Publications by authors named "Sean Francois"
Article Synopsis
- Right heart failure is a leading cause of death in pulmonary hypertension, and lung transplants are limited due to the lack of donor lungs, highlighting the need for mechanical support for the right heart.
- A study involved six sheep with chronic right heart failure using a wearable mechanical support system that combined a blood pump and a gas exchange unit, allowing some animals to move around freely while receiving support.
- The system was effective, achieving similar blood flow levels to the heart and maintaining balanced blood gas levels, demonstrating potential for portable solutions in managing right heart failure.
Background And Aims: The scarcity of suitable donor livers highlights a continuing need for innovation to recover organs with reversible injuries in liver transplantation.
Approach And Results: Explanted human donor livers (n = 5) declined for transplantation were supported using xenogeneic cross-circulation of whole blood between livers and xeno-support swine. Livers and swine were assessed over 24 hours of xeno-support.
Congestive hepatopathy is becoming increasingly recognized among Fontan-palliated patients. Elevated central venous pressure is thought to drive the pathologic progression, characterized by sinusoidal dilatation, congestion, and fibrosis. A clinically relevant large animal model for congestive hepatopathy would provide a valuable platform for researching novel biomarkers, treatment, and prevention.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjectives: Refractory hypoxemia can occur in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome from COVID-19 despite support with venovenous (VV) extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). Parallel ECMO circuits can be used to increase physiologic support. We report our clinical experience using ECMO circuits in parallel for select patients with persistent severe hypoxemia despite the use of a single ECMO circuit.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFRefractory hypoxemia despite the use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related acute respiratory distress syndrome remains a challenging problem. A single ECMO circuit may not provide adequate physiologic support in the setting of an elevated cardiac output, physiologic demand, and impaired gas exchange. In select patients with refractory hypoxemia, addition of a second ECMO circuit in parallel can improve oxygenation, facilitate lung protective ventilation, awakening, and physical rehabilitation.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To investigate complications and treatment failure rates of percutaneous renal cryoablation (PRC) for small renal masses under local anaesthesia and conscious sedation (LACS), to assess the safety and effectiveness of this approach, as PRC is typically performed under general anaesthesia (GA).
Patients And Methods: We retrospectively reviewed PRC under LACS from 2003 to 2017. We analysed perioperative parameters between patients who successfully underwent PRC under LACS and patients with post-procedural complications or treatment failure (renal mass enhancement after successful intraoperative tumour ablation).