Objective To examine the clinical outcomes and impact of using moderate hypothermic circulatory arrest (MHCA) and unilateral selective antegrade cerebral perfusion (uSACP) in the setting of total ...aortic arch replacement (TOTAL). Methods From 2004 to 2012, 733 patients underwent open arch reconstruction with MHCA and SACP. Of these, 145 (20%) underwent TOTAL. Measured outcomes included death, stroke, temporary neurologic dysfunction (TND), and renal failure. Mean follow-up time was 33 months and ranged from 0 to 95 months. Results Core temperature at the onset of MHCA was 25.8°C. Cardiopulmonary bypass and myocardial ischemic times were 236 minutes and 181 minutes, respectively. Twenty-three patients (16%) underwent emergency repair of acute type A dissection. Fifty-four cases (37%) were reoperative and 52 (34%) were stage I elephant trunk procedures. Concomitant root replacement was performed in 50 (35%) patients, including 20 David V valve-sparing procedures. Mean duration of circulatory arrest was 55 minutes. Operative mortality was 9.7%. Overall incidence of stroke and TND was 2.8% and 5.6%, respectively. Four patients (2.8%) required postoperative dialysis. Seven-year survival was significantly reduced ( P = .04) after repair of type A dissection (83.8%) compared with elective surgery (89.5%). Higher temperature during TOTAL was not found to be a significant risk factor for adverse events. Conclusions TOTAL using MHCA and uSACP can be accomplished with excellent early and late results. MHCA was not associated with adverse neurologic outcomes or higher operative risk, despite prolonged periods of circulatory arrest.
A 67-year-old man undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting had aortic calcification that prohibited aortic cross-clamping. When ventricular fibrillation developed during surgery, we instituted ...hypothermic fibrillatory arrest to avoid aortic cross-clamping. In addition to our patient's case, we discuss the advantages and disadvantages of using hypothermic fibrillatory arrest during cardiac surgery.
Moderate hypothermic ventricular fibrillatory arrest during heart surgery is an alternative to cardioplegic arrest in selected patients. We reviewed our experience using a ventricular fibrillatory ...arrest technique in robotic totally endoscopic intracardiac surgery.
From February 2014 through July 2022, 128 patients who underwent robotic totally endoscopic intracardiac surgical procedures performed using moderate hypothermic ventricular fibrillatory arrest were reviewed. Patients were chosen based on the risk of aortic manipulation, complexity of the procedure, grade of aortic valve insufficiency and comorbidities, including history of prior cardiac surgery and peripheral vascular disease.
Patients were a mean age of 65 ± 14 years, and the mean The Society of Thoracic Surgeons score was 2.7 ± 2.9. Fourteen patients (11%) had a history of previous cardiac surgery. The intracardiac procedures were mitral valve surgery in 84 patients (66%), isolated cryomaze procedure in 27 (21%), and other in 17 (13%). The mean ventricular fibrillatory arrest time was 79 ± 26 minutes, and the mean cardiopulmonary bypass time was 174 ± 49 minutes. There was no conversion to sternotomy. Seven patients (5.5%) required inotropic support, and 2 patients (1.6%) needed an intra-aortic balloon pump. There was no incidence of postoperative stroke or clinical myocardial infarction. The mean hospital and intensive care unit lengths of stay were 3.1 ± 1.7 and 1.4 ± 0.7 days, respectively. One death (0.78%) occurred due to respiratory failure.
Moderate hypothermic ventricular fibrillatory arrest in robotic intracardiac surgery may be a safe and effective alternative in selected patients.
Equivalent myocardial protection and clinical outcomes have been shown with the use of del Nido cardioplegia (DC) compared with blood cardioplegia (BC) in adult isolated coronary artery bypass ...grafting and valve patients. However, its safety and efficacy in cardiac procedures with aortic crossclamp times >90 minutes is still unknown.
From May 2014 to September 2019, 2506 adult patients at our center underwent cardiac surgery requiring prolonged aortic crossclamp time defined as 90 minutes or longer. Myocardial protection was achieved with BC in 1955 patients and DC in 551 patients. Two surgeons used DC exclusively and 5 used blood exclusively over the study period. BC was delivered anterograde and retrograde whereas DC was delivered anterograde only. Propensity score matching of several preoperative characteristics, including primary cardiac pathology, yielded 526 well matched pairs. Emergency and reoperative cases were included. Troponin T levels were drawn at 12 hours postoperative in all patients. Clinical data were extracted from our local Society of Thoracic Surgeons database. Subgroup analyses were performed on the basis of crossclamp time stratification.
