Branching vertical vein with multiple sites of obstruction in supracardiac total anomalous pulmonary venous connection

We present the case of an infant with total anomalous pulmonary venous connection and a branching vertical vein with multiple points of narrowing, draining the confluence into the innominate vein. The embryology and clinical relevance of this interesting anatomy is discussed

Hybrid intraoperative pulmonary artery stenting in redo congenital cardiac surgeries

Objective: Reconstruction of branch pulmonary arteries (PAs) can be challenging in redo congenital heart surgeries. Treatment options like percutaneous stent implantation and surgical patch angioplasty may yield suboptimal results. We present our experience with hybrid intraoperative stenting which may be an effective alternative option. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed data of all patients with PA stenosis who underwent intraoperative PA branch stenting in our institution between January 2011 and December 2012. Results: Ten patients [6 females, median age 10 (1.4 to 37) years], underwent hybrid stenting of the PA. Primary cardiac diagnoses were pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect (VSD) in three patients, pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum in two, Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) in one, Double outlet right ventricle (DORV) with pulmonary stenosis (PS) in one, complex single ventricle in two and VSD with bilateral branch PA stenosis in one patient. Concomitant surgeries were revision/reconstruction of RV-PA conduit in 4, Fontan completion in 4, repair of TOF with conduit placement in 1 and VSD closure in 1 patient. The left PA was stented in 7, the right in 2 and both in 1, with a total of 11 stents. There were no complications related to stent implantation. Two early postoperative deaths were unrelated to stent implantation. At mean follow-up period of 14.8 (12–26) months, stent position and patency were satisfactory in all survivors. None of them needed repeat dilatation or surgical reintervention. Conclusion: Hybrid stenting of branch PA is a safe and effective option for PA reconstruction in redo cardiac surgeries. With meticulous planning, it can be safely performed without fluoroscopy

A survey on the applications of artificial bee colony in signal, image, and video processing

Artificial bee colony (ABC) algorithm is a swarm intelligence algorithm, which simulates the foraging behavior of honeybees. It has been successfully applied to many optimization problems in different areas. Since 2009, ABC algorithm has been employed for various problems in signal, image, and video processing fields. This paper presents the problems ABC algorithm has been applied in these fields and describes how ABC algorithm was used in the approaches for solving these kinds of problems