Impact of Sex on Severity Assessment and Cardiac Remodeling in Primary Mitral Regurgitation.

Background: Women with severe primary mitral regurgitation (MR) have lower surgery rates than men and could suffer from delayed referral for mitral valve (MV) intervention, exposing them to an increased risk of postoperative adverse outcomes.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to assess the sex-based differences in patients with primary MR.

Methods: The study sample consisted of 420 patients (median age: 62 years, 26% women) with primary MR due to valve prolapse referred for preoperative assessment who underwent transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) and cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) imaging.

Aortic valve replacement with rapid-deployment bioprosthesis in case of infective endocarditis: a literature review.

Purpose: Recently, the use of rapid deployment (RD) aortic valve prostheses has been introduced for the treatment of aortic valve replacement (AVR), showing excellent hemodynamic performances.According to these data, some groups have proposed new RD valves as an alternative solution in the case of infective aortic endocarditis (IAE) to reduce the use of foreign materials, and the manipulation of the annulus.The aim of this review is to report the results of early clinical experiences with the use of RD bioprostheses in the case of IAE, in order to discuss technical and clinical aspects of this emerging strategy to better elucidate its advantages and limitations as a potential therapeutic solution.

Endoventricular circular patch repair: the "Dor procedure".

Although during recent decades the prompt clinical management of myocardial infarction has significantly reduced the incidence of mechanical complications, post-infarction heart failure is still an open issue. The surgical ventricular reconstruction technique, also called the "Dor procedure", was introduced as a surgical strategy to reduce left ventricular volume and restore its shape and function by performing an endoventricular circular patch plasty. Although its use was not clearly beneficial, there is growing evidence from specialized centres suggesting its safety and efficacy, thus bringing this technique back to a leading role in the surgical armamentarium to treat patients with heart failure.

Use and outcome of thrombus aspiration in patients with primary PCI for acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction: results from the multinational Euro Heart Survey PCI Registry.

The clinical benefit of thrombus aspiration (TA) in patients presenting with acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and treated with primary percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) is not well defined. Furthermore, there is a large variation in the use of TA in real-world registries. Between 2005 and 2008, a total of 7146 consecutive patients with acute STEMI undergoing primary PCI were prospectively enrolled into the PCI Registry of the Euro Heart Survey Programme.

Fate of Patients With Coronary Perforation Complicating Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (from the Euro Heart Survey Percutaneous Coronary Intervention Registry).

Coronary perforation (CP) is a life-threatening complication that can occur during percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). Little is known, however, about the incidence and clinical outcome of CP. We sought to investigate the occurrence of CP and its determinants and risk profile in a large-scale, prospective registry.

Complex Iatrogenic Dissection Complicating Thoracic Endovascular Aneurysm Repair.

Background: To report one the most feared complication of thoracic endovascular aneurysm repair (TEVAR); a retrograde aortic dissection who can involve the aortic arch or ascending aorta, which require commonly coextensive open surgical repair.

Case Reports: We report 2 cases of combined retrograde and antegrade dissection after endovascular treatment of an aneurysm of the descending aorta. In both cases, a dissection was identified at short-term follow-up; which required open surgical repair in one case and an additional endovascular treatment for the second case.

Cleft posterior mitral valve leaflet in an adult with Turner syndrome diagnosed with the use of 3-dimensional transesophageal echocardiography.

Turner syndrome is a monosomy (45,X karyotype) in which the prevalence of cardiovascular anomalies is high. However, this aspect of Turner syndrome has received little attention outside of the pediatric medical literature, and the entire spectrum of cardiovascular conditions in adults remains unknown. We present the case of a 34-year-old woman who had Turner syndrome.

The treatment of refractory ischemic ventricular tachycardia by endoventricular patch plasty reconstruction of the left ventricle.

Although the endoventricular patch plasty technique was originally developed to improve the functional status of the left ventricle following resection of an aneurysm, it became apparent early on in our experience that the technique also cured most cases of ventricular tachycardia associated with these aneurysms. As a result, we began to include as a part of our preoperative work-up an electrophysiology study in which we attempted to induce ventricular tachycardia even if it had not occurred spontaneously. Using our standard surgical approach, plus the use of cryotherapy, we have now operated on 106 patients with either spontaneous or inducible ventricular tachycardia preoperatively in association with ventricular dyskinesia or akinesia.

Reconstructive left ventricular surgery for post-ischemic akinetic dilatation.

The term dyskinesia refers to a post-ischemic fibrous area of ventricle that moves in a paradoxical manner during ventricular systole and diastole, ie, an aneurysm. Akinesia indicates that such an area of scarred ventricle exhibits no movement during either systole or diastole. In the past, it has been considered extremely important, from a surgical standpoint, to differentiate between dyskinesia, which can be treated surgically, and akinesia, which cannot be treated by surgery.

Left ventricular aneurysms: the endoventricular circular patch plasty.

The endoventricular circular patch plasty (EVCPP) technique was first used by us in 1984 to re-establish a more normal morphology of the left ventricular cavity distorted by post-myocardial infarction scar tissue. This technique includes the placement of a subendocardial circumferential pursestring suture inside the left ventricle around the base of the aneurysm at the junction of scarred and normal endocardium. A patch is then placed at this level to establish a new contour for the left ventricular cavity.