In cardiac surgery, postoperative low cardiac output has been shown to correlate with increased rates of organ failure and mortality. Catecholamines have been the standard therapy for many years, although they carry substantial risk for adverse cardiac and systemic effects, and have been reported to be associated with increased mortality. On the other hand, the calcium sensitiser and potassium channel opener levosimendan has been shown to improve cardiac function with no imbalance in oxygen consumption, and to have protective effects in other organs. Numerous clinical trials have indicated favourable cardiac and non-cardiac effects of preoperative and perioperative administration of levosimendan. A panel of 27 experts from 18 countries has now reviewed the literature on the use of levosimendan in on-pump and off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting and in heart valve surgery. This panel discussed the published evidence in these various settings, and agreed to vote on a set of questions related to the cardioprotective effects of levosimendan when administered preoperatively, with the purpose of reaching a consensus on which patients could benefit from the preoperative use of levosimendan and in which kind of procedures, and at which doses and timing should levosimendan be administered. Here, we present a systematic review of the literature to report on the completed and ongoing studies on levosimendan, including the newly commenced LEVO-CTS phase III study (NCT02025621), and on the consensus reached on the recommendations proposed for the use of preoperative levosimendan.

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The prevalence of deep sternal infection after cardiac surgery is between 0,5 and 5%, with an average mortality up to 50%. The authors present the case of the rst sternal osteosynthesis carried out in Hungary after postoperative deep sternal infection. Using this orthopedic reconstructive surgical technique in this patient group, an anatomical reconstruction and reposition of the sternum is feasible. With the Titanium Sternal Fixation Synthes system reconstruction of total or partial sternal absence is possible.

Background: In patients (pts) with sick sinus syndrome (SSS), right ventricular apical (RVA) pacing increased the risk of developing atrial fibrillation (AF). However, the mechanism of proarrhythmic effect of RVA pacing remains unclear. Methods: We performed detailed echocardiograhic examination with Tissue Doppler Imaging in 60 pts with SSS (mean age 73A9 years, 42 F) who implanted with DDD pacemakers during atrial and ventricular pacing with atrioventricular interval programmed at 120-150 mesc (ApVp mode) and AAI mode with (ApVs mode) at 70 bpm. Echo measurements were taken after 15 mins of pacing in each mode. The myocardial atrial contraction velocity was measured at annulus of right free wall (Ra), septal (Sa) and lateral free wall (La) respectively. Results: As expected, the AV interval was significantly shorter (118A25 vs.163A45 ms, P=0.002), and QRS duration was longer (146A33 vs.97A26 ms, P,0.001) during ApVp mode as compared with ApVs mode. Although there was no significant difference in left ventricular ejection fraction, left atrial (LA) ejection fraction (50A14 vs.55A14%, P=0.005), LA active emptying fraction (32A17 vs.37A16%, P=0.018) and LA filling fraction (43A13 vs. 48A13%, P=0.007) were all significant improved by 18%, 54% and 18%, respectively during ApVs mode as compared with ApVp mode. Furthermore, atrial myocardial contraction velocities among Ra (14.0A3.8 vs.15.2A4.6cm/s, P=0.026), Sa (7.8A2.6 vs. 8.8A2.8cm/s, P=0.001), and La (8.9A3.2 vs.9.7A2.7cm/s, P=0.020) were also significantly increased during ApVs mode by 12%, 19% and 21%, respectively as compared with ApVp mode (Figure). Conclusions: In pts with SSS, avoidance of RVA pacing during ApVs mode improves LA haemodynamic and mechanical function, which might contribute to a lower risk of development of AF after pacemaker implantation. P773Qualitative and quantitative assessment of 3 novel post-processing methods for enhancing echocardiographic images. Echocardiography, while a prevalent tool for assessing cardiac morphology and function, suffers from a range of artefacts that reduce its diagnostic value. This work qualitatively and quantitatively evaluates 3 novel post-processing methods for enhancing echocardiographic images. Data enhancement is achieved by utilising multiple partially decorrelated instances of a cardiac cycle acquired through a single acoustic window. Such information has until now been largely disregarded during data post-processing. Moreover, unlike past approaches, data enhancement is achieved without filtering out information based on static or adaptive selection criteria. Qualitative assessment using 32 clinical datasets demonstrated (i) suppression of cavity noise, (ii) increase in tissue/cavity contrast, and (iii) visual enhancement of tissue structures previously masked-out by various artefacts (Figure 1). The effect of each post-processing method on the diagnostic value of cardiac ultrasound data was quantitatively assessed by examining the repeatability coefficient variations (via Bland-Altman plots) in clini...

Bevezetés: A társadalom elöregedése és a vizsgálómódszerek javulása következtében az aortabillentyű-szűkület az egyik leggyakrabban diagnosztizált felnőttkori, szerzett szívbetegség. Különböző műtéti technikák alakultak ki, amelyek kivitelezéséhez a standard median sternotomiából végzett feltárás vált gyakorlattá. A kardiológia intervenciós technikáinak gyors fejlődése arra ösztönzi a szívsebészeti tevékenységet, hogy ugyanazt a műtéti minőséget az invazivitás csökkentése mellett nyújtsa. Célkitűzés: Célunk a vizsgált időszakban a teljes, median sternotómiából végzett aortabillentyű-műtét (AVR) és a partialis sternotomiából (mini-AVR) végzett, izolált aortabillentyű-műtétek összehasonlítása a pre-, intra- és posztoperatív eredmények tekintetében. Betegek és módszer: Kutatásunkban a Gottsegen György Országos Kardiovaszkuláris Intézetben végzett izolált aortabillentyű-műtéteket vizsgáltuk 2019. január és 2020. március között (99 AVR és 151 mini-AVR). Mini-AVR során a szegycsontot J-ministernotomiával csak a III. vagy IV. bordaközig nyitjuk meg, míg a klasszikus feltárás során a szegycsontot teljes hosszában választjuk szét. Eredmények: A vérfelhasználás (egység) (AVR: 2,90 [2,90]; mini-AVR: 1,85 [2,12]; p<0,05), a kórházban eltöltött napok száma (AVR: 9,75 [2,99]; mini-AVR: 8,85 [2,85]; p<0,05) és a műtéti idő hossza (perc) (AVR: 148,49 [34,4]; mini-AVR: 134,6 [34,8]; p<0,05) tekintetében kedvezőbb volt a mini-AVR-csoport. A preoperatív változók tekintetében nem volt homogén a két csoport, ezért korrigáltuk az erős prediktív változókat. Ezáltal a biostatisztikai értelemben vett szignifikanciaszintek eltűntek, azonban egyértelmű lett a trend a minimálinvazív műtétek javára. Következtetés: Vizsgálatunk során a mini-AVR-műtét költséghatékonyabb beavatkozásnak bizonyult a kisebb műtéti trauma, a csökkent vérfelhasználás és a rövidebb műtéti idő tekintetében a standard beavatkozással szemben. Orv Hetil. 2022; 163(35): 1394–1401.