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Objective: We aim to report our institutional outcomes of single-staged combined liver transplantation (LT) and cardiac surgery (CS)., Summary Background Data: Concurrent LT and CS is a potential treatment for combined cardiac dysfunction and end-stage liver disease, yet only 54 cases have been previously reported in the literature. Thus, the outcomes of this approach are relatively unknown, and this approach has been previously regarded as extremely risky., Methods: Thirty-one patients at our institution underwent combined cardiac surgery and liver transplant. Patients with at least one-year follow-up were included. The Leave-One-Out Cross-Validation (LOOCV) machine-learning approach was used to generate a model for mortality., Results: Median follow-up was 8.2 years (IQR 4.6-13.6 y). One- and five-year survival was 74.2% (N=23) and 55% (N=17), respectively. Negative predictive factors of survival included recipient age>60 years (P=0.036), NASH-cirrhosis (P=0.031), Coronary Artery Bypass-Graft (CABG)-based CS (P=0.046) and pre-operative renal dysfunction (P=0.024). The final model demonstrated that renal dysfunction had a relative weighted impact of 3.2 versus CABG (1.7), age ≥60y (1.7) or NASH (1.3). Elevated LT+CS risk score was associated with an increased five-year mortality after surgery (AUC=0.731, P=<0.001). Conversely, the widely accepted STS-PROM calculator was unable to successfully stratify patients according to 1- (P>0.99) or 5-year (P=0.695) survival rates., Conclusions: This is the largest series describing combined LT+CS, with joint surgical management appearing feasible in highly selected patients. CABG and pre-operative renal dysfunction are important negative predictors of mortality. The four-variable LT+CS score may help predict patients at high risk for post-operative mortality., Competing Interests: Funding Disclosure: No funding was received for this work. The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose., (Copyright © 2023 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Advances in surgical and medical technology over the years has made liver transplantation possible for older and higher risk patients. Despite rigorous preoperative cardiac testing, cardiovascular events remain a major cause of death after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). However, there are little data on the outcomes of OLT in patients with preexisting coronary artery disease (CAD). This study aimed to compare all-cause and cardiovascular mortality of patients with and without history of CAD undergoing OLT., Methods: Six hundred ninety-three adult patients with cirrhosis underwent liver transplantation between July 2013 and December 2018 (female n = 243, male n = 450; median age 59)., Results: During the study period of 5 y (median follow-up, 24.1 mo), 92 of 693 patients (13.3%) died. All-cause mortality in the CAD group was significantly higher than in the non-CAD group (26.7% versus 9.6%; P <0.01). Cardiovascular events accounted for 52.5% of deaths (n = 21) in patients with CAD compared with 36.5% (n = 19) in non-CAD patients. At 6 mo, patients with combined nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)/CAD had significantly worse survival than those with CAD or NASH alone ( P <0.01). After 6 mo, patients with CAD alone had similar survival to those with combined NASH/CAD., Conclusions: Patients with preexisting CAD before liver transplantation are at higher risk of death from any cause, specifically cardiovascular-related death. This risk increases with coexisting NASH. The presence of NASH and CAD at the time of liver transplant should prompt the initiation of aggressive risk factor modification for patients with CAD., Competing Interests: The authors declare no funding or conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: The purpose of this study was to assess the safety and feasibility of sequential hypothermic oxygenated perfusion and normothermic machine perfusion and the potential benefits of graft viability preservation and assessment before liver transplantation., Methods: With the Food and Drug Administration and institutional review board approval, 17 expanded criteria donor livers underwent sequential hypothermic oxygenated perfusion and normothermic machine perfusion using our institutionally developed perfusion device., Results: Expanded criteria donor livers were from older donors, donors after cardiac death, with steatosis, hypertransaminasemia, or calcified arteries. Perfusion duration ranged between 1 and 2 hours for the hypothermic oxygenated perfusion phase and between 4 and 9 hours for the normothermic machine perfusion phase. Three livers were judged to be untransplantable during normothermic machine perfusion based on perfusate lactate, bile production, and macro-appearance. One liver was not transplanted because of recipient issue after anesthesia induction and failed reallocation. Thirteen livers were transplanted, including 9 donors after cardiac death livers (donor warm ischemia time 16-25 minutes) and 4 from donors after brain death. All livers had the standardized lactate clearance >60% (perfusate lactate cleared to <4.0 mmol/L) within 3 hours of normothermic machine perfusion. Bile production rate was 0.2 to 10.7 mL/h for donors after brain death livers and 0.3 to 6.1 mL/h for donors after cardiac death livers. After transplantation, 5 cases had early allograft dysfunction (3 donors after cardiac death and 2 donors after brain death livers). No graft failure or patient death has occurred during follow-up time of 6 to 13 months. Two livers developed ischemic cholangiopathy. Compared with our previous normothermic machine perfusion study, the bile duct had fewer inflammatory cells in histology, but the post-transplant outcomes had no difference., Conclusion: Sequential hypothermic oxygenated perfusion and normothermic machine perfusion preservation is safe and feasible and has the potential benefits of preserving and evaluating expanded criteria donor livers., (Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Inc.)

