OBJECTIVES Rhythm disturbances are an important cause of morbidity in Fontan patients. Currently, the total cavopulmonary connection is performed by using the intra-atrial lateral tunnel (ILT) ('baffle ILT' or 'prosthetic ILT'), or the extracardiac conduit (ECC). The aim of the study was to evaluate rhythm abnormalities and compare the surgical techniques in a contemporary cohort. METHODS In ...

OBJECTIVE Establishment of Fontan circulation in complex univentricular hearts often requires several surgical procedures. We developed a procedure which maintains the advantages of a staged approach, however, during the initial surgery additional preparatory measures are performed to allow subsequent non-surgical Fontan completion. METHODS The operation is a lateral baffle Fontan procedure. ...

The transition to Advanced LIGO introduces new sensitivity requirements for the LIGO interferometers. When light scatters away from the main laser beam, then scatters off the beam tube and returns to the main beam, noise is introduced into the phase of the laser. The Auxiliary Optics Support subsystem uses baffles and beam dumps to control this scatter, but the baffle material and shape contrib...

Neurobiologie angefertigt. " 'Hard-eyed' creatures and insects manifestly assume the posture of sleep; but the sleep of all such creatures is of brief duration, so that often it might well baffle one's observation to decide whether they sleep or not. " (Aristoteles, On Sleep and Sleeplessness 350 BC)

A five-year-old girl with partial anomalous pulmonary venous connection to the azygous vein with intact atrial septum is reported. The clinical and roentgenographic features suggested the correct diagnosis. Surgical correction of this previously unreported defect was accomplished by creating an atrial septal defect and constructing a baffle to direct the blood flow from the azygous vein to the ...

A young woman with congenital heart disease including dextrocardia presented to us following an out-of-hospital ventricular fibrillation (VF) arrest. She had a dual-chamber pacemaker inserted already for bradycardia. Therewere concerns over the risk of baffle occlusion due to multiple transvenous wires. She received an entirely right-sided subcutaneous implantable cardioverter-defibrillator wit...

A case of anomalous origin of the left coronary artery from the pulmonary artery in a patient with the origin of the coronary opposite to the aorta is reported. Between many surgical options we conclude to reestablish a double coronary system reconnecting the coronary through a conduit created with a pulmonary wall baffle and an autologous pericardial patch.

The strategy for the management of adult patients with congenital heart disease (CHD) often represents a challenge for cardiac surgeons and cardiologists due to complex anatomy, wide range of clinical presentations, and a high-risk profile. However, hybrid approach may represent an attractive solution. We report three cases of adult patients previously operated for CHD and recently treated with...