Miguel Angel Maluf

Cytokines and pediatric open heart surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass

It is well known that, subsequent to cardiopulmonary bypass, and particularly in children, an inflammatory response within the body can often result in a characteristic syndrome. Recently, it has been suggested that this phenomenon is due to a systemic inflammatory response, with significant involvement of cytokines. With this in mind, we investigated the behavior of tumour necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-6 during the operative and in the immediate postoperative period in a group of children submitted to open heart surgery. We investigated any possible relation between the levels of these cytokines in the serum and the length of cardiopulmonary bypass, with the serum levels of lactate, and with the extent of use of inotropic drugs in postoperative period. The cytokines were measured in samples withdrawn after induction of anesthesia, after 10 minutes of cardiopulmonary bypass, after re-establishment of circulation, and then 2 and 24 hours after the end of cardiopulmonary bypass. The levels of tumour necrosis factor-alpha and interleukin-6 increased between the beginning and at two hours of the end of cardiopulmonary bypass. There was no correlation between the levels of these cytokines in the serum and the length of cardiopulmonary bypass, although there was a positive relation between levels of interleukin-6 and lactate in samples withdrawn at two hours of the end of bypass, and the measured levels of the cytokines correlated with the extent of inotropic drugs employed in the postoperative period.

Reconstruction of the pulmonary valve and outflow tract with bicuspid prosthesis in tetralogy of Fallot

BACKGROUND Right ventricular outflow tract and pulmonary valve implant in patients with tetralogy of Fallot may be required to avoid late postoperative right ventricular impairment. The use of porcine bicuspid prosthesis might be a technical alternative, although comprehensive studies on the long-term use of these prostheses are not available. METHODS Sixty-three patients (aged 5 months to 34 years; mean, 6 years) with tetralogy of Fallot and pulmonary hypoplasia underwent surgical repair and enlargement of the right ventricular outflow using preserved porcine pulmonary bicuspid prostheses. Fifty-two patients (82.5%) were followed and underwent clinical evaluation and serial Doppler echocardiography. The first 15 patients (29.4%), with ages ranging from 5 to 16 years (mean, 8.2 years) and postoperative follow-up of 48 to 87 months (mean, 65.1 months) underwent hemodynamic and cineangiographic evaluations. RESULTS There were 11 deaths (17.4%) in the early postoperative period. Of the 52 surviving patients (82.5%), 51 (80.9%) were followed for 1 to 87 months (mean, 42.0 months). Four patients (7.6%) had additional treatment. Of the 15 patients (29.1%) undergoing hemodynamic evaluation, 9 (60%), had mild valvular pulmonary insufficiency and 6 (40%) had moderate insufficiency. Only the right ventricle-to-pulmonary artery pressure gradients and the right ventricular ejection fraction showed statistically significant differences between groups. Right ventricular dimension, although increased in all patients, did not show statistically significant differences. CONCLUSIONS Right ventricular outflow tract and pulmonary valve repair in patients with tetralogy of Fallot using a bicuspid porcine pulmonary prosthesis is a simple, reliable procedure with good results in postoperative medium term follow-up.

One and a half ventricular repair as an alternative for hypoplastic right ventricle

OBJECTIVE Patients with complex congenital heart disease, characterized by right ventricle hypoplasia, had a palliative surgical option with one and a half ventricular repair. METHODS From July 2001 to March 2009, nine patients (mean age 5.2 years, range 3 to 9 years) with hypoplastic right ventricle, underwent correction with one and a half ventricle technique. Preoperative diagnoses included: pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum, in six and Ebsteins anomaly, in three cases. Six patients had bidirectional cavo-pulmonary shunt (Glenn operation) previously. The surgical approach was performed with cardiopulmonary bypass to correct intracardiac defects: atrial septal defect closure (nine cases); right ventricle outlet tract reconstruction with porcine pulmonary prosthesis (seven cases); tricuspid valvuloplasty (three cases). RESULTS There was one (11.1%) hospital death. All the patients left the hospital in good clinical conditions. One patient presented pulmonary stenosis at distal prosthesis anastomosis and needed surgical correction. There was one (12.5%) late deaths after reoperation. At mean follow-up of 39.8 months (range 16 months to 8.4 years) seven patients are alive in functional class I (NYHA). CONCLUSIONS Surgical treatment of congenital cardiac anomalies in the presence of a hypoplastic right ventricle by means of one and a half ventricle repair has the advantages of reducing the surgical risk of biventricular repair compared to the Fontan circulation; it maintains a low right atrium pressure, a pulsatile pulmonary blood flow and improves the systemic oxygen saturation with short and medium-term promising results. Longer follow-up is needed to prove the efficacy of such a repair in the long term.

