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Left atrial intramural hematoma (LAIH) is an uncommon entity for which a timely diagnosis is critical for decision making. Cardiac surgical or catheter-based procedures are potential causing factors. Though cardiac computerized tomography and magnetic resonance are highly accurate diagnostic modalities, their role is limited by the lack of widespread availability. The present clinical case illustrates the diagnostic features of LAIH that can be obtained using echocardiography at the bedside in critically ill patients. We report a case of LAIH, that followed a catheter ablation procedure and was complicated by cardiac and cerebral ischemia. Cardiac surgical management was required.

Background: The aim of this multicenter prospective study was to evaluate the prognostic weight of preoperative right ventricular assessment on early mortality in cardiac surgery. Methods: This is a multicenter prospective observational study performed by the Italian Group of Research for Outcome in Cardiac Surgery (GIROC) including 11 centers. From October 2017 to March 2019, out of 923 patients undergoing cardiac surgery, 28 patients with some missing data were excluded and 895 patients were enrolled in the study right ventricular dilatation was defined as a basal end-diastolic diameter >42 mm. The right ventricle (RV) function was assessed using the combination of three parameters: fractional area changing (FAC), tricuspid annular plane systolic excursion (TAPSE), and S'-wave using tissue Doppler imaging (TDI-S'); RV dysfunction was defined as the presence of at least two of the following cutoffs: FAC

Left atrial intramural hematoma (LAIH) is an uncommon entity for which a timely diagnosis is critical for decision making. Cardiac surgical or catheter-based procedures are potential causing factors. Though cardiac computerized tomography and magnetic resonance are highly accurate diagnostic modalities, their role is limited by the lack of widespread availability. The present clinical case illustrates the diagnostic features of LAIH that can be obtained using echocardiography at the bedside in critically ill patients. We report a case of LAIH, that followed a catheter ablation procedure and was complicated by cardiac and cerebral ischemia. Cardiac surgical management was required.

Acute Kidney Injury (AKI) after cardiac surgery is a complication influencing postoperative outcome. Preoperative hemoglobin is a predictor of postoperative AKI. We aimed to identify preoperative predictors of Renal Replacement Therapy (RRT) and to develop a new risk-scoring system including hemoglobin to better stratify the risk of events.We evaluated 3288 consecutive patients of the Regional Cardiac Surgery Registry of Puglia operated in 2011-2012. Chronic dialysis and renal transplantation patients were excluded. Primary outcome was post-operative RRT incidence.The study sample was divided in two cohorts: 1642 patients (70 RRT) operated during the year 2011 as derivation cohort and 1646 patients (69 RRT) of the year 2012 as validation. In a multivariable logistic regression model using a stepwise method, six preoperative risk factors were associated with RRT in the derivation cohort: creatinine clearance, preoperative hemoglobin, neurological dysfunction, left ventricular ejection fraction, urgency and combined procedures (discrimination c-index 0.844 and 0.818 in the validation cohort). Scoring system included risk factors obtained from derivation cohort adjusting their relative weight with updated rounded coefficients in the validation cohort: creatinine clearance50ml/min (1 point), hemoglobin≤12.5g/dl (1 point), left ventricular ejection fraction≤30% (1 point), urgent operation (1 point), emergency-salvage surgery (2 points), and combined procedures (1 point). In both cohorts, outcomes were strongly correlated with score points.Our simple bedside prognostic score demonstrates good performance in predicting RRT. Hemoglobin plays an important role and future studies will clarify if preoperative anemia correction will lead to decreased RRT risk.

