International journal of cardiology
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Comparative Study Clinical Trial
Comparative evaluation of transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography in detection of left atrial thrombus before percutaneous transvenous mitral commissurotomy. Do all patients need transesophageal examination?
We postulated that the sensitivity of transthoracic echocardiography in detection of left atrial cavity or appendage thrombi is better in south-east asian patients with rheumatic mitral stenosis. This was considering that these patients are generally younger, have lesser body weight and thinner chest walls resulting in better transthoracic echogenecity than their western counterparts. We prospectively performed transthoracic and transoesophageal echocardiography in 150 consecutive Indian patients (mean age 28.8+/-7.2 years; 78 men) being evaluated for percutaneous transvenous mitral commissurotomy. ⋯ The sensitivity rose to 83% when patients with poor echogenecity were excluded. Amongst patients with good echogenecity (81% patients) the diagnosis of left atrial thrombi was correctly made or suspected on transthoracic examination in all patients subsequently shown to have thrombi on transoesophageal echocardiography. Significant savings in cost may be safely achieved by limiting transoesophageal echocardiography to patients in whom left atrial cavity or appendage is not adequately visualized on transthoracic examination due to poor echogenecity, or in whom there are shadows suggestive but not diagnostic of thrombi.
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Comparative Study
Coronary artery bypass grafting without cardiopulmonary bypass through sternotomy and minimally invasive procedure.
Coronary artery bypass grafting without cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) is now an accepted technique of myocardial revascularization in a special subset of patients. This paper presents our total experience in 1761 cases operated on since September 1981 until April 1997 out of a total of 9164 patients revascularized with the conventional technique during this period of time. Among the 1761 patients, 53 (3%) were operated on by minimally invasive surgery. ⋯ The incidence of major postoperative complications were significantly lower in this group of patients when compared with our patients receiving conventional myocardial revascularization. Most importantly there was decrease cost when the procedure was used because no extracorporeal circulation cardioplegia sets or other cannulas were used. We conclude based on in this fifteen years experience that the technique of myocardial revascularization in a beating heart is justified, safe and can offer to selected patients the best option of coronary insufficiency surgical treatment.