Tunneled central venous catheters in children with malignant and chronic diseases: A comparison of open vs. percutaneous implantation.

Purpose: Tunneled central venous catheters (tCVCs) are routinely used for long-term venous access in children with cancer and chronic diseases. They may be inserted by surgical venous cut-down or percutaneously. The aim of this study was to compare the operative times and intraoperative complications of both techniques.

The influence of controlled limb reperfusion with PGE1 on reperfusion injury after prolonged ischemia.

Background: Controlled reperfusion of ischemic limbs has been found to be protective in limiting ischemia-reperfusion injury. We aimed to analyze local hemodynamic effects of prostaglandin E1 (PGE1) administrated during controlled reperfusion in an in vivo setting.

Material And Methods: Twenty-four pigs underwent exposure of the infrarenal aorta and iliac vessels.

Hypoxic reoxygenation during initial reperfusion attenuates cardiac dysfunction and limits ischemia-reperfusion injury after cardioplegic arrest in a porcine model.

Objective: In clinical practice, reperfusion of ischemic myocardium usually occurs under high arterial oxygen levels. However, this might aggravate cardiac ischemia-reperfusion injury caused by excessive oxidative stress. In an experimental in vivo study, the cardioprotective role of hypoxic reoxygenation during initial reperfusion was assessed.

Inhibition of neutrophil activity improves cardiac function after cardiopulmonary bypass.

Background: The arterial in line application of the leukocyte inhibition module (LIM) in the cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) limits overshooting leukocyte activity during cardiac surgery. We studied in a porcine model whether LIM may have beneficial effects on cardiac function after CPB.

Methods: German landrace pigs underwent CPB (60 min myocardial ischemia; 30 min reperfusion) without (group I; n = 6) or with LIM (group II; n = 6).

Aortopexy in infants and children--long-term follow-up in twenty patients.

Background: Aortopexy has become an established surgical procedure for the treatment of tracheomalacia (TM) in infants and children. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the clinical outcome and respiratory function after aortopexy in the long term.

Methods: Between 1992 and 2006, 20 patients (6 female, 14 male) with TM were treated by bronchoscopically monitored pexis of the aorta via a right anterior thoracotomy.