[One-year outcome of Senning operation in children with transposition of the great vessels]

Nowadays, the treatment of choice for anatomical correction of transposition of great arteries is arterial switch but some children are not good candidates for this operation. In these cases atrial switch or Senning procedure is an accepted method, thus outcome of this procedure needs to be better delineated. This prospective study included 65 patients that underwent Senning operation in Shahid Rajaee Hospital in Tehran, Iran from 2002 to 2009 and were followed-up for one year. The early and late mortality rates were 16.9% and 1.5%, respectively. 51.8% of early deaths were due to simple Senning procedure, 38.9% due to a Senning with the closure of ventricular septal defect, with or without the repair of pulmonary artery stenosis, 9.3% related to palliative Senning and one late death due to simple Senning. The most common arrhythmia was accelerated junctional rhythm [18.5%]. 15% of cases had Senning pathway obstruction and 1.7% had baffle leaks. Regardless of the mortalities, three patients [5.7%] had significant tricuspid regurgitation. Right ventricular systolic dysfunction was found in 13.3% of the cases, primarily in Senning with ventricular septal defect closure [37.5%]. One case [1.9%] had visible cyanosis and three [5.7%] had exertional dyspnea but 94.3% of cases remained in functional class I. Since the majority of deaths following Senning procedure occur during the first month, especially on the second day post-operatively, assiduity during early post-operative period is crucial. Tricuspid regurgitation or right ventricular systolic dysfunction was not detected in most patients, suggesting optimistic prognosis for these patients

Effects of age progression on apoptosis of ventricular cardiomyocyte of rats

Increased oxidative stress with increasing age is a source of damage to cellular structure and function. Tissue with few or no cell divisions, such as heart is theoretically more susceptible to accumulative damage caused by oxidative stress. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of age progression on apoptosis rate of rat hearts. In this experimental study, Forty eight male Wistar rats [three months old and body mass of 230 +/- 14 g] were randomly assigned to four groups, 6, 9, 12 and 15 months of age. Six hearts of each group were assigned to apoptosis analysis by TUNEL method and fixed in 10% formalin. Six remaining hearts of each group were washed out and homogenized in ice cold buffer and the supernatant were assigned to apoptosis analysis by ELISA method. The results of TUNEL and ELISA apoptosis detection showed that the rates of apoptosis were increased with age in 12 and 15 months groups compared to 6 months rats [p<0.05 and p<0.01, respectively]. Moreover the results of TUNEL method depicts a significant increase in apoptosis rate in 9 months group compared to 6 months group [p<0.05]. These results suggest that the age of animals might be important factor in the increase of the heart apoptosis rate