BACKGROUND AND AIM Despite major advances in the treatment of heart failure, cardiogenic shock (CGS) remains associated with substantial mortality. Recent data suggest that the TandemHeart percutaneous ventricular assist device (pVAD) may be useful in the management of CGS. The aim of this prospective randomized study was to test the hypothesis that the TandemHeart (pVAD) provides superior hemo...

OBJECTIVE The aortic valve replacement is a routine procedure, and involves replacement of the native valve/prosthesis. In most of the patients who undergo such procedure the risk is acceptable, but in some cases, such risk can justify contraindication. The minimally invasive transcatheter aortic valve implantation without cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) has been shown to be viable, with lower mor...

BACKGROUND Limited information is available on the contemporary and potentially changing trends in the incidence, management, and outcomes of cardiogenic shock complicating ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI). METHODS AND RESULTS We queried the 2003-2010 Nationwide Inpatient Sample databases to identify all patients ≥ 40 years of age with STEMI and cardiogenic shock. Overall and age-, ...

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PURPOSE OF REVIEW The intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP) has been used as a cardiac assist device in various clinical situations since 1968 on the basis of the physiological principles and observational data, with little randomized data until recently. RECENT FINDINGS Recently published randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and meta-analyses have demonstrated acceptable safety for IABP but have r...

From July 1975 to December 1977, 91 consecutive patients with left main coronary artery disease defined by cardiac catheterisation as greater than or equal to 50 per cent luminal narrowing underwent coronary bypass surgery. Prospective examination of the preoperative and postoperative clinical course of these patients was performed to determine the incidence of perioperative myocardial infarcti...

Introduction:  The use of carbon dioxide blower has been recognized as the standard of care in patients undergoing beating coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) due to higher solubility and lower risk of embolization. On the other hand, the compressed air blower has gone out of use since air can be easily trapped and is less soluble which can cause coronary embolism. The prese...

OBJECTIVES The purpose of the present study was to assess whether preoperative and postoperative B-type natriuretic peptide (BNP) levels could be used as predictors of postoperative complications and outcomes in patients after open-heart surgery. BACKGROUND A variety of multifactor indexes have been proposed for preoperative risk assessment of patients undergoing cardiac surgery, but they hav...