Starting Pediatric VAD Program: Transforming Challenges into Opportunities; A Case Series of a Single Center.

Background: The prevalence of heart failure is constantly increasing in both children and adults. End-stage heart failure in children unresponsive to medical therapy has limited treatment options. Surgical options include heart transplantation or implantation of durable ventricular assist devices (VADs).

COMBINED USE OF VIDEOLARYNGOSCOPE AND BONFILS INTUBATION ENDOSCOPE AS RESCUE OPTION FOR DIFFICULT AIRWAY MANAGEMENT: A CASE REPORT.

Difficult airway management poses a great challenge for clinicians, especially if it is unanticipated. Numerous guidelines and a wide array of devices constitute the anesthesiologist's armamentarium for managing the airway. When the use of individual devices fails, the use of combination techniques is advised.

Preoperative Anaesthesiologic Evaluation of Patient with Known Allergy.

Anaphylaxis is an unanticipated systemic hypersensitivity reaction which can produce deleterious effects, even death, if not treated promptly. Preventive approach implies taking a thorough anamnesis with the emphasis on previously diagnosed allergies. If an allergic reaction occurred during previous surgery, a detailed documentation of administered anaesthetic agents and drugs would be crucial for the following anaesthesiologic management.

Influence of intraoperative cerebral oximetry monitoring on neurocognitive function after coronary artery bypass surgery: a randomized, prospective study.

Objectives: Postoperative cognitive decline is common after cardiac surgery, but it is often unrecognized at the time of hospital discharge. However, it has a great impact on patient's quality of life. Cerebral oximetry with the INVOS (IN Vivo Optical Spectroscopy) system provides the possibility of non-invasive, continuous measurement of regional cerebral oxygen saturation (rSO2), which can improve patients' outcome.

Atrial apoptosis and fibrosis adversely affect atrial conduit, reservoir and contractile functions.

Objectives: Chronic atrial volume overload and atrial fibrillation (AF) induce structural changes within atrial myocardium. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of adverse cellular remodelling on echocardiographic strain rate (SR) deformation indices of atrial contractile, conduit and reservoir functions.

Methods: Forty-four consecutive patients with organic mitral regurgitation were analysed.

The relationship between prolonged cerebral oxygen desaturation and postoperative outcome in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting.

58 patients who underwent on-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery were evaluated for changes in regional cerebral oxygen saturation (rSO2) measured by near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS). If rSO2 during the operation fell to more than 20% under the baseline, standardized interventions were undertaken to maintain rSO2. Despite those interventions, in some cases we observed inability to maintain rSO2 above this threshold.

[European Resuscitation Council guidelines for resuscitation 2010].

All rescuers trained or not, should provide chest compressions to victims of cardiac arrest. The aim should be to push to a depth of at least 5 cm at a rate of at least 100 compressions per minute, to allow full chest recoil, and to minimise interruptions in chest compressions. Trained rescuers should also provide ventilations with a compression-ventilation ratio of 30:2.

Health related quality of life following cardiac surgery--correlation with EuroSCORE.

Objective: To explore differences in the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) of patients before and after cardiac surgery, to compare the results with norms of Croatian population and to correlate the results with values of EuroSCORE.

Methods: This was a prospective observational study with repeated measurements using the Short Form SF-36 health survey before surgery and 1 year after discharge, to assess changes in quality of life.

Results: A total number of 111 patients were included in the study.

[European Resuscitation Council guidelines for cardiopulmonary resuscitation in 2005].

ADULT BASIC LIFE SUPPORT: The ratio of compressions to ventilations is 30:2 for all adult victims of cardiac arrest. AUTOMATED EXTERNAL DEFIBRILLATION: A single defibrillatory shock is delivered, immediately followed by two minutes of uninterrupted CPR. ADULT ADVANCED LIFE SUPPORT: In out-of-hospital cardiac arrest attended, but unwitnessed, by healthcare professionals equipped with manual defibrillators, give CPR for 2 minutes before defibrillation.