Avaliação dos resultados tardios da operação de derivação cavo-pulmonar bidirecional, no tratamento paliativo de cardiopatias congênitas com câmara ventricular única

From March 1990 to January 1994, 17 patients 1 to 13 years old (mean 7 years), who had congenital heart disease with functional isolated ventricular chamber, were submitted to bidirectional cavopulmonary shunts. Nine cases had Tricuspid Atresia (TA) (7 type Ib, 1 type Ic and 1 type IIb). Five cases had Double Inlet Right ventricle (Dl RV); two cases had multiple Ventricular Septal Defects (VSD) plus RV hypoplasia. One case had pulmonary atresia with Intact Ventricular septum (PA/IVS). Nine (52,9%) patients had been submitted, to previous paliative operations. The operations in 12 (70,5%) cases were with extracorporeal circulation (ECC) and in 5 (29,4%) cases with superior vena cava (SVC) to right atrio (RA) temporary shunt. In all cases the SVC was anastomosed to right pulmonary artery (RPA) closing the pulmonary valve (PV) or linking the Blalock-Taussig shunt to interrupt the pulmonary flow. There are three (17,6%) deaths in the immediate postoperative period and 2 (14,2%) late deaths. Twelve (70,5%) patients were followed-up for 2 to 46 months. One patient was submitted to the 2 nd operation, tunnelating the inferior vena cava (IVC) to RPA, with success. The assessment of bidirectional cavopulmonary flow was made with Doppler echocardiography and magnetic resonance and the pulmonary perfusion was made with radioisotopic cintilography. The indication tor the 2 nd, operation depended on the clinical evolution and assessment of arterial saturation during the cicloergometric test. The bidirectional cavo pulmonary shunt allows the progressive adaptation of the venous flow to lung and reduced ventricular volume load, preparing the patient to total venous shunt.

Reconstituição da valva pulmonar e via de saída do ventrículo direito, com prótese bivalvular e prótese tubular valvada de tronco pulmonar de porco: estudo experimental e aplicação clínica

Obstruction of the right ventricle outlet tract (RVOT) has been the object of arguments regarding its surgical correction, while there are different criteria for reconstruction. Thus two kinds of prostheses were developed from the pig pulmonary trunk (PT). 1) One with two valves of the pulmonary valve (PV), named bivalvular graft, and could be used for correction of Fallot with pulmonary ring hypoplasia. 2) The other, with a tubular form, containing the pig PV itself and named valved conduit, could be used in RVOT reconstruction for patients with pulmonary atresia (PA). These prostheses were tested in an experimental model: implant of the bivalvular graft was performed in 16 sheep with the aid of extracorporeal circulation (ECC). The surgical technique consisted of resection of the two valves of the PV and of the anterior wall of the infundibulum; this condition was similar to Fallot correction. Implant of the valvular conduit was carried out in 12 sheep, without ECC, by direct clamping of the RV infundibulum. The PT was then ligated, deviating blood flow through the conduit. Intraoperative hemodynamics and echodoppler evaluation of the bivalvular graft showed good PV competence and only 1 case of gradient higher than 10 mmHg. Because of frequent pulmonary hemorrhage followed by death due to ECC, this group was not evaluated in the postoperative period. Intraoperative hemodynamic measurements of the valvular conduit were carried out showing good valvular competence and gradient higher than 10 mmHg in 3 cases. There was no operative mortality. Seven sheeps were followed-up during the late postoperative period with a control echodoppler on days 99 and 135 of follow-up. Gradients ranged from 9.85 to 49 mmHg (mean = 19.7). Four sheep underwent hemodynamic studies at six months of follow-up. There was a slight increase in the gradient between RV and PT (mean = 22.3 mmHg), no gradient being observed inside the conduit. Anatomopathological evaluation was performed. Clinical applications of the bivalvular prostheses was performed in 3 patients with tetralogy of Fallot and hypoplasia of the pulmonary ring (2 cases) and PV absent (1 case); they were 16,2 and 7 years old. The postoperative echodopplercardiogram showed gradients between 10 to 20 mmHg and mild pulmonary valve insufficiency. Clinical application of the valvular conduit was performed in 2 patients: 1 with pulmonary atresia and ventricular septal defect (VSD), the other with corrected transposition of the great arteries, VSD and subpulmonary stenosis (10 and 6 years old, respectively). The postoperative echodopplercardiogram showed gradients between 15 to 18 mmHg. Although the results of the experiment may be considered acceptable, reconstruction of the RVOT with the newly developed prostheses, obviously requires to be tested over time to better evaluate their resistance to calcification, infection, obstruction and rupture.