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate performance of the European System for Cardiac Operation Risk Evaluation (EuroSCORE II), to assess the influence of model updating and to derive a hierarchical tree for modelling the relationship between EuroSCORE II risk factors and hospital mortality after cardiac surgery in a large prospective contemporary cohort of consecutive adult patients. METHODS: Data on consecutive patients, who underwent on-pump cardiac surgery or off-pump coronary artery bypass graft intervention, were retrieved from Puglia Adult Cardiac Surgery Registry. Discrimination, calibration, re-estimation of EuroSCORE II coefficients and hierarchical tree analysis of risk factors were assessed. RESULTS: Out 6293 procedures, 6191 (98.4%) had complete data for EuroSCORE II assessment with a hospital mortality rate of 4.85% and EuroSCORE II of 4.40 ± 7.04%. The area under the receiver operator characteristic curve (0.830) showed good discriminative ability of EuroSCORE II in distinguishing patients who died and those who survived. Calibration of EuroSCORE II was preserved with lower predicted than observed risk in the highest EuroSCORE II deciles. At logistic regression analysis, the complete revision of the model had most of reestimated regression coefficients not statistically different from those in the original EuroSCORE II model. When missing values were replaced with the mean EuroSCORE II value according to urgency and weight of intervention, the risk score confirmed discrimination and calibration obtained over the entire sample. A recursive tree-building algorithm of EuroSCORE II variables identified three large groups (55.1, 17.1 and 18.1% of procedures) with low-to-moderate risk (observed mortality of 1.5, 3.2 and 6.4%) and two groups (3.8 and 5.9% of procedures) at high risk (mortality of 14.6 and 32.2%). Patients with low-to-moderate risk had good agreement between observed events and predicted frequencies by EuroSCORE II, whereas those at greater risk showed an underestimation of expected mortality. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that EuroSCORE II is a good predictor of hospital mortality after cardiac surgery in an external validation cohort of contemporary patients from a multicentre prospective regional registry. The EuroSCORE II predicts hospital mortality with a slight underestimation in high-risk patients that should be further and better evaluated. The EuroSCORE II variables as a risk tree provides clinicians and surgeons a practical bedside tool for mortality risk stratification of patients at low, intermediate and high risk for hospital mortality after cardiac surgery.

The study objective was to evaluate the effects on early outcome and midterm survival of performing coronary artery bypass grafting with the off-pump technique in comparison with cardiopulmonary bypass (on-pump) in patients with preoperative anemia.Consecutive adult anemic patients (preoperative hemoglobin13.0 g/dL in men and12.0 g/dL in women) resident in Puglia region who underwent isolated coronary artery bypass grafting between January 2011 and November 2013 were considered. Vital status was ascertained from the date of surgery to December 31, 2013. Odds ratio and hazard ratio (HR) were estimated. Propensity score methods were used to control for confounders.Of 939 anemic patients (234 female, aged 71 ± 9 years), 361 underwent operation with the off-pump technique and 578 underwent operation with the on-pump technique. Patients undergoing off-pump coronary artery bypass had a shorter intensive care unit length of stay, lower blood transfusion rate, and postoperative reduction in creatinine clearance. During a median follow-up of 18 months, 126 patients died: 46 in hospital (35 on-pump) and 80 after discharge (33 on-pump). In comparison with the off-pump technique, the on-pump technique had greater hospital mortality (odds ratio, 2.57; P = .028) and 30-day incidence of fatal events (HR, 2.67; P = .026). After a period without risk differences between groups (1-6 months; HR, 0.79; P = .618), a lower mortality in those undergoing the on-pump technique was detected (after 6 months HR, 0.35; P = .014). All results were confirmed in the 157 pairs of patients matched for propensity score, anemia grade, and surgery center.In patients with low levels of preoperative hemoglobin, off-pump coronary artery bypass was associated with lower early morbidity and mortality but a greater risk of mortality during follow-up compared with on-pump coronary artery bypass.

AIMS To evaluate the feasibility of a cardiac surgery registry and to describe patients' characteristics, type of procedures performed, incidence of postoperative complications with short and middle-term mortality. METHODS A database with clinical information and details on cardiac surgical operations was implemented by Puglia Health Regional Agency to collect data of each cardiac surgery procedure performed in the seven adult cardiac surgery centres of the region. Health regional agency personnel guaranteed data accuracy and quality control procedures. Mortality after the discharge was evaluated for residents in Puglia by linking clinical data to the Health Information System. RESULTS From January 2011 to December 2012, 6429 operations were performed. All operations were included in the registry with very high completeness of collected data (95.3% per patient). The majority of the operations performed were coronary artery bypass graft alone (41.1%), valve surgery alone (26.2%), coronary artery bypass graft and valve surgery (11.4%), or valve with other surgery (11.8%). During a median follow-up of 12 months (interquartile range 6-18 months), 211 deaths were detected after the discharge. Overall, cumulative mortality from the operation was 8.2% at 6 months and 9.5% at 12 months. CONCLUSION Implementation of a regional clinical registry of cardiac surgery is feasible with a great level of accuracy and the evaluation of mid-term mortality overcomes the limited value of hospital mortality. An accurate cardiac surgery registry elicits epidemiologic evaluations, comparisons between expected and observed mortality, incidence of postoperative complications and encourages a reliable public reporting.

