Project description:OBJECTIVE: Totally endoscopic surgery compared with the conventional heart operation in children is described in this article to find a preferable treatment for congenital heart diseases. METHODS: Between May 2000 and December 2007, 708 children with congenital heart disease were divided into two groups: endoscopic group and conventional group. For the endoscopic group, all children underwent total endoscopic procedures with peripheral cardiopulmonary bypass, transthoracic aortic cross-clamp, and antegrade cardioplegia, whereas for the conventional group, all children were operated in traditional way. Three 1-2-cm intercostal ports in the right chest were used for access in the endoscopic group. The intrathoracic part of the operation was performed completely under two-dimensional video, using conventional instruments. Directly closureed of the atrial septal defect was performed in 74 cases, patch closureed of the atrial septal defect in 48 cases, directly closureed of the ventricular septal defect in 158 cases, patch closureing of the ventricular septal defect in 116 cases. For the conventional group, all operations were done with traditional median sternotomy. Directed closureing of the atrial septal defect was performed in 38 cases, patch closed of the atrial septal defect in 56 cases, directly closureed of the ventricular septal defect in 76 cases, patch closureed of the ventricular septal defect in 142 cases. RESULTS: There was no hospital mortality in both groups. For the endoscopic group, operations were performed successfully in 390 (98.5 %) patients, enlarging a port to a 5-cm incision in 4 children. Reoperation was necessary in two children, and no conversion to median sternotomy incision was necessary. The mean duration of operation was 132 ± 48 min, and cardiopulmonary bypass and aortic cross-clamp times were 54 ± 16 min and 25 ± 8 min, respectively. Major postoperative complications occurred in nine (2.3 %, p < 0.05) cases. For the conventional group, all children were operated by median sternotomy, and the mean duration of operation was 118 ± 41 min (p < 0.05); cardiopulmonary bypass and aortic cross-clamp times were 51 ± 13 min and 21 ± 6 min (p < 0.05), respectively. Major postoperative complications occurred in 16 (5.1 %) cases. Also, the intensive care unit stay time (8.3 ± 2.8 h versus 8.9 ± 2.9 h, p < 0.01), postoperative drainage (120 ± 21 ml versus 433 ± 140 ml, p < 0.05), and hospital time (8.6 ± 1.8 days versus 11.5 ± 1.9 days, p < 0.05) were statistically different. CONCLUSIONS: Totally endoscopic closed chest congenital heart surgery in children was feasible and safe. The results were similar or even superior to the traditional operations due to the decreased use of blood products and shortened hospital time. Degree of satisfaction with cosmetic result and postoperative comfort were very high. Therefore, endoscopic surgery will become a new popular choice for some congenital heart disease patients in the future.
Project description:BackgroundThe aim of the present study was to investigate the differences in ADHD symptomatology between healthy controls and children who underwent cardiac surgery at different ages.MethodsAltogether, 133 children (54 patients with congenital heart disease undergoing first cardiac surgery under 3 years of age, 26 operated at the age of 3 or later, and 53 healthy controls) were examined. Patients completed the Youth Self Report (YSR), while their parents completed the Child Behaviour Checklist (CBCL) and the ADHD Rating Scale-IV.ResultsChildren receiving surgery for the first time under the age of 3 years were more likely diagnosed with cyanotic type malformation and have undergone to a greater number of operations. However, ADHD symptoms of those treated surgically at or above 3 years of age were more severe than that of the control group or those who were treated surgically at a younger age. The control group and those treated surgically below the age of three did not differ across any of the ADHD symptom severity indicators.ConclusionsThe age at the time of cardiac surgery might be associated with later ADHD symptom severity - with lower age at operation associated with better outcomes. Further, adequately powered studies are needed to confirm these exploratory findings and investigate the moderators of this relationship.
