Postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) following cardiac surgery represents a common, potentially morbid, and often misunderstood complication. Patients who develop POAF incur an increased cost of care, a prolonged hospital stay, and are at a higher risk for numerous adverse outcomes, including renal and respiratory failure, cardiac arrest, stroke, and death. The etiology of POAF is multifact...

Cardiac arrest with cerebral ischaemia frequently leads to severe neurological impairment. Extracorporeal life support (ECLS) has emerged as a valuable adjunct in resuscitation of cardiac arrest. Despite ECLS, the incidence of permanent neurological injury remains high. We hypothesize that patients receiving ECLS for cardiac arrest treated with therapeutic hypothermia at 34 °C have lower neurol...

Cardiac tamponade is an uncommon but life-threatening complication of percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI). The purpose of the present study was to characterize the incidence, management, and clinical outcome associated with this complication. We analyzed a prospective database of 25,697 PCIs performed at William Beaumont Hospital (Royal Oak, Michigan) between October 1993 and December 2000...

BACKGROUND Reoperation of cardiac surgery via median sternotomy can be associated with significant complications. Thoracotomy is expected to reduce the risk of reoperation and to enhance the surgical outcomes. We retrospectively analyzed two operative approaches (thoracotomy vs. sternotomy) in cardiac reoperation. MATERIALS AND METHODS From September 2007 to December 2010, 35 patients who req...

Introduction: Since 1954, after the first surgical repair of tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), several innovations have occurred in cardiac surgery, especially in children. One stage complete repair of TOF is currently possible even in infancy; however, complications such as hypoxemia, arrhythmia, cardiac dysfunction, sudden death, and valvular disorders may happen. In this study, we evaluated the res...

Cardiac sarcoidosis is a rare complication of pulmonary sarcoidosis, causing granulomatous inflammation the myocardium, ultimately resulting in infiltrative cardiomyopathy. Through fibrotic inflammation, cardiac predisposes patients to multiple complications, such as conduction abnormalities, ventricular arrhythmias, heart failure, and sudden death. Due adverse prognosis abnormalities these pat...