The Annals of thoracic surgery
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Previous studies have suggested that early surgery after coronary angiography may be associated with the risk of acute kidney injury (AKI) in cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass. However, the effect of coronary angiography on the risk of AKI after off-pump coronary artery bypass graft surgery (OPCABG) remains uncertain. ⋯ The risk of postoperative AKI was not related to the time between coronary angiography and OPCABG. These findings suggest that delaying elective OPCABG after coronary angiography owing to the sole concern for renal function may be unnecessary.
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Constrictive pericarditis causes hepatic congestion, which results in congestive hepatopathy and finally leads to cardiac cirrhosis. However, in previous studies, risk stratification from the viewpoint of liver dysfunction was not performed in patients who underwent pericardiectomy for constrictive pericarditis. ⋯ It is meaningful to apply the Child-Pugh scoring system for the prediction of mortality after radical pericardiectomy in patients with constrictive pericarditis.
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The true incidence of occult N2 lymph node metastasis in patients with clinical N0 non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) remains controversial. Estimation of the probability of N2 lymph node metastasis can assist physicians when making diagnosis and treatment decisions. ⋯ Our prediction model estimated the pretest probability of N2 disease in computed tomography-defined N0 NSCLC and was more accurate than the existing models. Use of our model can be of assistance when making clinical decisions about invasive or expensive mediastinal staging procedures.
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We report a case of aortic valve replacement with a sutureless valve in a degenerated aortic homograft. This technique allows rapid aortic valve replacement in a heavily calcified aortic root. ⋯ It is particularly suitable in redo procedures for homograft degeneration. It avoids performing a redo Bentall operation with its known morbidity.
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Stingray injuries to the heart are rare, and survivors of this injury are even rarer. To date, there are only three reported survivors of this mode of penetrating cardiac injury, all inflicted by the living animal itself. The following is a report of a stingray injury, inflicted by a human, causing coronary complications 17 years after the injury was sustained.