The Annals of thoracic surgery
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Meta Analysis Comparative Study
Comparison of graft patency between off-pump and on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting: an updated meta-analysis.
Currently, off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCAB) and on-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (ONCAB) are 2 well-established therapeutic strategies for patients with coronary artery disease, and debate regarding which strategy provides superior graft patency is ongoing. The current study is a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials that compared the graft patency between OPCAB and ONCAB. ⋯ Meta-analysis of currently available randomized controlled trials on graft patency shows that ONCAB reduces the incidence of SVG graft occlusion significantly but does not affect LIMA and radial artery graft patency compared with OPCAB.
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Comparative Study
Root stabilization of the repaired bicuspid aortic valve: subcommissural annuloplasty versus root reimplantation.
At our institution, type I bicuspid aortic valve (BAV) patients with aortic insufficiency (AI) who are candidates for valve preservation are stratified into two groups by aortic root pathology: nonaneurysmal root undergoing primary cusp repair+subcommissural annuloplasty (repair group) vs aneurysmal root undergoing primary cusp repair+root reimplantation (reimplantation group). We report outcomes of this surgical reconstructive strategy for the repaired type I BAV. ⋯ Root stabilization with the reimplantation technique significantly improves the durability of the repaired type I BAV compared with subcommissural annuloplasty. It also provides improved and sustained valve mobility (transvalvular gradients).
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Lung ultrasonography is a diagnostic tool increasingly used in critical care. Few data are available for the pediatric population. ⋯ Such data were confirmed by chest radiographs or by computed tomography, or both. Lung ultrasonography can be considered as a useful, real-time, bedside tool to detect specific lung diseases, reliably implementing radiographic images and potentially decreasing the total number of radiographs in critically ill children with congenital heart diseases.