Massimiliano Foschi

From bench to bedside: Can the improvements in left ventricular assist device design mitigate adverse events and increase survival?

OBJECTIVE In vitro tests demonstrated that the new cone-bearing configuration of the Jarvik 2000 (Jarvik Heart Inc, New York, NY) left ventricular assist device exhibits better hydraulic efficiency than the previous pin-bearing design. We investigated the long-term outcomes of patients who received the Jarvik 2000 left ventricular assist device, depending on bearing design. METHODS A retrospective review of prospectively collected data from 18 centers included in the Italian Registry was performed. From May 2008 to September 2013, 99 patients with end-stage heart failure were enrolled. Patients were divided into 2 groups according to their Jarvik 2000 suspending mechanism: Group pin included patients with pin bearings (May 2008 to June 2010), and group cone included patients with newer cone bearings (July 2010 to September 2013). The 2 groups did not differ significantly in terms of baseline characteristics. RESULTS A total of 30 of 39 patients (group pin) and 46 of 60 patients (group cone) were discharged. During follow-up, 6 patients underwent transplantation, and in 1 patient the left ventricular assist device was explanted. The cumulative incidence competing risk of the entire cohort for noncardiovascular-related death was 28% (20%-40%); the cumulative incidence competing risk for cardiovascular-related death was 56% (42%-73%): 71% in group pin versus 26% in group cone (P = .034). The multivariate analyses confirmed that the pin-bearing design was a risk factor for cardiovascular death, along with Interagency Registry for Mechanically Assisted Circulatory Support class. Right ventricular failures and ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes were significantly higher in group pin. CONCLUSIONS Patients with the new pump configuration showed a better freedom from cardiovascular death and lower incidence of fatal stroke and right ventricular failure. Further studies are needed to prove the favorable impact of pump-enhanced fluid dynamics on long-term results.

Additive and independent prognostic role of abnormal right ventricle and pulmonary hypertension in mitral-tricuspid surgery

OBJECTIVE To evaluate the additive and independent prognostic value of abnormal right ventricle (aRV) and pulmonary hypertension (PH) in patients undergoing mitral-tricuspid surgery. METHODS From January 2009 to December 2012, 541 patients underwent mitro-tricuspid surgery. The entire cohort was divided into 6 subgroups: 63 cases had normal RV and no PH (Group A), 180 normal RV but moderate PH (Group B), 101 normal RV but severe PH (Group C), 15 abnormal RV and no-PH (Group D), 86 abnormal RV and moderate PH (Group E) and 96 abnormal RV and severe PH (Group F). RESULTS Forty-two (7.8%) patients died in hospital due to any cause: 1.6% in group A, 3.9% in group B, 8.9% in group C, 13.3% in group D, 9.3% in group E, 15.6% in group E, p = 0.005. Among 78 patients with no-PH, mortality was significantly higher in patients with aRV (1.6%vs 13.3%. p = 0.03). Among 344 patients with normal RV, mortality was significantly higher in patients with severe PH (1.6% vs 3.9% vs 8.9%. p = 0.03). Comparing the presence of both abnormal RV and severe PH with the remaining patients, mortality was significantly higher in the first group (15.6% 6.1%, p = 0.004). Multivariable analysis confirmed either the independent or the additive role of RV and PH. CONCLUSIONS In patients undergoing mitral-tricuspid valve surgery, the presence of either RV dysfunction/dilatation or severe pulmonary hypertension, might play an independent prognostic role for mortality. The worst scenario is surely the contemporary presence of both conditions.

Intraoperative graft verification in coronary surgery.