Use of Right Ventricular Remodeling Surgery with a Porcine Pulmonary Prosthesis for Congenital Heart Disease

BACKGROUND The reconstruction of the right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) in congenital heart disease has attracted the interest of cardiac surgeons determined to alleviate the anatomic obstruction and restore RV function. METHODS From June 1991 to September 2008, 203 consecutive patients (mean, 3.0 years; range, 2 months to 35 years) underwent operations. These patients were classified into 5 groups: group 1, tetralogy of Fallot with pulmonary hypoplasia (144 cases, 70.9%); group 2, pulmonary atresia (PA) with ventricular septal defect (VSD) (32 cases, 15.7%); group 3, truncus arteriosus (12 cases, 5.9%); group 4, transposition of the great arteries with left ventricular outflow tract obstructions (8 cases, 3.9%); and group 5, PA with intact ventricular septum (7 cases, 3.4%). Remodeling surgery of the RV consisted of patch closure of the VSD (n = 176), tricuspid valvoplasty repair (n = 25), infundibulum muscle resection, and reconstruction of the RVOT (all patients). The Lecompte procedure was performed in 8 patients in group 4, and the one and a half ventricle technique was performed in 7 patients in group 5. RESULTS There were 21 hospital deaths (10.3%); 180 patients (88.6%) survived. Patients were followed up from 4 to 206 months (mean, 98.0 months). Sixteen patients (8.8%) underwent reoperation for prosthesis dysfunction, with 2 in-hospital deaths (12.5%). The rest of the patients (164, 80.7%) remain free of reoperation. CONCLUSION Earlier reconstruction of the pulmonary valve and the RVOT may preserve ventricular performance for a long period. Nevertheless, the porcine pulmonary prosthesis has shown satisfactory results when it has been used for the reconstruction of different types of RV obstructions.

A cirurgia cardíaca pediátrica como atividade filantrópica no país e missão humanitária no exterior

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), out of a thousand surviving neonates at least eight present congenital heart diseases. The statistics would not be a problem if all of these children received the proper treatment. Out of the six million children that are born each year in Brazil, about 45 thousand present some type of heart malformation, but around 25 thousand of these are not submitted to surgical intervention. The most crucial thing is that 80% of the cases require operation within the six months of life. In the statistic data published annually by the National Health Organization (ANS) state that between 6,000 to 7,000 patients undergone surgical intervention in order to correct their cardiac defects each year. These data does not include the fortunate patients who do hold health insurance, operated in hospitals associated to Health Insurance Companies, but, however, they represent a very insignificant number. This reality shows that due to the fast process of technological development in medicine, the particularity of each patient has become secondary and his disease has become merely a scientific subject. The medical procedures have become, therefore, inhuman. In the same process, there have been some changes in the medical formation and in the working conditions, increasingly more and more specialized, restricting the availability of physicians for either a contact with the patient or for the search of a more specialized formation. The actual conditions in Medicine practice have not contributed for the improvement of the relationship between physicians and patients, as well as for the high quality humanized assistance. Nowadays, several actions aiming the implementation of humanitarian programs in health institutions have been proposed, especially in the Pediatric Hospital Assistance, where several projects and actions develop activities connected to plastic arts, music, theater, leisure and hobbies. The current trend of humanitarian actions being carried out in the Institutional and Inter-actional area deserves to be taken into account; as the relationship established between institution-Physicians-Patients. There are institutions that claim to be already humanized, but in some cases, this so called Humanization applies only to the improvement in the physical structure of the buildings and medical assistance aiming merely tax deduction. Undoubtedly, they are relevant measures for an institution; nevertheless, they can be merely precise factors unless they are inserted in a complex process of Humanization of Institutional relations. The considerations about the Assistance Service lead us also to Ethics. As far as Ethics are concerned, they reflect the preoccupation with the consequences of one’s conduct upon another. In order to have ethics prevail it is definitely necessary to have a conscious perception of other individuals. Therefore, if it becomes necessary to perceive others in order to have a Humanizing Assistance, it is safe to say that Humanizing Assistance and Ethics walk hand in hand.

