Postoperative Atrial Fibrillation Prophylaxis and Lung Resection – Our Experience with 608 Consecutive Patients.

Postoperative atrial fibrillation is a common complication after lung resection. It is burdened by increased mortality and morbidity, prolonged hospitalization, and higher resource utilization in thoracic surgery patients. Therefore, some kind of pharmacological prophylaxis is recommended.

Prognostic performance of the Simplified Acute Physiology Score II in major Croatian hospitals: a prospective multicenter study.

Aim: To perform an external validation of the original Simplified Acute Physiology Score II (SAPS II) system and to assess its performance in a selected group of patients in major Croatian hospitals.

Methods: A prospective, multicenter study was conducted in five university hospitals and one general hospital during a six-month period between November 1, 2007 and May 1, 2008. Standardized hospital mortality ratio (SMR) was calculated from the mean predicted mortality of all the 2756 patients and the actual mortality for the same group of patients.

Successful use of activated recombinant factor VII in life threatening bleeding after thoracic surgery.

We present three patients in whom life-threatening haemorrhage following lung resection was successfully managed using activated recombinant factor VII (NovoSeven). In one case, activated recombinant factor VII was the only therapy administered to manage bleeding, and in the two remaining cases, activated recombinant factor VII was administered after patients failed to respond to conventional therapy. All patients demonstrated effective haemostasis and improved coagulation parameters as a result of treatment with activated recombinant factor VII.

[Unsuspected posterior mediastinal paraganglioma--anesthetic risk].

A 70-year old female patient was admitted to the hospital because of scheduled thoracotomy and biopsy of posterior mediastinal retrocardiac tumor of unrecognized etiology. The patient had no complaints regarding the tumor. Routine anesthesiological preoperative examination revealed status ASA III.

[Role of transthoracic echocardiography in evaluation of cardiac risk in thoracic surgery].

Background And Objective: It is not precisely defined which group of non-cardiac surgery patients should undergo transthoracic echocardiography in preoperative preparation. This study was prospectively performed to find out whether the routine use of echocardiography is justified in patients scheduled for lung resection, and to assess its role in cardiac risk evaluation.

Methods: Patients classified as ASA III who were identified as having minor or intermediate predictors of cardiac risk were included in the study.