European journal of cardio-thoracic surgery : official journal of the European Association for Cardio-thoracic Surgery
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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg · Apr 2010
Predictive value of B-type natriuretic peptide for postoperative atrial fibrillation following pulmonary resection for lung cancer.
To evaluate the usefulness of atrial natriuretic peptide (ANP) and brain B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) for predicting postoperative atrial fibrillation (AF), we determined the changes in perioperative ANP and BNP levels in patients undergoing pulmonary resection for lung cancer. ⋯ Preoperative BNP level seems to be an appropriate predictor of AF after pulmonary resection.
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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg · Apr 2010
A left atrial ablation with bipolar irrigated radio-frequency for atrial fibrillation during minimally invasive mitral valve surgery.
Minimally invasive mitral valve surgery is becoming increasingly popular worldwide. Mitral valve disease is often associated with atrial fibrillation (AF), also due to the ageing of the population. ⋯ We have operated on eight patients: six female with a mean age 68+/-8 years. Six patients suffered from permanent AF and other two from paroxysmal AF.
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Eur J Cardiothorac Surg · Mar 2010
Rotation thromboelastometry (ROTEM) stability and reproducibility over time.
Thromboelastometry is a whole blood assay performed to evaluate the viscoelastic properties during blood clot formation and lysis. Rotation thromboelastography (ROTEM), Pentapharm GmbH, Munich, Germany) has overcome some of the limitations of classic thromboelastography. So far, no clinical validation on reproducibility (inter- and intra-assay variability) and sample stability over time has been published. ⋯ ROTEM yields stable results over 120 min with a minimal variability on the same ROTEM device. However, small but significant differences between ROTEM devices were observed. Analysis should be performed on the same ROTEM device if small differences are of importance for treatment.