Project description:Study aims to identify circulating small RNAs that report early heart injury after cardiac surgery with a view to translating them to the early diagnosis of myocardial infarction
Project description:ObjectivesGiven the current excellent early mortality rates for paediatric cardiac surgery, stakeholders believe that this important safety outcome should be supplemented by a wider range of measures. Our objectives were to prospectively measure the incidence of morbidities following paediatric cardiac surgery and to evaluate their clinical and health-economic impact over 6 months.DesignThe design was a prospective, multicentre, multidisciplinary mixed methods study.SettingThe setting was 5 of the 10 paediatric cardiac surgery centres in the UK with 21 months recruitment.ParticipantsIncluded were 3090 paediatric cardiac surgeries, of which 666 patients were recruited to an impact substudy.ResultsFamilies and clinicians prioritised:Acute neurological event, unplanned re-intervention, feeding problems, renal replacement therapy, major adverse events, extracorporeal life support, necrotising enterocolitis, postsurgical infection and prolonged pleural effusion or chylothorax.Among 3090 consecutive surgeries, there were 675 (21.8%) with at least one of these morbidities. Independent risk factors for morbidity included neonatal age, complex heart disease and prolonged cardiopulmonary bypass (p<0.001). Among patients with morbidity, 6-month survival was 88.2% (95% CI 85.4 to 90.6) compared with 99.3% (95% CI 98.9 to 99.6) with none of the morbidities (p<0.001). The impact substudy in 340 children with morbidity and 326 control children with no morbidity indicated that morbidity-related impairment in quality of life improved between 6 weeks and 6 months. When compared with children with no morbidities, those with morbidity experienced a median of 13 (95% CI 10.2 to 15.8, p<0.001) fewer days at home by 6 months, and an adjusted incremental cost of £21 292 (95% CI £17 694 to £32 423, p<0.001).ConclusionsEvaluation of postoperative morbidity is more complicated than measuring early mortality. However, tracking morbidity after paediatric cardiac surgery over 6 months offers stakeholders important data that are of value to parents and will be useful in driving future quality improvement.
Project description:Anesthetic gases elicit organ protection in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery. This study aimed at identifying myocardial transcriptional phenotypes and anesthetic-induced changes in gene expression to predict cardiovascular biomarkers and cardiac function after off-pump CABG. Keywords: cardiac surgery, anesthetics
Project description:BACKGROUND: Heart failure is characterised as a strong risk factor for systemic failure after cardiac surgery. However, the impact has never been substantiated. METHODS: Patients with heart failure (n?=?48) - scheduled for elective ventricular reconstruction or external constraint device-were compared with a one-to-one matched control group of patients without heart failure undergoing cardiac surgery between 2006 and 2009. RESULTS: As expected, patients with heart failure more frequently experienced complications definitely related to pump failure (p?=?0.01). However, complications not related to their pump failure were also more often observed, such as prolonged mechanical ventilation, sepsis and vasoplegia (p?=?0.01). Overall, organ dysfunction-circulatory, renal, and pulmonary failure-was often observed in heart failure patients, contributing to a prolonged stay in the intensive care unit (p?<?0.001) as well as in hospital (p?=?0.01). CONCLUSION: The adverse postoperative course in patients with heart failure is not only directly related to circulatory failure, but merely reflects a systemic dysregulation. Our findings suggest that heart failure impacts outcome and should therefore be included in prevailing risk classification systems. Offensive perioperative treatment strategies, focused on the main complications in patients with heart failure, will lead to improved results after cardiac surgery.
Project description:This study describes the first molecular characterization of a bacteriophage infecting a member of the environmentally important Sphingomonadaceae family. Both bacteriophage Lacusarx and its host Sphingobium sp. IP1 were isolated from activated sludge from a wastewater treatment plant. Genome sequencing revealed that the phage genes display little similarity to other known phages, despite a remarkable conservation of the synteny in which the functional genes occur among distantly related phages. Phylogenetic analyses confirmed that Lacusarx represents a hitherto undescribed genus of phages. A classical lysis cassette could not be identified in Lacusarx, suggesting that the genes encoding endolysin, holin, and spanin are host-specific and not found in phages infecting other bacteria. The virus harbors 24 tRNA genes corresponding to 18 different amino acids and furthermore has a significantly different codon usage than its host. Proteomic analysis of Lacusarx revealed the protein components of the phage particle. A lysogeny test indicated that Lacusarx is not a temperate phage.