Anemia is a risk factor for adverse events after cardiac operations. We evaluated the incremental value of preoperative anemia over the European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation (EuroSCORE) II to predict hospital death after cardiac operations.Data for 4,594 consecutive adults (1,548 women [33.7%]), aged 67 ± 11 years, who underwent cardiac operations from January 2011 to July 2013 were extracted from the Regional Cardiac Surgery Registry of Puglia. The last preoperative hemoglobin value was used, according to World Health Organization criteria, to classify anemia as mild (hemoglobin 11.0 to 12.9 g/dL in men and 11.0 to 11.9 g/dL in women) in 1,021 patients (22.2%) and as moderate to severe (hemoglobin11.0 g/dL) in 593 patients (12.9%). The EuroSCORE II was used to evaluate predicted hospital death after operations. Logistic regression analysis for in-hospital death was performed including EuroSCORE II risk factors and anemia, with model discrimination quantified by C statistic and risk classification by the use of net reclassification improvement (NRI).Overall expected and observed mortality rates were 4.4% and 5.9%. Anemia was significantly associated with a mortality rate of 3.4% in patients without anemia, 7.7% in mild anemia, and 15.7% in moderate to severe anemia (p0.001) and also at multivariate analysis correcting for EuroSCORE II (p0.001). When anemia was analyzed with EuroSCORE II, the model improved in discrimination (C statistic = 0.852 vs 0.860; p = 0.007) and reclassification (category free-NRI, 0.592; p0.001), preserving the calibration with good concordance between predicted probabilities and outcome.Preoperative anemia has strong association with operative death in cardiac surgical patients. Anemia provides significant incremental value over the EuroSCORE II and should be considered for assessment of cardiac surgical risk.

Results There were no differences in mean values between Group A and Group B for: Age, BMI, LVEF, CPB time, Cross-clamp time, Number of anastomoses / patients. Group A and Group B were significantly different in terms of ventilation time ( 13,47+/-18,2 h vs 8,4+/-6,3h, p

ObjectiveMyocardial damage occurs after valve surgery, but its prognostic implication has not been evaluated. The aim of the present study was to assess the influence of myocardial damage on mortality and morbidity in patients undergoing aortic surgery (AVS) and mitral valve surgery (MVS).MethodsIn a prospective multicenter study from the cardiac surgery registry of the Puglia region, cardiac troponin I (cTnI) was measured immediately after and the morning after the intervention in consecutive patients undergoing AVS or MVS. The percentile ranks of the cTnI peak values within each center were analyzed.ResultsOf 965 patients (age, 67 ± 12 years; 45.5% women), 579 had undergone AVS and 386 MVS. cTnI release was significantly greater in the MVS group than in the AVS group and in the nonsurvivors than in the survivors in both groups. The cTnI cutoff with the greatest sensitivity and specificity (60th percentile for AVS and 91st for MVS) in predicting hospital mortality (2.6%) was also associated with a greater rate of postoperative complications and mortality within 3 months postoperatively (multivariate hazard ratio, 3.38; P = .005). Compared with the reference model, which included the multivariate predictors of hospital mortality (active endocarditis, New York Heart Association class III-IV, left ventricular ejection fraction ≤ 30%, and cardiopulmonary bypass duration), the addition of cTnI greater than the cutoffs showed significant improvement in model performance (likelihood ratio test, P = .009; net reclassification improvement, 0.751; P

Floating thrombus in a non-aneurysmal and non-atherosclerotic thoracic aorta is a rare event with potentially catastrophic complications. Especially younger patients have a higher risk of embolization. Transesophageal echocardiography is the diagnostic method of choice. However, the treatment of this pathology is still controversial and includes both medical and surgical options. We report our experience with a 43-year-old patient and a review of the literature, and make a proposal for therapeutic interventions.