Chlorhexidine versus povidone-iodine skin antisepsis before upper limb surgery (CIPHUR): an international multicentre prospective cohort study.

Introduction: Surgical site infection (SSI) is the most common and costly complication of surgery. International guidelines recommend topical alcoholic chlorhexidine (CHX) before surgery. However, upper limb surgeons continue to use other antiseptics, citing a lack of applicable evidence, and concerns related to open wounds and tourniquets.

Untapped potential in Australian hospitals for organ donation after circulatory death.

Objective: To determine the potential for organ donation after circulatory death (DCD) in Australia by applying ideal and expanded organ suitability criteria, and to compare this potential with actual DCD rates.

Design: Retrospective cohort study. Setting, methods: We analysed DonateLife audit data for patients aged 28 days to 80 years who died between July 2012 and December 2014 in an intensive care unit or emergency department, or who died within 24 hours of discharge from either, in the 75 Australian hospitals contributing data to DonateLife.

End-to-side repair for aortic arch lesions offers excellent chances to reach adulthood without reoperation.

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the rate of reinterventions from birth to adulthood after end-to-side anastomosis technique for interrupted and hypoplastic aortic arches. Multicenter data have shown that more than half of patients require arch reintervention in the 2 decades after repair.

Methods: The follow-up of 170 consecutive patients undergoing end-to-side repair through sternotomy for interrupted aortic arch (95) or coarctation (75) in one institution between 1985 and 2012 was reviewed.

Outcomes of patients born with single-ventricle physiology and aortic arch obstruction: the 26-year Melbourne experience.

Background: To review the long-term outcomes of patients born with single-ventricle physiology and aortic arch obstruction.

Methods: Follow-up of 70 consecutive neonates undergoing single-ventricle palliation and arch repair, excluding hypoplastic left heart syndrome, between 1983 and 2008, was reviewed. Dominant arch anomalies were coarctation (n = 48), interrupted arch (n = 10), and hypoplastic arch alone (n = 12).

Poor outcomes after surgery for coarctation repair with hypoplastic arch warrants more extensive initial surgery and close long-term follow-up.

Objectives: Late outcomes of repair of coarctation with arch hypoplasia have not yet been described. Hypertension and arch reobstruction frequently occur after standard coarctation repair and thus we sought to determine the long-term results of repair in the subset of patients with arch hypoplasia at a single institution over a 20-year period.

Methods: We reviewed the files of the 305 consecutive patients quoted to have arch hypoplasia who had undergone a coarctation repair in a single institution between 1984 and 2004.