Minimising radiation exposure in catheter ablation of ventricular arrhythmias.

Background: Conventional fluoroscopy guided catheter ablation (CA) is an established treatment option for ventricular arrhythmias (VAs). However, with the complex nature of most procedures, patients and staff bare an increased radiation exposure. Near-zero or zero-fluoroscopy CA is an alternative method which could substantially reduce or even eliminate the radiation dose.

Comparison of serum troponin I and plasma lactate concentrations in arrested versus beating-heart aortic valve replacement.

Background And Aim Of The Study: The study aim was to monitor serum troponin and plasma lactate concentrations in conventional aortic valve replacement compared to a beating-heart technique, perfused via the coronary sinus.

Methods: In this prospective, non-randomized study, which was conducted between 2003 and 2009, a total of 35 patients was allocated to two groups, based on the method of myocardial protection. The groups did not differ significantly in terms of preoperative parameters.

Endoclamp balloon visualization and automatic placement system.

Objectives: Aortic occlusion is one of the most important open discussions in minimally invasive cardiac surgery. Different techniques can be employed, and all have benefits and drawbacks. The objective of our work is to improve the safety of internal aortic occlusion with the Port Access technique, which employs an endoclamp balloon catheter.

Correlation of serum S100B concentration with hospital stay in patients undergoing CABG.

S100B protein has been proposed to be a serum marker of cerebral injury in patients undergoing cardiac surgery. The question to be answered in the present study was whether an increase in serum S100B concentration after the surgery correlated with the length of hospital stay in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting. To answer this question we measured serum S100B concentration preoperatively, at the end of the operation, and on day 1 and day 5 of the surgery in 32 patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting.

3D heart model for computer simulations in cardiac surgery.

For a satisfactory computer simulation, a model, which imitates a natural situation, is needed. The Human heart is an irregular 3D object and thus difficult to reproduce. Basic data was taken from Visible Human Dataset (VHD), National Library of Medicine.

Topical cardiac cooling--computer simulation of myocardial temperature changes.

Topical cardiac cooling (TC) is often used in cardiac surgery. We used a computer simulation to study temperature changes in the heart, especially in the right ventricular wall. A three-dimensional computer heart model, derived from Visible Human Data set, National Library of Medicine was used.

Measurement of porcine heart temperatures.

During cardiac surgery local hypothermia of the heart is used to slow down cellular metabolism. It has been shown by computer simulation that heart muscle is not uniformly cooled to the desired temperatures. The aim of our work was to find out a way for measuring the temperatures of the ventricular wall and the septum with ± 0.