Postoperative atrial fibrillation is associated with late mortality after coronary surgery, but not after valvular surgery.

Background: Numerous studies have attempted to determine the etiology and prophylactic measures concerning atrial fibrillation (AF) after cardiac surgery. However, limited data are available analyzing the association between postoperative AF and late mortality. We sought to determine if AF after cardiac surgery affects postoperative survival.

Combined endovascular repair of a celiac trunk aneurysm using celiac-splenic stent graft and hepatic artery embolization.

Celiac trunk aneurysms are rare and usually asymptomatic lesions. However, treatment is generally warranted to avoid catastrophic rupture. We report a case of a 70-year-old man who sought care for a celiac trunk aneurysm close to the hepatosplenic bifurcation managed endovascularly by using a combined treatment of celiac-splenic stent-graft implantation and hepatic artery embolization.

A case of late femoral pseudoaneurysm caused by stent disconnection.

We present the case of a late superficial femoral artery stent disconnection causing an asymptomatic pseudoaneurysm successfully treated with a stent-graft. A 67-year-old female was referred to our department for evaluation of claudication of the left lower limb and was diagnosed to have a total occlusion of the superficial femoral artery. Three nitinol stents were used to revascularize this artery.

Predictive factors for endoleaks after thoracic aortic aneurysm endograft repair.

Background: Our prospective investigation aimed to determine and analyze the incidence and the determinants of endoleaks after thoracic stent graft.

Methods: Sixty-one patients affected by thoracic aortic aneurysms were treated between January 2000 and March 2008. The study cohort contained 54 men, with a mean age of 63.

Are current smokers paradoxically protected against atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery?

Background: The hyperadrenergic condition following surgical stress and inotropic drugs have been identified as leading causes for postoperative atrial fibrillation (AF). Smokers are characterized by higher catecholamine levels and tolerance. We tested the hypothesis that smoking patients are less prone to develop postoperative AF.

Atrial fibrillation after isolated coronary surgery affects late survival.

Background: Atrial fibrillation (AF) after coronary artery bypass graft surgery is a difficult problem and a continuing source of morbidity and mortality. However, the prognostic implications of postoperative AF are still in dispute. Our aim was to ascertain the impact of AF after coronary artery bypass graft on postoperative survival and to assess its prognostic role in cause-specific mortality.

Transthoracic echocardiography is adequate for the diagnosis of right coronary artery aneurysms.

Coronary artery aneurysms (CAA) are rare but potentially fatal pathologies. This case was referred to our Unit after occasional echocardiographic finding of an intracardiac mass. A new detailed transthoracic echocardiogram was decisive for a diagnosis of a large CAA of the right coronary artery, compressing and dislocating the right atrium.

Atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery: risk factors and their temporal relationship in prophylactic drug strategy decision.

Objective: Postoperative atrial fibrillation (AF) is a vexing problem in cardiac surgery. Our aim was to identify risk factors between surgical procedures, all having cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) in common, and how AF contributes to early and late mortality.

Methods: Patients were reviewed during a 10-year period, comprising coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG, n=7056), aortic valve replacement (AVR, n=690) and their combination (COMB, n=688).

Observational study on the beneficial effect of preoperative statins in reducing atrial fibrillation after coronary surgery.

Background: Recent evidence supports the important role of inflammation in atrial fibrillation (AF) after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and there is growing evidence that statin has cardiac antiarrhythmic effects. The aim of this study was to assess the efficacy of preoperative statins in preventing AF after CABG in a longitudinal observational study.

Methods: Over a two-year period, 405 consecutive patients underwent isolated CABG procedures.

Unruptured ventricular septal wall dissection. A case report.

Dissection of the interventricular septum (IVS) is a rare condition, which can uncommonly complicate an acute myocardial infarction (AMI). We describe a case of unruptured IVS dissection observed 16 days after 2 close episodes of AMI. The diagnosis was made by transthoracic echocardiography.

Relationship between atrial histopathology and atrial fibrillation after coronary bypass surgery.

Background: Postoperative atrial fibrillation is common after coronary surgery. The cellular condition of atrial myocytes might play a part in the postoperative development of atrial fibrillation. Our study aimed to investigate whether patients in whom postoperative atrial fibrillation develops show pre-existent alterations in histopathology of the right atrium and how such changes are expressed in relation to the use of cardiopulmonary bypass.

Coronary artery aneurysm: management and association with abdominal aortic aneurysm.

Background: Coronary artery aneurysm (CAA) is a dilatation that exceeds 1.5 times the diameter of a normal adjacent coronary artery. Several studies suggest that pathogenetic mechanisms involved in this disease and in abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) are similar.

19-year patency of a coronary-coronary venous bypass graft.

No data are available on the long-term outcome of coronary-coronary venous bypass grafting. We describe a case in which we successfully stented a discrete, critical stenosis of a coronary-coronary venous graft that had been placed 19 years earlier to minimize manipulation of a severely calcified ascending aorta. Coronary-coronary bypass grafting should be considered in cases involving severe aortic calcification, in situ grafts of inadequate length, and stenosed or occluded subclavian arteries.

The role of zofenopril in myocardial protection during cardioplegia arrest: an isolated rat heart model.

Background: Zofenopril has beneficial effects in acute myocardial infarction, and improves the functional recovery after ischemia and reperfusion.

Aim Of The Study: The aim of this study was to investigate the cardioprotective effects of zofenopril, when added to a standard cardioplegic solution or when orally administered as pretreatment.

Methods: A Langendorff model for isolated rat hearts was employed: three groups of eight hearts each were used, respectively, with plain St.

Oral ondansetron and intravenous dexamethasone in the prevention of cisplatin-induced emesis. A phase II trial in women.

Fifty-eight previously untreated patients with gynecological cancer, assigned to cisplatin-based chemotherapy (40-80 mg/m2), received the following antiemetic treatment: day 0, oral ondansetron 8 mg 3 times/day + intravenous dexamethasone 16 mg; days 1-7, oral ondansetron 8 mg twice/day. In cycle 1 complete or major control (0-2 emetic episodes) was achieved in 94.6% of the patients in the acute phase (day 0) and in 89.

Diagnosis of pelvic masses with transabdominal color Doppler, CA 125 and ultrasonography.

Background: The objective of this study was to test the accuracy of transabdominal color Doppler imaging in the prediction of malignancy of adnexal tumors when integrated in combination with CA 125 levels and two-dimensional ultrasound.

Methods: We considered 129 consecutive patients with a suspected adnexal mass at clinical examination and transabdominal and transvaginal two-dimensional ultrasound. Serum CA 125 was measured in all cases.

Pelvic exenteration in gynecologic oncology. Review.

Pelvic exenteration is still indicated in the treatment of gynecological cancer, in patients with pelvic resectable disease, after the failure of standard treatment. The reported survival ranges from 20 to 60% and has been increasing in the last 15 years; the prognostic factors more frequently described are margin status, time from diagnosis or radiotherapy, lesion size, preoperative side-wall fixation. The role of palliative exenteration in patients with non-resectable disease and/or nodal metastases is discussed.