Preoperative evaluation is crucial for heart valvular surgery. This article discusses some issues that need to be emphasized: the impact of hypertension on the severity of aortic valve lesions, and how to improve the accuracy of clinical assessment; the identification of functional tricuspid regurgitation, in order to choose the appropriate surgical technique; the need for right ventricular function testing, and the use of risk scoring models, to better grasp surgical timing and indications and improve efficacy; and the importance of evaluating atrial mitral and/or tricuspid regurgitation complications in chronic atrial fibrillation, and making rational choices for interventional and surgical treatment.
Abstract： Quality of life （QOL） refers to an individual’s perception and subjective evaluation of their health and well-being, and has become an important index to evaluate the outcomes of clinical treatment in the last past decades. There are a large number of different instruments to evaluate QOL, and the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey （SF-36） is currently one of the most widely used instruments. In recent years, SF-36 has been used to evaluate QOL of valvular heart disease patients to investigate the risk factors those influence their postoperative QOL, provide more preoperative evaluation tools for clinical physicians, and improve postoperative outcomes of patients with valvular heart disease. However, it is now just the beginning to use SF-36 to examine QOL of valvular heart disease patients. Because of significant differences in sample size, follow-up period, country and culture, current research has some controversial results. This review focuses on the progress in evaluating QOL in postoperative patients with valvular heart disease using SF-36.
Early enteral nutrition after cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) has been shown to have beneficial effects on intestinal integrity, lower mortality and also on the patient’s immunocompetence. Even in critical patients after CPB, enteral nutrition should be reasonable to start early and also be supplemented by parenteral nutrition in order to meet energy requirement. We conclude that enteral nutrition is preferable in the majority of patients with severe hemodynamic failure, but gastrointestinal complication and hypocaloric feeding should be simultaneously noticed. This paper comprehensively described enteral nutrition’s protective mechanism and effects on digestive system, enteral nutrition’s implementing methods after CPB, and problems or prospects needing attention in execution.
Objective To elucidate the protective effect of leukocyte depletion on the myocardium during the settings of myocardial reperfusion injury. Methods Twenty patients undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass with continuous infusion of blood cardioplegia were randomized into two groups:the control group (n=10) with no leukocyte depletion filter used, and the experimental group (n=10) with the use of leukocyte depletion filter on the bypass circuit. The blood cells count before and after the filtration were measure...
Objective To improve the surgical results of infective endocarditis, the results and methods of aortic root replacement in patients with severe aortic valve infective or prosthetic valve endocarditis were summarized. Methods From Sept.1995 to June 2008, there were 11 patients with severe aortic valve endocarditis treated surgically, included 6 active endocarditis and 5 healed endocarditis. Preoperative arterial blood bacterial culture were positive in 6 patients. Preoperative echocardiography showed all patients had various degree of aortic regurgitation or paraprosthetic leakage, left ventricular endsystolic diameter(LVESD) was 6.0±0.7cm, LVESD was equal or greater than 5.5cm in 7 patients, left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was 47.8%±11.2％, and LVEF was equal or less than 50% in 8 patients. After careful debridement, composite conduit (9 patients) or cryopreserved allograft (2 patients) was used to replace the aortic root. Concomitant procedures were coronary artery bypass grafting in 4 patients, mitral annuloplasty in 3 patients, and ventricular septal defect repair in 1 patient. Results There was one patient died of postoperative cardiac arrest, one patient had Ⅲ° atrioventricular block and pacemaker implanted. Ten patients were followed up, followup time were from 3 months to 13.2 years. During the followup period, one patient had recurrence of endocarditis and died, others survived uneventually. Conclusion Aortic root replacement must be considered in following patients: endocarditis combined with root aneurysm or sinus aneurysm, infectious disease involved in sinus wall or nearby coronary ostia, annulus impairment and severe destructive annulus after debridement. The key points of the surgery are debriding the infectious tissue completely, preventing aortic root bleeding. Although the root replacement is relatively complex, the surgical results could be improved after complete debridement of infectious tissue.
Objective To investigate the treatment and prognosis of moderate ischemic mitral regurgitation (IMR) in coronary artery disease(CAD). Methods From January 1998 to May 2006, 28 patients of CAD with moderate IMR underwent coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) and mitral valve plasty(MVP, 24) or mitral valve replacement (MVR,4). The Reed method were used in 9 cases, the annuloplasty ring were used in 15 cases. Mechanical valve were implanted in 1 case and biological valve in 3 cases. Results There was no operative or hospital death. Twentysix patients were followed up to a mean period of 41 months. There were two late death(one was MVP, the other was MVR). In MVP cases, nineteen patients were in New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class Ⅰ and Ⅱ, 3 in class Ⅲ, which was better than that of preoperative one. Ultrasonic cardiography (UCG) examination showed no mitral regurgitation in 5 cases, mild in 7, light in 6, moderate in 3, severe in 1. Left atrial volume (LAV) and left ventricular enddiastolic volume (LVEDV) were 54.1±12.7ml and 60.9±14.8 ml, decreased more significantly than that preoperatively (Plt;0.05). In MVR cases, 2 cases were survival and followed. One patient was in NYHA functional class Ⅰ, 1 in class Ⅱ, which was better than that of preoperative one. Conclusion Moderate IMR with CAD should be treated carefully. MVP with annuloplasty ring have better early results. For patients with bad heart function and abnormal left ventricular wall motion, the late results need more studies.