Transit-time flow measurement (TTFM) is a reliable method to check the graft function intraoperatively in coronary surgery. The given parameters are: Mean Graft Flow (MGF); Pulsatility Index (PI) and Insufficiency Ratio (%BF). Some cutoffs of these parameters have been identified as predictors for unfair 1-y clinical outcome: mean graft flow (MGF) less than 20 ml/min and high pulsatility index greater than 5. Other cutoffs have been found as related to postoperative angiography: MGF 15 ml/min or less and pulsatility index at least 3 (sensitivity 94%; specificity 61%); MGF less than 15 ml/min and pulsatility index greater than 3 for left coronary artery or pulsatility index greater than 5 for right coronary artery (sensitivity 96%; specificity 77%); MGF 15 ml/min or less and pulsatility index at least 5.1 left coronary artery (sensitivity 98%; specificity 26%). Hence, with the need to improve the diagnostic accuracy of TTFM, high-resolution epicardic coronary ultrasound module has been added to graft flow evaluation providing 2D ultrasound imaging (either in short-axis or long-axis) and color-flow mapping, allowing an accurate morphological evaluation of body graft and anastomosis. An intraoperative method aimed to verify coronary grafts should be easy to handle, not time consuming, minimally invasive, easily meaningful and relatively cheap; in addition, it should offer objective parameters more than qualitative criteria. We herein report the results of our experience with intraoperative graft verification with TTFM and high-resolution imaging along with a systematic review of the literature in this field with the aim to provide a road map to be followed.

The Dark Side of the Moon: The Right Ventricle

The aim of this review article is to summarize current knowledge of the pathophysiology underlying right ventricular failure (RVF), focusing, in particular, on right ventricular assessment and prognosis. The right ventricle (RV) can tolerate volume overload well, but is not able to sustain pressure overload. Right ventricular hypertrophy (RVH), as a response to increased afterload, can be adaptive or maladaptive. The easiest and most common way to assess the RV is by two-dimensional (2D) trans-thoracic echocardiography measuring surrogate indexes, such as tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE), fractional area change (FAC), and tissue Doppler velocity of the lateral aspect of the tricuspid valvular plane. However, both volumes and function are better estimated by 3D echocardiography and cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR). The prognostic role of the RV in heart failure (HF), pulmonary hypertension (PH), acute myocardial infarction (AMI), and cardiac surgery has been overlooked for many years. However, several recent studies have placed much greater importance on the RV in prognostic assessments. In conclusion, RV dimensions and function should be routinely assessed in cardiovascular disease, as RVF has a significant impact on disease prognosis. In the presence of RVF, different therapeutic approaches, either pharmacological or surgical, may be beneficial.

Intraoperative imaging to detect coronary stenosis in no-angiography patients

Sometimes, patients scheduled for cardiac operations other than coronary artery bypass may be unsuitable for preoperative coronary angiography. We routinely use intraoperative high-resolution epicardial ultrasound to select the proper target for the graft and to check graft anastomosis integrity. We describe 3 patients who could not undergo preoperative coronary angiography for different reasons. In all cases, we discovered significant stenosis in the left anterior descending coronary artery, which required bypass grafting. Intraoperative verification by transit-time flow measurements confirmed the significant stenosis detected by imaging.

Corticosteroid prophylaxis for fetal immaturity in a pregnant patient with atrial myxoma

We report a case of a woman at 32nd gestational week, admitted for resting dyspnea, showing left atrial (LA) myxoma. Cardiac myxomas are the most common primary benign tumors of the heart. The incidence of cardiac myxomas diagnosed in pregnancy is extremely low. In the present case, cesarean delivery and concomitant surgical resection of LA myxoma were both delayed after corticosteroid prophylaxis in order to reduce neonatal cerebral, intestinal, and pulmonary complications. <Learning objective: The rarity of these cases makes the management more related to anecdotal experiences. In our case, the gestational age was lower than 34th week, but the fetus was sufficiently large to be delivered before heart surgery with low risk of prematurity complications after an adequate corticosteroid prophylaxis. A waiting approach with several days of corticosteroid prophylaxis was successfully adopted. When the pregnant hemodynamics are stable with low risk of complications, heart surgery should be delayed after corticosteroid prophylaxis.>.

Gender and surgical revascularization: there is a light at the end of the tunnel?

Female sex is perceived as an important risk factor for surgery and is included in the most diffused operative risk scores, as EuroSCORE II (1) and STS score (2). In a recent paper, it was again emphasized that in a ‘real world’ unselected cohort of patients who underwent myocardial revascularization, survival was superior as well as the rate of major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) was inferior with coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) rather than with percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) in men, but not in women. Outcomes of women were worse than men and were equivalent with both procedure (3).

