Recommendations for starting a grown up congenital heart disease (GUCH) unit.

During the last decades, advances in diagnosis and treatment of congenital heart disease have allowed many individuals to reach adulthood. Due mainly to the great diagnostic diversity and to the co-morbidities usually present in this age group, these patients demand assistance in a multidisciplinary facility if an adequate attention is aimed. In this paper we reviewed, based in the international literature and also on the authors' experience, the structural conditions that should be available for these patients.

Outcomes of Patients After Arterial Switch Operation: 18 Years of Experience in a Single Medium-Volume Center.

The objective of this paper was to describe the outcomes in patients submitted to arterial switch operation and to analyze the predictors of in-hospital mortality and further need of re-operation at a single-center institution. Between September 1995 and January 2014, 128 consecutive arterial switch operations were performed. Surgical mortality during this period was analyzed retrospectively, and a follow-up analysis of the survivors was conducted.

Adult congenital heart disease: experience with the surgical approach.

Objective: To report the institution experience with the surgical treatment of adults with congenital heart disease due to the increasing number of these patients and the need for a better discussion of the subject.

Methods: Retrospective analysis describing demographic data, risk factors and results.

Results: 191 patients between 16 and 74 years old were operated on.

Disseminated Sporothrix brasiliensis infection with endocardial and ocular involvement in an HIV-infected patient.

Disseminated sporotrichosis occurs in individuals with impaired cellular immunity, such as in cases of neoplasia, transplantation, diabetes, and especially, acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. This report presents a 32-year-old Brazilian human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-infected patient who developed a protracted condition of disseminated sporotrichosis with endocarditis, bilateral endophthalmitis, and lymphatic involvement. He needed cardiac surgery to replace the mitral valve.

Evaluation of the NNECDSG Score in a Brazilian public hospital.

Objective: To compare the observed incidence of mediastinitis and strokes versus the expected incidence according to the NNECDSG score (Northern New England Cardiovascular Disease Study Group) in a population submitted to coronary artery bypass graft surgery.

Methods: A retrospective consultation was made of medical records of all patients submitted to isolated CABG from January 1st, 2000 to December 31st, 2004, at the Cardiac Surgery Service of the Triângulo Mineiro Federal University (UFTM). Data regarding the incidences of observed mediastinitis and strokes and those estimated by the NNECDSG score were submitted to the Kolmogorov-Smirnov normality test.