Late outcome of right ventricular outflow tract repair using bicuspid pulmonary prosthesis in tetralogy of Fallot surgery repair: case report

We present a case of a 19 year-old female patient, with tetralogy of Fallot and hypoplastic pulmonary ring. Diagnosis was performed by echocardiography and cardiac catheterization. The surgical repair was performed at the age of 2 years old. A right ventricular outflow tract remodeling was performed using a porcine pulmonary bicuspid prosthesis. The patient presented a uneventful follow-up during 17 years. Postoperative assessment has shown: mild pulmonary insufficiency and mild pulmonary ventricle gradient, satisfactory right ventricular performance and prosthesis not presenting calcification. This is an option to correct the tetralogy of Fallot adopted by our Institution in the last two decades.

Revascularização direta do miocárdio com artéria gastro-omental esquerda: estudo anatômico e histológico e relato de caso.

The most used grafts for myocardial revascularization are saphenous vein and the internal mammary artery (IMA); long term patency studies have shown good results with IMA. The use of the gastroepiploic artery (GEA) as a graft for direct myocardial revascularization was tested in 25 cadavers, with ages varying from 23 to 84 years obtained from the Anatomy Department at the Escola Paulista de Medicina. The surgical technique consisted in cutting down the left GEA, sectioning its collaterals and cutting it off from the right GEA at the piloric zone. The diameter and length of the artery were studied. The placement of the artery in the pericardial sac was done through rotation of the pedicle in front of the diaphragm. It was possible to anastomose it to the right coronary artery or circunflex marginal. Histological studies performed on the GEA demonstrated a medial layer of the type elastic-muscular with low incidence of atherosclerosis. The clinical application of this technique was performed in a 58 years old female who had both saphenous veins completely fibrosed. The patient received three grafts: left IMA, right IMA and GEA for the left anterior descending, right coronary artery and circunflex artery, respectively. The immediate postoperative period was uneventful and she was discharged 12 days after surgery. Digital angiography was selectively performed in each of the three grafts demonstrating good patency in all of them. This is a new possibility of direct myocardial revascularization to be utilized when the usual venous grafts cannot bem employed.

Reconstrução da continuidade ventrículo-pulmonar (conexão VD-TP): técnicas e táticas cirúrgicas

The author reviews the surgical techniques utilized for reconstruction of continuity of the right ventricle and pulmonary artery trunk, giving emphasis to the different techniques and their associations, depending on the anatomy of each cardiac malformation. He illustrates two cases operated with the use of a new concept of biologic prosthesis manufactured with pig pulmonary valve and artery trunk, preserved in glutaraldheyde. There are two models: bivalvar graft and tubular valvar graft, in the present experiment. From May 91 to June 95, forty eight cases were operated. In 43 cases the bivalvar graft was used and in 5 cases the tubular valvar graft was used. There were 5 deaths (10.4%) in the early postoperative period and 2 cases (4.6%) in the late period. This new concept of reconstruction of pulmonary valve and outlet of the right ventricle using integral biological graft, avoided pulmonary obstruction, insufficiency, and low incidence of calcification. This technique is easily reproduced.