Abstract: Coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) has become more and more popular, but how to decrease the thrombotic stenosis of saphenous vein grafts remains a tough problem clinically. Some researchers raised that aspirin resistance (AR) may be one of the most principal causes of graft thrombus and many correlative studies have been reported in recent years．In this article, we reviewed and analyzed the concept and evaluation criterion, incidence rate, mechanisms, clinic significance, and preventing strategy of AR, expecting to deepen the understanding of AR and help to optimize the antiplatelet therapy for postCABG patients with AR.
The bone marrow mononuclear cell（BMMNC） subset comprises mesenchymal stem cells, hematopoietic stem cells, endothelial progenitor cells. These cells can differentiate into cardiomyocytes, vascular endothelial cells and smooth muscle cells, and they can also release a wide array of cytokines that exert their effects on surrounding cells, including inducing neovascularization, preventing apoptosis of home cells and homing of endogenous systemic repairing cells. Many trials have been developed to evaluate the effect of bone marrow mononuclear cell transplantation in treating ischemia heart diseases in this country and others. Several routes have been used to deliver these cells to human myocardium or to the coronary circulation in these trials, such as intracoronary injection, intravenous infusion, direct injection into the ventricular wall, or transepicardial/transendocardial infusions，and the cells are constructed into fragmented cell sheets to improve cell retention, or some cytokines are used to enhance therapeutic effect. Although the results of the recent clinical trials in this area are rather conflicting, these therapeutic approaches seem to be promising forthe treatment of ischemic heart disease. In this review, many aspects of bone marrow mononuclear cell transplantation in myocardial infarction are summarized such as the mechanism, delivery routes, retaining of cells, homing, survival and future development, etc.
Magneticaly labeled stem cells and magnetic resonance imaging(MRI) technology is an effective tracking method in vivo study, which has high spatial-temporal resolution. Gadolinium, which shows positive T1 signals and iron oxide showing negative T2 signals are the two often used contrast agents. The latter also include superparamagnetic iron oxide particle and ultrasmall superparamagnetic iron oxide particle. Transfection agents, e.g. poly-L-lysine and protamine sulfate，can enhance magnetical nanoparticles labeling stem cells. The biological characteristics of labeled stem cells did not seem to be altered. MRI can detect the labeled stem cells’ signals and also can track changes of signal in intensity and size with time past. In conclusion, MRI tracking magneticaly labeled stem cells represents a method for noninvasivly monitoring the existence and migration of engrafts.
Abstract： Compared with mitral valve replacement, there areseveral advantages in mitral valvuloplasty, so recently more and more sights are caught on mitral valve repair. According to different etiology, the surgeon can apply annuloplasty, triangular resection, quadrangular resection, replacement or transposition of chordae tendineae and so on to treat mitral regurgitation(MR). With the development of minimally invasive surgical technology, robotic mitral valve reconstruction evolve rapidly and percutaneous interventional therapy also commence from lab to bedside.We believe surgeons can repair MR safely and successfully in the majority of patients with proficiency in the basic techniques.
Abstract： Objective To summarize the clinical characteristics of young patients with Stanford type A aortic dissection. Methods We retrospectively analyzed 54 patients with Stanford type A aortic dissection who received surgical treatment in General Hospital of PLA between March 2004 and June 2011. All the patients were divided into two groups: a young patient group with patients’ age less than 40 years and a control group with patients’ age more than or equal to 40 years. There were 23 patients including 17 males and 6 females with an average age of 34.2±6.3 years in the young patient group and 31 patients including 27 males and 4 females with an average age of 51.5±6.8 years in the control group. The clinical characteristics and surgical treatment outcomes of the two groups were compared. Results There was no statistical difference in cardiopulmonary bypass（CBP）time（224.4±83.1 min vs. 215.0±88.0 min, t=0.39, P=0.69） and aortic cross-clamping time（152.3±60.8 min vs. 130.9±51.2 min, t=1.34, P=0.18）between the two groups. Compared with the patients in the control group, young patients were more likely to have congenital malformations with rate at 34.7%（8/23） vs. 6.4%（2/31） with χ2=5.27, P=0.02, such as Marfan syndrome and bicuspid aortic valve. The mortality of the young patients was similar to patients in the control group at rate of 13.0%（3/23）vs.12.9%（4/31） with χ2=0.15 and P=0.69, but postoperative mental and neurological complications rate in the young patient group were less frequent than those in the control group at 4.3%（1/23）vs. 32.2%（10/31） with χ2=5.32 and P=0.02. Conclusion Young patients with Stanford type A aortic dissection have fewer cardiovascular risk factors for aortic dissection but are more likely to have congenital malformations. The surgical methods are more active for young patients with less frequency of postoperative mental and neurological complications.
Abstract: Objective To compare the midterm patency rates of individual and sequential saphenous vein grafts (SVG) as coronary bypass conduits of offpump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCAB) and evaluate the impact of the grafting techniques (individual or sequential grafts) on the graft patencyafter OPCAB. Methods The clinical data of 398 patients in General Hospital of the People’s Liberation Army receiving OPCAB with individual and sequential grafts from June 2005 to March 2009 were retrospectively analyzed. There were 301 males and 97 females with their age ranged from 53 to 82 years (63.6±10.3 years). A total of 714 distal coronary anastomoses on 448 SVG were assessed by using 64multislice computed tomography (64MSCTA) at an average of 19.8±23.6 months (3 months to 5 years) after OPCAB procedure. The blood flow of grafts in the proximal segment of individual and sequential SVG and the patency rates of grafts and anastomoses were compared, and the effect of different locations on the patency rate of the anastomoses was analyzed. Results The mean blood flow in double SVG (37.11±16.70 ml/min vs. 25.15±14.24 ml/min, P0.042) and in triple SVG (37.56±19.58 ml/min vs. 25.15±14.24 ml/min, P=0.048) were both significantly higher than the flow in single SVG. The anastomoses on the sequential conduits had better patency (95.1％ vs. 90.1％, P=0.013). The patency of sideto side anastomoses was better than that of endtoside anastomoses (97.0% vs. 93.1%, P=0.002) and that of the individual endtoside anastomoses (97.0% vs. 90.1%, P=0.041). There was no significant difference between distal anastomoses in sequential and those in single grafts (P=0.253). No significant difference was observed between the two methods in regard to the three major coronary systems (including the anterior descending branch, the right coronary artery, and the circumflex branch). However, anastomoses on sequential grafts had superior patency to those on individual grafts in the right coronary system (P=0.008). Conclusion The midterm patency of a sequential SVG conduit after OPCAB is excellent and generally superior to that of an individual one. The best runoff coronary artery should be placed at the distal end and the poor coronary vessels should be arranged in the middle of the grafts.