Closed Mitral Valvotomy: Celebrating 100 Years of Surgical History

The year 2023 marks the 100th anniversary of the first successful valvotomy for mitral valve stenosis by Elliott C. Cutler in 1923. Closed-chest mitral valve commissurotomy developed further before being replaced by an open procedure after the advent of the heart-lung machine. Currently, because of the almost complete disappearance of rheumatic disease in the Western World, mitral commissurotomies are infrequently performed in those countries, although the procedure-either closed or open-is still performed in developing countries and select patients. This review retraces the 100-year journey from a historic operation to the current era-a milestone in the treatment of patients with mitral stenosis

Urgent cardiac surgery in octogenarians

BACKGROUND: Urgent or emergent cardiac surgery in the elderly is burdened by high operative mortality and unacceptable postoperative quality of life. METHODS: From 1998 to 2007, 251 patients aged 80 years underwent nonelective cardiac surgery for urgent (n = 229) or emergent (n = 22) indications. A logistic regression to identify incremental risk factors for postoperative death was performed. RESULTS: The overall early mortality was of 12%, with 8% in urgent and 45% in emergent cases. The most frequent causes of death were infections, particularly pneumonia (23%), renal failure (20%), CVA (17%), respiratory failure (10%), and multisystem organ failure (10%). Incremental risk factors for early mortality were age, emergent procedure, aortic procedure, cardiopulmonary bypass time, and the presence of a major postoperative complication. Mean follow-up time was 5.4 +/- 3.2 years. CONCLUSIONS: An urgent cardiac surgery can be performed in octogenarians with acceptable operative mortality and good long-term survival

How future surgery will benefit from SARS-COV-2-related measures: a SPIGC survey conveying the perspective of Italian surgeons

COVID-19 negatively affected surgical activity, but the potential benefits resulting from adopted measures remain unclear. The aim of this study was to evaluate the change in surgical activity and potential benefit from COVID-19 measures in perspective of Italian surgeons on behalf of SPIGC. A nationwide online survey on surgical practice before, during, and after COVID-19 pandemic was conducted in March-April 2022 (NCT:05323851). Effects of COVID-19 hospital-related measures on surgical patients' management and personal professional development across surgical specialties were explored. Data on demographics, pre-operative/peri-operative/post-operative management, and professional development were collected. Outcomes were matched with the corresponding volume. Four hundred and seventy-three respondents were included in final analysis across 14 surgical specialties. Since SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, application of telematic consultations (4.1% vs. 21.6%; p < 0.0001) and diagnostic evaluations (16.4% vs. 42.2%; p < 0.0001) increased. Elective surgical activities significantly reduced and surgeons opted more frequently for conservative management with a possible indication for elective (26.3% vs. 35.7%; p < 0.0001) or urgent (20.4% vs. 38.5%; p < 0.0001) surgery. All new COVID-related measures are perceived to be maintained in the future. Surgeons' personal education online increased from 12.6% (pre-COVID) to 86.6% (post-COVID; p < 0.0001). Online educational activities are considered a beneficial effect from COVID pandemic (56.4%). COVID-19 had a great impact on surgical specialties, with significant reduction of operation volume. However, some forced changes turned out to be benefits. Isolation measures pushed the use of telemedicine and telemetric devices for outpatient practice and favored communication for educational purposes and surgeon-patient/family communication. From the Italian surgeons' perspective, COVID-related measures will continue to influence future surgical clinical practice

ECMO for COVID-19 patients in Europe and Israel

Since March 15th, 2020, 177 centres from Europe and Israel have joined the study, routinely reporting on the ECMO support they provide to COVID-19 patients. The mean annual number of cases treated with ECMO in the participating centres before the pandemic (2019) was 55. The number of COVID-19 patients has increased rapidly each week reaching 1531 treated patients as of September 14th. The greatest number of cases has been reported from France (n = 385), UK (n = 193), Germany (n = 176), Spain (n = 166), and Italy (n = 136) .The mean age of treated patients was 52.6 years (range 16–80), 79% were male. The ECMO configuration used was VV in 91% of cases, VA in 5% and other in 4%. The mean PaO2 before ECMO implantation was 65 mmHg. The mean duration of ECMO support thus far has been 18 days and the mean ICU length of stay of these patients was 33 days. As of the 14th September, overall 841 patients have been weaned from ECMO support, 601 died during ECMO support, 71 died after withdrawal of ECMO, 79 are still receiving ECMO support and for 10 patients status n.a. . Our preliminary data suggest that patients placed on ECMO with severe refractory respiratory or cardiac failure secondary to COVID-19 have a reasonable (55%) chance of survival. Further extensive data analysis is expected to provide invaluable information on the demographics, severity of illness, indications and different ECMO management strategies in these patients

Enlargement of the aortic annulus during aortic valve replacement: a review

The main goal of aortic valve replacement (AVR) is to obtain relief from the fixed left ventricular (LV) obstruction by replacing the aortic valve with a prosthesis, either mechanical or biological, of adequate size. Most currently available prostheses provide satisfactory hemodynamic performance, but small-sized prostheses may be associated with high transvalvular gradients and suboptimal effective orifice area that result in prosthesis-patient mismatch (PPM), and thus are far from ideal for use in young, active patients. The avoidance of PPM is advisable as it has been repeatedly associated with increased mortality, decreased exercise tolerance and an impaired regression of LV hypertrophy after AVR for severe aortic stenosis. Enlargement of the aortic annulus (EAA) has proved to be a valuable method to prevent PPM in the presence of a diminutive aortic root. This review outlines the various techniques described for EAA, presenting technical details, long-term results and major procedure-related complications, and discussing the current role of EAA in patients requiring AVR

The Stented Porcine Bioprosthesis: A 50-Year Journey Through Hopes and Realities

The year 2018 marked the 50th anniversary of the first implant of a commercially manufactured stented porcine bioprosthesis. During the subsequent years considerable clinical and pathologic research was done to evaluate the overall performance of such devices and to identify the leading causes of failure. This brief review covers 5 decades, summarizing the initial hopes and the realities faced by surgeons who have believed from the start in these cardiac valve substitutes. From reported failures and long-term results a new generation of durable and reliable stented porcine bioprosthetic valves is currently available