Thoracoscopic epicardial left atrial ablation in symptomatic patients with atrial fibrillation.

Aims: The low efficacy rates reported for conventional catheter ablation of longstanding persistent atrial fibrillation (LPAF) have led to the development of alternative techniques such as minimal invasive surgical ablation, aiming for durable and contiguous transmural lesions. The aim was to evaluate the efficacy and safety of total thoracoscopic epicardial left atrial ablation (TELA-AF) procedures in a prospective study of severely symptomatic patients with either drug-resistant AF and/or failed attempts of catheter ablation.

Methods And Results: The TELA-AF surgical technique includes pulmonary vein isolation, left atrial (LA) 'box lesion', and partial vagal denervation.

Dissecting ventricular pseudoaneurysm after perimyocarditis-a case report.

Background: The current case describes the fast development of a pseudoaneurysm in a patient that presented with signs of systemic inflammation and generally deranged blood work.

Case Presentation: The pseudoaneurysm appeared within one week of disease onset. The anatomic extent of the pseudoaneurysm was unusual, as it dissected intramurally beneath the septum, inferior to the right ventricle and had effect on the RV filling.

Influence of blood/tissue differences in contrast agent relaxivity on tracer-based MR perfusion measurements.

Purpose: Perfusion assessment by monitoring the transport of a tracer bolus depends critically on conversion of signal intensity into tracer concentration. Two main assumptions are generally applied for this conversion; (1) contrast agent relaxivity is identical in blood and tissue, (2) change in signal intensity depends only on the primary relaxation effect. The purpose of the study was to assess the validity and influence of these assumptions.

Experimental treatment of superior venous congestion during cardiopulmonary bypass.

Objectives: Superior venous outflow obstruction affects cerebral perfusion negatively by reducing cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP). We present a randomized study designed to compare two alternative strategies to preserve the CPP during superior vena cava (SVC) congestion and cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB).

Methods: Fourteen pigs on bi-caval CPB were subjected to 75% occlusion of the SVC flow.

Even small aneurysms can bleed: a ruptured small idiopathic aneurysm of the internal thoracic artery.

Internal thoracic artery (ITA) aneurysms are rare, but a rupture is potentially fatal. Most cases of ITA aneurysms are iatrogenic, caused by, for instance, previous sternotomy or pacemaker implantation. Other known aetiologies are vasculopathies, either of inflammatory origin or as part of connective tissue disorders like Marfan's syndrome, Ehler-Dahnlos syndrome or neurofibromatosis Type 1.

Minimal safe arterial blood flow during selective antegrade cerebral perfusion at 20° centigrade.

Background: Selective antegrade cerebral perfusion (SACP) enables surgery on the aortic arch, where cerebral ischemia may cause neurologic sequels. This study aims to identify the minimum arterial flow level to maintain adequate cerebral perfusion during SACP in deep hypothermia in the pig.

Methods: Two groups of pigs were subjected to SACP at 20(°)C α-stat.

Venous obstruction and cerebral perfusion during experimental cardiopulmonary bypass.

To investigate the effects on cerebral perfusion by experimental venous congestion of the superior vena cava (SVC) during bicaval cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) at 34 °C, pigs were subjected to SVC obstruction at levels of 75%, 50%, 25% and 0% of baseline SVC flow at two arterial flow levels (low, LQ, high, HQ). The cerebral perfusion was examined with near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS), cerebral microdialysis and blood gas analysis. SVC obstruction caused significant decreases in the NIRS tissue oxygenation index (TOI) and in SVC oxygen saturations (P<0.

Selective antegrade cerebral perfusion at two different temperatures compared to hypothermic circulatory arrest--an experimental study in the pig with microdialysis.

Hypothermic arrest and selective antegrade cerebral perfusion (SACP) is widely used during aortic arch surgery. The microdialysis technique monitors biomarkers of cellular metabolism and cellular integrity over time. In this study, the cerebral changes during hypothermic circulatory arrest (HCA) at 20 degrees C and HCA with SACP at two different temperatures, 20 and 28 degrees C, were monitored.

In vivo h-VEGF165 gene transfer improves early endothelialisation and patency in synthetic vascular grafts.

Objectives: Small-diameter synthetic vascular graft performance is inferior to autologous vein grafts. This study tested the hypotheses that local in vivo administration of plasmids encoding for human vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), or co-administration of plasmids encoding for human vascular endothelial growth factor/plasmids encoding for fibroblast growth factor-2 in the tissues surrounding a porous synthetic vascular graft would enhance graft endothelialisation and, consecutively, graft patency.

Methods: First, optimal gene for small-diameter synthetic graft endothelialisation was studied in rat abdominal aorta model (n=132): plasmids encoding for human vascular endothelial growth factor; co-administration of plasmids encoding for human vascular endothelial growth factor/plasmids encoding for fibroblast growth factor-2; or control plasmids were injected around 60 microm ePTFE graft.