Transcatheter aortic valve implantation using the left transcarotid approach in patients with previous ipsilateral carotid endarterectomy.

OBJECTIVES: To assess the feasibility and safety of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) through a left transcarotid approach in patients previously operated on for ipsilateral carotid endarterectomy (CEA). BACKGROUND: The healthcare impact of extracranial carotid artery disease is essential as stroke is the third-leading cause of death in industrialized nations and CEA is often present in the history of patients awaiting TAVI. METHODS: The primary endpoint was to evaluate 30-day mortality and freedom from major TAVI-related complications in an observational analysis. RESULTS: From December 2011 to February 2014, we performed 9 TAVI. The mean age was 84.6 years. The procedure was performed without any technical complication or vascular injury in every patient. There was neither intraoperative mortality nor intraoperative major complications. One (11.1%) patient experienced spatial-temporal disorientation but cerebral computed tomography did not show any sign of stroke. Two (22.2%) patients needed the implantation of a pacemaker due to third-degree atrioventricular block appearance. Three (33.3%) patients were transfused with packed red blood cells and 1 (11.1%) patient developed a groin hematoma. Only 1 (11.1%) patient showed a residual paravalvular regurgitation ≥ 2. At 30-day follow-up there was neither mortality nor other TAVI-related complications and echocardiography parameters remained stable. CONCLUSIONS: TAVI through a left transcarotid approach in patients previously operated on for ipsilateral CEA is feasible and safe. The presence of a previous ipsilateral CEA represents no more a limitation to the utilization of this promising access route. At short-term follow-up, mortality and major complications rates are low.

Total percutaneous femoral vessels cannulation for minimally invasive mitral valve surgery.

BACKGROUND: Minimally invasive mitral valve surgery (MIMVS) has experienced several technological changes in the last two decades. Our aim was to describe one of the most recent improvements, the utilization of a total percutaneous femoral vessels cannulation technique during MIMVS. METHODS: We performed a retrospective observational analysis of this technique among 300 consecutive MIMVS patients, with particular focus on cannulation aspects of MIMVS, its success rate and potential complications. RESULTS: From October 2008 to December 2012, 300 patients (60% males) were operated on. Mean age was 62.9±16.4 years. Indications for operation included mitral valve repair (93%) and mitral valve replacement (7%). Two femoral arterial catheterizations failed and required conversion to sternotomy. The complications on the arterial side were: 5 (1.6%) cases of bleeding during the introduction of Prostar leading to a preoperative surgical hemostasis; 2 (0.6%) retroperitoneal bleeds during cardiopulmonary bypass requiring difficult surgical control but with an uneventful follow-up; 6 (2%) bleeding episodes after removal of the arterial cannula easily controlled by direct surgical revision; 1 (0.3%) arterio-venous fistula requiring a surgical correction on postoperative day 32; 1 (0.3%) patient had a transitory claudication due to a superficial femoral artery thrombosis progressively compensated by the collateral circulation. There were no postoperative bleeding complications. There were no other complications linked to the femoral cannulations or to the groin occurred during the follow-up. The percentage of uneventful arterial cannulations was 80% among the first 50 patients (N=10 out of 50) and 98.8% thereafter (N=3 out of 250). CONCLUSIONS: Total percutaneous femoral vessels cannulation technique is particularly suitable for MIMVS with a high success rate and few complications after a short learning curve. With the advent of the percutaneous approach, the traditional complications of the groin incision have completely disappeared in modern operations with no groin infection, hematoma or lymphocele.

Blood pressure and heart rate variability changes during cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass.

This study investigated patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery to evaluate the effects of cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) on the spontaneous variability of mean arterial pressure (MAP) and heart rate (HR). Forty-one adult patients receiving different cardiovascular system drugs were included in the study. Patients were divided into three groups: no preoperative pharmacological cardiovascular treatment (n = 12), beta-blocker (BB) (n = 13), and angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibition (ACEI) (n = 16). MAP was recorded before anaesthesia until the end of surgery. MAP and HR variability was analysed in very low- (VLF), low- (LF) and high-frequency bands. The LF spectral component of MAP was observed to decrease in patients under ACEI (-92%) or BB (-87%) following induction of anaesthesia. In addition, during CPB, VLF power decreased in BB group (-67%), and LF power decreased in ACEI group (-77%). Concerning HR, VLF spectral power decreased following anaesthesia in BB group (-74%). In addition, after CPB, VLF power reached lower value in ACEI group than in BB group (P < 0.05). LF spectral power of HR showed a large decrease after CPB in ACEI group (-89%). This study showed that MAP variability did not change during CPB in patients with no preoperative pharmacological cardiovascular treatment, suggesting an unaltered vascular control of MAP. Moreover, the change in LF spectral power of MAP in ACEI and BB groups, suggests that both the renin-angiotensin and sympathetic systems participate to the genesis of LF variability of MAP.

Instant centre frequency at anaesthetic induction--a new way to analyse sympathovagal balance.

The instant centre frequency (ICF) of RR interval has been proposed as a global index to analyse the sympathovagal interaction in the heart. The aim of this study was to assess the ICF during anaesthesia to test if it can reliably capture the neural control of the cardiovascular system. Twenty-four ASA II or III patients scheduled for cardiac surgery were included in the study. They were allocated in two groups: control, no treatment (group 1, n = 12), and beta-adrenergic blockade by atenolol (group 2, n = 12). Spectra of pulse interval series were computed with a time-frequency method and they were divided into: very low frequency (VLF, 0.000-0.040 Hz), low frequency (LF, 0.050-0.150 Hz) and high frequency (HF, 0.160-0.500 Hz). Normalized power was obtained by dividing the cumulative power within each frequency band (LF or HF) by the sum of LF and HF; the ratio of LF/HF was also calculated. Instant centre frequency is a time-varying parameter that the evolution along time of the gravity centrum of a local spectrum. All spectral indexes were recorded at the following time points: before induction, after induction and before intubation, during intubation, and after intubation. The atenolol group had lower normalized LF and the LF/HF ratio (P < 0.05) higher HF before induction; and lower LF/HF ratio after induction and before intubation (P < 0.05). The ICF was higher in atenolol group at all times. The ICF shifted towards HF frequency after induction and before intubation and shifted towards LF during intubation in both groups. The autonomic nervous system control on the heart through the interaction of sympathetic and parasympathetic reflex mechanisms could be studied by the ICF. The ICF may assess the autonomic cardiac modulation and may provide useful information for anaesthetic management.