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The author compares the standard technique of blood cardioplegia with a new approach with histidine-enhanced crystalloid cardioplegia. He reflects on the method of blood cardioplegic that's delivery is based on an anticipated cardiac procedure. He also mentions the methods of myocardial protection that are required to conserve the low rates of morbidity and mortality in patients presented for cardiac surgery.

In this article, the author comments on the challenges facing by surgeons regarding donor heart preservation. He states age as a significant factor for increased risk of acute graft failure as revealed by a research studies mentioning that modifying preservation solution along with some additives to it can reduce ischaemic injury after transplantation. He concludes that resuscitation and rejuvenation of aged donor hearts can be attained by perfusion during transport

Abstract: Objective: Due to modern techniques of cardio protection, less attention has been paid to aortic cross-clamp (XCL) times. However, patients with impaired cardiac contractile function are still at increased perioperative risk, which may be partially due to an increased susceptibility to myocardial ischemia. We tested whether XCL times are associated with perioperative mortality in patients with preserved versus poor left ventricular function. Methods: We determined predictors of operative mortality on all patients undergoing cardiac surgery with aortic cross-clamping in our institution between 1990 and 2003. We excluded patients with markedly prolonged XCL times (>120min, n =1426) in order to limit the effect of intraoperative technical difficulties and their known association with poor outcomes. Of the included patients (n =27,215), 99.8% received antegrade, retrograde, or combined blood cardioplegia. Results: Overall mortality was 2.2%. Multivariable analysis revealed that XCL time was an independent predictor of mortality for patients with LVEF >40% (odds ratio 1.014 per min of XCL, CI 1.01–1.02). However, XCL time was not a predictor in patients with LVEF <40%, mainly due to high mortality in patients with short XCL times. Mortality of patients with an LVEF <40% was the same or higher at cross-clamp times of 1–30min than at 91–120min. Conclusions: Despite modern techniques of cardio protection, XCL time remains an independent predictor of mortality in patients with preserved preoperative contractile function. The unexpected lack of risk prediction by aortic cross-clamp time in patients with low ejection fraction appear to be due to a high mortality rate when XCL times were short. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Current therapies for congestive heart failure are limited in efficacy or in applicability. Cardiac cell transplantation offers a novel therapeutic approach to improve heart function. Although significant progress has been made over the past decade in the development of cell transplantation, only recently have investigators studied the changes in ventricular function following cell transplantation. This review article describes the latest research developments, evaluates recent studies of ventricular function after cell transplantation, and discusses the future directions of cell transplantation as a new therapy to ‘repair broken hearts’. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The article discusses the joint statement of periodical editors on how to address duplicate publication in undersigned cardio-thoracic journals. Topics mentioned include the key reasons why redundant or duplicate publication is unethical, the use of electronic search applications and information exchange to prevent redundant publication, and the key defining elements of redundant publication.