Effects of intraoperative graft flow measurements on the early mid-term outcomes after off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting / 北京大学学报(医学版)

OBJECTIVE@#To investigate and analyze the relationship between intraoperative graft flow measurements and the early mid-term outcomes after off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCAB).@*METHODS@#Patients who underwent isolated OPCAB in the Department of Cardiac Surgery of Peking University People's Hospital from January 2013 to June 2016 were included. Perioperative characteristics, graft flow measurements and postoperative follow-up outcomes were retrospectively collected. Comparison was made between flow measurements of grafts and the early mid-term outcomes. Flow measurements of grafts included the mean flow (MF) and the pulsatility index (PI). The early outcomes included peri-operative myocardial infarction (PMI), use of an intra-aortic balloon pump (IABP), reoperation for all causes, new-onset atrial fibrillation and in-hospital or 30-day mortality.@*RESULTS@#A total of 463 patients were included in the study. Mean age was (62.80±8.36) years, and 24.8% were females. The total number of grafts was 1 435, which averaged 3.10 grafts per patient. The MF and PI were separately (32.34±14.45) mL/min and 2.87±0.92. Of all the patients, 23(5%) had PMI, and 11 used IABP. Observed in-hospital or 30-day mortality was 0.86% (4 patients). Compared with non-PMI group, the MF was lower and the PI was higher in the PMI group (P<0.05). However, the differences of other early outcomes had no statistical significance between the PMI group and the non-PMI group. The lower MF (Wald=5.684, P=0.017, 95%CI: 0.894-0.989) and the higher PI (Wald=9.040, P=0.003, 95%CI: 1.252-2.903) were risk factors of PMI in multivariable Logistic regression modeling. The longest follow-up time was 37 months, and 7 patients died. The differences of graft flow measurements between the surviving group and the nonsurvivors had no statistical significance, but overall mid-term survival was lower in patients with poor left internal mammary artery (LIMA) to left anterior descending artery (LAD) graft flow (MF<10 mL/min; OR=9.6, P<0.05).@*CONCLUSION@#Intraoperative graft flow parameters during OPCAB can predict the early mid-term outcomes. The lower MF and the higher PI should increase the rate of PMI. A lower flow of LIMA to LAD graft (<10 mL/min) should increase the rate of midterm mortality, but further research will be needed to confirm and explore the findings.

Impact of Cannulation Strategies on Veno-arterial Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Complications--A Single Center Retrospective Study / 中国循环杂志

Objectives: To observe the impact of cannulation strategies on veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VA-ECMO) complications. Methods: A total of 37 patients with refractory heart failure (HF) treated in our hospital from 2007 to 2016 were enrolled. All patients received VA-ECMO with ipsilateral femoral artery and vein cannulation and they were divided into 2 groups: Direct cannulation group, patients received open surgery for femoral artery and vein cannulation directly, based on downstream leg ischemia condition, ARROW sheath was used in ECMO pipeline to establish collateral circulation, n=21 and "Chimney technique" group, patients received femoral vessel cannulation as a graft of 8 mm Dacron artificial vessel was end-to-side anastomosed to the host femoral artery, then was connected to the host femoral vein directly, n=16. Prior ECMO clinical condition, time of cannulation, duration of VA-ECMO, the mean amounts of daily bleeding and transfusion, downstream leg ischemia condition and in-hospital mortality were observed and compared between 2 groups. Results: Compared with Direct cannulation group, "Chimney technique" group showed the longer time of cannulation (83.54±13.2) min vs (67.33±22.4) min, P<0.05, less patients with downstream leg ischemia (6.2% vs 23.8%), less amounts of daily bleeding (210.78±180.22) ml vs (560.76±220.23) ml and transfusion (3.11±1.65) U vs (6.37±2.44) U, all P<0.01; the in-hospital mortality was similar between 2 groups (62.5% vs 61.9%), P>0.05. Conclusions: "Chimney technique" of VA-ECMO improved the downstream leg ischemia and bleeding, while the in-hospital mortality was similar to direct cannulation in relevant patients.

Association between nuclear factor of activated T cells 1 gene mutation and simple congenital heart disease in children / 中华心血管病杂志

<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To elucidate association between the mutation of nuclear factor of activated T cells 1 (NFATC1) gene in IPT-NFAT region and simple congenital heart disease (CHD) in children.</p><p><b>METHOD</b>We used polymerase chain reaction (PCR) and the sequencing reaction to detect the mutations on the patients and their parents and (or) siblings.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>PCR amplification of the exon 7 region showed that 2 bands are obtained in 58% of patients with CHD and in 74% of their healthy parents and (or) siblings. Sequencing of the 2 bands revealed that both are amplicons of the exon 7 region, and that the additional band harbors an additional 44 nucleotides segment in the intronic region. The homozygous form of this allele was only present in patients with ventricular septal defect (2/24), atrial septal defect (3/18) and bicuspid aortic valve (1/4) in which G to A transition at nucleotide 17 of the third 44 bps was found. Neither the unrelated non-CHD individuals nor the ones with other CHD showed positive presence for the homozygous form of this allele.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>There is a differential amplification of a tandem repeat region in intron 7 of NFATC1 and homozygous form of this allele in patients with ventricular septal defect, atrial septal defect and bicuspid aortic valve. NFATC1 gene may be an a susceptibility marker for ventricular septal defect, atrial septal defect and bicuspid aortic valve.</p>