Combined mitral valve repair and heart transplantation.

In times of donor organ shortage, organs with extended allocation criteria, for example, valve pathologies, have to be taken into consideration for transplantation. The donor pool can be extended to hearts with mitral valve insufficiency. Mitral valve repair can rapidly be performed in the donor heart on the back table with excellent results.

Intraluminal chondrosarcoma leading to occlusion of the brachiocephalic trunk.

A 62-year-old female patient was admitted with temporary neurological symptoms. CT scan revealed occlusion of the brachiocephalic trunk by an intraluminal mass suspicious for a thrombus and extending into the ascending aorta. The patient underwent aortic arch replacement with reinsertion of the supraaortic vessels.

Desynchronization: a novel model to induce heart failure.

Background: Previous large animal heart failure models led to inhomogeneous results. Therefore, we developed a novel model combining rapid pacing with forced ventricular desynchronization.

Methods: Heart failure was induced in 20 pigs during a pacing period of 21 days.