injury with levels ranging from T3 to L2 with a mean age of 62 years (range, 47-72).