For the propensity score-matched cohort, the median crossclamp time was longer in the BC compared with the DC group (114 interquartile range (IQR), 100-145 minutes for DC vs 153 IQR, 122-200 minutes for BC; P < .0001) whereas intraoperative peak glucose was higher with BC (173 IQR, 147-200 g/dL for DC vs 197 IQR, 171-228 g/dL for BC; P < .001). In addition, perioperative mortality (3.4% vs 3.0%; P = .7273), stroke (3.2% vs 2.1%; P = .2504), renal failure (6.5% vs 4.6%; P = .1767), atrial fibrillation (34% vs 31.4%, P = .3575), intra-aortic balloon pump use (5.3% vs 4.6%, P = .5694), and extracorporeal membrane oxygenation use (3.0% vs 2.9%, P = .8596) did not differ between DC and BC. Postoperative troponin T levels were 0.53 (IQR, 0.30-0.96) ng/mL and 0.62 (IQR, 0.38-1.07) ng/mL for DC and BC, respectively (P = .0024). Subgroup analysis revealed higher troponin T levels with DC for crossclamp times between 150 and 180 minutes. Survival rates at 1, 2, and 5 years were 93.3%, 91.1%, and 78.7% for DC and 94.5%, 91.8%, and 81.5% for BC, respectively (P = .5140).
In adult cardiac surgical procedures with aortic crossclamp times >90 minutes, comparable myocardial protection, perioperative mortality and morbidity, and distant survival were observed with the use of DC compared with BC. Higher troponin levels were seen in DC patients with crossclamp times between 150 and 180 minutes, but this was not associated with increased mortality.
Display omitted
OBJECTIVES
A single or dual-dose strategy for myocardial protection is attractive in long operations, in avoiding the need to interrupt the procedure to re-administer cardioplegia. We hypothesized ...that a single administration of Bretschneider histidine-tryptophan-ketoglutarate (HTK) crystalloid solution (Custodiol) offers myocardial protection comparable with repeated tepid blood cardioplegia.
METHODS
We reviewed a prospectively compiled single-centre database containing all adult cardiac procedures performed from January 2005 to January 2011. Preoperative demographic and investigative data, operative variables and postoperative (30-day) mortality and morbidity were compared between the Custodiol and blood cardioplegia groups. The study primary endpoints were 30-day mortality, return to the operating theatre, myocardial infarction, stroke, postoperative requirement for an intra-aortic balloon pump, new renal failure, prolonged ventilation and re-admission to hospital within 30 days. Propensity score matching was performed to correct for any bias that may have been associated with the usage of Custodiol.
RESULTS
A total of 1900 cardiac surgical procedures were identified of which 126 (7%) utilized Custodiol and 1774 (93%) used blood cardioplegia as the primary cardioplegic agent. After propensity-score matching, we were able to match 71 Custodiol cases one-to-one to those receiving blood cardioplegia. There were no statistically significant differences noted for any of the endpoints studied after propensity-score matching. In particular, the proportion of mortality (blood cardioplegia: 1 vs Custodiol 4%, P = 0.63) any mortality/morbidity (blood cardioplegia: 35 vs Custodiol: 39% P = 0.46) was similar between the groups.
CONCLUSIONS
The use of Custodiol is convenient, simple and at least as safe as tepid blood cardioplegia for myocardial protection in complex cardiac operations. A randomized prospective comparison of myocardial protection strategies is warranted.
We report a case of coronary sinus (CS) injury with a retrograde cardioplegia catheter and repair that compromised CS patency. This resulted in acute global cardiac dysfunction shortly after weaning ...from bypass, which reversed after patch repair with confirmed CS patency. The case report shows that acute CS occlusion may not be tolerated in some humans.
Isolated tricuspid valve (TV) surgery is a rare procedure generally considered at high risk for perioperative mortality and poor long-term outcomes. Surgical treatment can be performed with either an ...arrested heart (AH) or beating heart (BH) technique. The aim of this study was to compare the outcomes of isolated tricuspid surgery with 2 different approaches.
The Surgical-Tricuspid Study is a multicenter international retrospective study enrolling adult patients who underwent isolated TV procedures (n = 406; age 56 ± 16 years; 56% female) at 13 international sites. The AH and BH strategies were performed in 253 and 153 patients, respectively. Propensity score-matched analysis was used to compare groups.
After matching, 129 pairs were obtained and analyzed. The 30-day mortality rate was 6.2% versus 5.0% in the AH and BH groups, respectively (P = .9). The rates of acute renal failure requiring replacement therapy (10% versus 3%; P = .02) and stroke (1.6% versus 0%; P = .08) were numerically higher in the AH group. The 6-year survival rate was 67% ± 6% versus 78% ± 5% in the AH and BH groups, respectively (P = .18), whereas freedom from cardiac death was 75% ± 5% versus 84% ± 4% (P = .21). The 6-year composite cardiac end point of cardiac death and reoperation rate was 60% ± 9% versus 86% ± 5% (P = .024) comparing AH-TV replacement and BH-TV repair groups.
Isolated TV surgery performed with a BH strategy is a safe option and resulted in a trend of increased long-term survival and freedom from reoperation compared with the standard AH technique. Patients undergoing BH valve repair had the best long-term outcome.