Objective: Melagatran, the active form of ximelagatran, is a novel, direct thrombin inhibitor that does not have a narrow therapeutic window regarding hemorrhagic and thromboembolic events. We aimed to determine whether melagatran would be effective in preventing thrombus formation on heterotopically placed mechanical heart valves.
Methods: A graft containing a bileaflet mechanical heart valve was implanted in the descending thoracic aorta of domestic swine. Two groups of 6 animals received daily subcutaneous injections of either melagatran (2.4 mg/kg, 3 times per day) or dalteparin (175 U/kg, 2 times per day) for 30 days. Four control animals received no anticoagulation therapy. Fecal HemoQuant and serum hemoglobin levels were recorded. Thirty days after the procedure, platelets were labeled with indium 111, the abdominal organs were inspected, and thrombi and platelets deposited on the valve were measured.
Results: Median thrombus burden on the valves was 0.4 mg (interquartile range, 0.15-5.45 mg) with melagatran, 0.5 mg (interquartile range, 0-14.5 mg) with dalteparin, and 168 mg (interquartile range, 32.5-665.75 mg) for controls (melagatran vs dalteparin and control; P = .04). Median platelet deposition on the valves was 0 (interquartile range, 0-8.9 x 10(4)) with melagatran, 49.9 x 10(4) (interquartile range, 27.9 x 104-191.8 x 10(4)) with dalteparin, and 115.2 x 10(4) (interquartile range, 9.6 x 10(4)-243 x 10(4)) for controls (melagatran vs dalteparin and control; P = .02). Melagatran did not increase the risk of thromboembolism or bleeding.
Conclusions: Thrombus and platelet accumulation on the prosthetic valves was decreased by melagatran and dalteparin. The use of melagatran or other related direct thrombin inhibitors warrants further study in prophylaxis of thromboembolism in patients with mechanical heart valves.
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http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jtcvs.2007.01.093 | DOI Listing |
Eur Heart J Cardiovasc Imaging
January 2025
Heart Institute, Department of Cardiology. Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital, Barcelona,Spain.
Aims: To investigate the distribution of left atrioventricular coupling index (LACI) among patients with heart failure and left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF)<50% and to explore its association with the combined endpoint of all-cause death or HF hospitalization at long term follow-up.
Methods And Results: Patients with HF and LVEF<50% undergoing cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) were evaluated. Patients with atrial fibrillation or flutter were excluded.
J Craniofac Surg
January 2025
Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Children's National Hospital.
Facial nerve dysfunction (FND) is a well-recognized but poorly documented complication of mandibular distraction osteogenesis (MDO) for Robin sequence (RS). This study aims to document the authors' experiences with FND and identify risk factors associated with this adverse event. A retrospective review of a prospectively gathered database was performed to identify patients with RS who underwent MDO at the authors' institution from March 2016 to June 2023.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFCrit Care Med
December 2024
Department of Psychiatry and Human Behavior, Brown University, Alpert Medical School, Providence, RI.
Objectives: Neurocritically ill patients are at high risk for developing delirium, which can worsen the long-term outcomes of this vulnerable population. However, existing delirium assessment tools do not account for neurologic deficits that often interfere with conventional testing and are therefore unreliable in neurocritically ill patients. We aimed to determine the accuracy and predictive validity of the Fluctuating Mental Status Evaluation (FMSE), a novel delirium screening tool developed specifically for neurocritically ill patients.
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Department of Cardiology and Medicine, Hvidovre Hospital, Hvidovre, Denmark.
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View Article and Find Full Text PDFPediatr Nephrol
January 2025
Department of Pediatrics, Shiga University of Medical Science, Shiga, 520-2192, Japan.
Background: Podocyte depletion is a critical factor in glomerulosclerosis development. While podocyte numbers per glomerulus typically decline with age in adults, they are hypothesized to increase during childhood. However, studies on podocyte number progression in childhood have been limited.
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