Association Between Left Ventricular Relative Wall Thickness and Acute Kidney Injury After Noncardiac Surgery.

Background: Acute kidney injury (AKI) after major noncardiac surgery is commonly attributed to cardiovascular dysfunction. Identifying novel associations between preoperative cardiovascular markers and kidney injury may guide risk stratification and perioperative intervention. Increased left ventricular relative wall thickness (RWT), routinely measured on echocardiography, is associated with myocardial dysfunction and long-term risk of heart failure in patients with preserved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF); however, its relationship to postoperative complications has not been studied.

The Epiaortic Ultrasound Diagnosis of Iatrogenic Subadventitial Hematoma.

Iatrogenic aortic injury is a rare but potentially lethal complication of cardiac surgery. While sometimes resulting in aortic dissection or intramural hematoma, injury more frequently results in subadventitial hematoma, a more benign pathology. Here, we describe a case where intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) identified such a hematoma but was unable to rule out dissection.