Twenty-five years' experience with root remodeling and bicuspid aortic valve repair.

Background: Bicuspid aortic valves may be associated with ascending aortic aneurysm, or develop severe aortic regurgitation with variable aortic dilatation. If aortic dilatation involves the root, valve-preserving root replacement is a treatment option, and we prefer root remodeling for this purpose. The objective of this study is to review our experience encompassing 25 years.

Outbreak of complex infections associated with contaminated octenidine mouthwash solution, Germany, August to September 2018.

Three German patients developed nosocomial pneumonia after cardiac surgery and had complex detected in respiratory specimens. Two patients died of septic multi-organ failure. Whole-genome sequencing detected genetically identical complex strains in patient samples, from a batch of octenidine mouthwash solution, which had been used for nursing care, as well as in samples obtained from the manufacturer during production.

Two decades of experience with root remodeling and valve repair for bicuspid aortic valves.

Objective: Bicuspid aortic valve anatomy is associated with ascending aortic aneurysm in approximately 50% of individuals and may lead to severe aortic regurgitation with aortic dilatation. Both entities may be treated by valve repair and root remodeling. The objective was to review the cumulative experience of 20 years.

Successful thrombolysis after pulmonary endarterectomy.

We report the case of a 51-year-old woman who underwent pulmonary endarterectomy for chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension. On postoperative day 1 she developed bilateral pulmonary thrombosis due to preoperatively undiagnosed heparin-induced thrombocytopenia. Systemic thrombolytic therapy with alteplase on postoperative days 5 and 6 resulted in marked clinical improvement.