Objective—To determine the early mortality and major morbidity associated with cardiac surgery in the elderly. Design—Retrospective case record review study of 575 patients > 70 years old who underwent cardiac surgery at the Manchester Heart Centre between January 1990 and December 1996. Setting—Regional cardiothoracic centre. Subjects—Patients > 70 years old who underwent cardiac surgery. Main...

INTRODUCTION AND OBJECTIVES Prosthetic valve endocarditis is associated with high morbidity and mortality, particularly when urgent surgery is needed. The identification of factors that predict a poor prognosis is the first step in improving outcomes. The study objectives were to characterize patients with prosthetic valve endocarditis who need urgent surgery and to identify factors that predic...

INTRODUCTION Heat valve dysfunction can lead to heart failure and death, and surgery is the standard treatment. Valve repair surgery is performed under cardiopulmonary bypass making it difficult for the surgeon to know if a surgical modification will be effective when blood flow is restored. A surgical planning system has been proposed to improve surgical outcomes by allowing a surgeon to explo...

BACKGROUND Patients who undergo tricuspid annuloplasty during left-side heart valve surgery have a poor postoperative clinical outcome. However, preoperative right ventricular (RV) echocardiography parameters that predict adverse events in these patients are poorly understood. METHODS AND RESULTS We studied 74 patients (age, 58±10 years; men, 27%) with significant tricuspid regurgitation who ...

A 56-year-old patient with severe pulmonary hypertension developed severe tricuspid regurgitation, right-sided heart failure, and congestive hepatopathy. She was transferred for possible lung transplant and/or tricuspid valve surgery. Clinical and echocardiographic assessment provided confidence that acute tricuspid valve failure was responsible for the decompensation and that tricuspid valve r...

giant left atria are defined as those measuring larger than 8 cm and are typically found in patients who have rheumatic mitral valve disease with severe regurgitation. enlargement of the left atrium may create compression of the surrounding structures such as the esophagus, pulmonary veins, respiratory tract, lung, inferior vena cava, recurrent laryngeal nerve, and thoracic vertebrae and lead t...

abstract background: few attempts were made for alleviating the physical/psychological problems among the cardiac valve–replaced patients and no comprehensive study was done based on the experiences of such patients. this study was undertaken to describe the stressful experiences of the heart valve-replaced patients. materials and methods: in this qualitative study performed during 2012-2013 wi...

IMPORTANCE The optimal management of severe mitral valve regurgitation in patients without class I triggers (heart failure symptoms or left ventricular dysfunction) remains controversial in part due to the poorly defined long-term consequences of current management strategies. In the absence of clinical trial data, analysis of large multicenter registries is critical. OBJECTIVE To ascertain t...

ebstein's anomaly is defined as the significant apical displacement of the tricuspid valve causing tricuspid regurgitation. although a variety of concomitant lesions have been previously described, we herein introduce an unusual presentation.  our patient was an 86-year-old man with a primary presentation of typical chest pain in the setting of recently diagnosed coronary artery disease with co...