Corrigendum to “A predictive model for early mortality after surgical treatment of heart valve or prosthesis infective endocarditis. The EndoSCORE”. [Int. J. Cardiol. Aug 15 2017;241:97-102.]

Michele Di Mauro ⁎, Guglielmo Mario Actis Dato , Fabio Barili , Sandro Gelsomino , Pasquale Santè , Alessandro Della Corte , Antonio Carrozza , Ester Della Ratta , Diego Cugola , Lorenzo Galletti , Roger Devotini , Riccardo Casabona , Francesco Santini , Antonio Salsano , Roberto Scrofani , Carlo Antona , Luca Botta , Claudio Russo , Samuel Mancuso , Mauro Rinaldi , Carlo De Vincentiis , Andrea Biondi , Cesare Beghi , Giangiuseppe Cappabianca , Vincenzo Tarzia , Gino Gerosa , Michele De Bonis , Alberto Pozzoli , Francesco Nicolini , Filippo Benassi , Francesco Rosato , Elena Grasso , Ugolino Livi , Sandro Sponga , Davide Pacini , Roberto Di Bartolomeo , Andrea DeMartino , Uberto Bortolotti , Francesco Onorati , Giuseppe Faggian , Roberto Lorusso , Enrico Vizzardi , Gabriele Di Giammarco , Daniele Marinelli , Emmanuel Villa , Giovanni Troise , Marco Picichè , Francesco Musumeci , Domenico Paparella , Vito Margari , Francesco Tritto , Girolamo Damiani , Giuseppe Scrascia , Salvatore Zaccaria , Attilio Renzulli , Giuseppe Serraino , Giovanni Mariscalco , Daniele Maselli , Massimiliano Foschi , Alessandro Parolari , Giannantonio Nappi ,

Recombinant activated factor VII is associated with postoperative thromboembolic adverse events in bleeding after coronary surgery

OBJECTIVES To evaluate the impact of recombinant activated factor VII (rFVIIa) administration on thromboembolic adverse events (TAEs) in coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery patients showing postoperative bleeding. METHODS From January 2004 to May 2015, 180 CABG surgery patients with postoperative bleeding were included in the study. All patients were managed conservatively and 81 (45%) also received rFVIIa. RESULTS Ten patients developed new TAEs (5.6%), 15 (8.3%) were re-explored, 4 (2.2%) had postoperative dialysis and 6 (3.3%) died by day 30 postoperation. Among those with TAEs, 7 experienced cerebrovascular accidents, 2 had myocardial infarction and 1 had pulmonary embolism. A multivariable regression model confirmed rFVIIa as the only independent factor associated with the development of TAEs (odds ratio 6.19, 95% confidence interval 1.197-31.996; P = 0.0296). Fifteen (8.3%) patients were re-explored for bleeding according to our management protocol. No variables to predict the need for re-exploration were identified by the regression model. Chest tube output was statistically significantly lower in patients who received rFVIIa from 3 h [1.9 (Q1-Q3 1.7-2.1) ml/kg/h vs 3.2 (Q1-Q3 3-3.4) ml/kg/h, P = 0.000] through to 12 h after admission [0.6 (Q1-Q3 0.5-0.6) ml/kg/h vs 0.7 (Q1-Q3 0.6-0.9) ml/kg/h, P = 0.000]. CONCLUSIONS rFVIIa for the treatment of post-CABG bleeding resulted in increased incidence of TAEs in spite of rapid control of bleeding. Hence, rFVIIa should only be used for selected patients and with extreme caution.

A shot in the dark… the nth shot!

From the Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery, API Madonna del Ponte Institute, Lanciano; Cardiovascular Disease Department, SS Annunziata Hospital and University of Chieti, Chieti; and Cardiac Surgery, Pope John Paul II Foundation, Campobasso, Italy. Disclosures: Authors have nothing to disclose with regard to commercial support. Received for publication Oct 2, 2017; accepted for publication Oct 6, 2017. Address for reprints: Michele Di Mauro, MD, PhD, Cardiology and Cardiac Surgery, API Madonna del Ponte Institute, Viale Cappuccini 50, Lanciano (CH) 66034, Italy (E-mail: mdimauro1973@gmail.com). J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2017;-:1-2 0022-5223/