Postcapillary pulmonary hypertension (PH) can be seen in cirrhosis. Research and treatment goals exist for patients with portopulmonary hypertension but not for postcapillary PH. The aim of this study was to investigate outcomes after liver transplant (LT) for patients with postcapillary PH., Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of 1173 patients who underwent LT at our center between 2010 and 2020. Using a propensity score matched analysis followed by multivariable Cox modeling on matched patients, we compared post-LT survival between patients with and without postcapillary PH. We also compared several post-LT outcomes between patient with different types of PH., Results: Sixty-eight patients had PH, and 50 had postcapillary PH. The median age was 59 y and the sample was 54% male. There was no significant difference in mortality between patients with postcapillary PH and patients without PH (hazard ratio, 1.72; 95% confidence interval, 0.90-3.31; P = 0.10). There was no significant difference in survival between patients with any type of PH and those without PH. There was no significance difference in post-LT survival, acute kidney injury, or pulmonary edema between patients with different types of PH. Patients with postcapillary PH who survived had a higher cardiac output than those who died (11 L/min in patients who lived, as compared with 8 L/min in patients who died; P = 0.03)., Conclusions: Postcapillary PH does not appear to convey a negative impact on post-LT survival. A higher cardiac output may be protective against mortality in patients with postcapillary PH., Competing Interests: The authors declare no funding or conflicts of interest., (Copyright © 2022 The Author(s). Transplantation Direct. Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.)

Background: The relationship between intraoperative physiology and postoperative stroke is incompletely understood. Preliminary data suggest that either hypo- or hypercapnia coupled with reduced cerebrovascular inflow (e.g., due to hypotension) can lead to ischemia. This study tested the hypothesis that the combination of intraoperative hypotension and either hypo- or hypercarbia is associated with postoperative ischemic stroke., Methods: We conducted a retrospective, case-control study via the Multicenter Perioperative Outcomes Group. Noncardiac, nonintracranial, and nonmajor vascular surgical cases (18 yr or older) were extracted from five major academic centers between January 2004 and December 2015. Ischemic stroke cases were identified via manual chart review and matched to controls (1:4). Time and reduction below key mean arterial blood pressure thresholds (less than 55 mmHg, less than 60 mmHg, less than 65 mmHg) and outside of specific end-tidal carbon dioxide thresholds (30 mmHg or less, 35 mmHg or less, 45 mmHg or greater) were calculated based on total area under the curve. The association between stroke and total area under the curve values was then tested while adjusting for relevant confounders., Results: In total, 1,244,881 cases were analyzed. Among the cases that screened positive for stroke (n = 1,702), 126 were confirmed and successfully matched with 500 corresponding controls. Total area under the curve was significantly associated with stroke for all thresholds tested, with the strongest combination observed with mean arterial pressure less than 55 mmHg (adjusted odds ratio per 10 mmHg-min, 1.17 [95% CI, 1.10 to 1.23], P < 0.0001) and end-tidal carbon dioxide 45 mmHg or greater (adjusted odds ratio per 10 mmHg-min, 1.11 [95% CI, 1.10 to 1.11], P < 0.0001). There was no interaction effect observed between blood pressure and carbon dioxide., Conclusions: Intraoperative hypotension and carbon dioxide dysregulation may each independently increase postoperative stroke risk., (Copyright © 2022, the American Society of Anesthesiologists. All Rights Reserved.)

Background: The persistent shortage of liver allografts contributes to significant waitlist mortality despite efforts to increase organ donation. Normothermic machine perfusion holds the potential to enhance graft preservation, extend viability, and allow liver function evaluation in organs previously discarded because considered too high-risk for transplant., Methods: Discarded livers from other transplant centers were transplanted after assessment and reconditioning with our institutionally developed normothermic machine perfusion device. We report here our preliminary data., Results: Twenty-one human livers declined for transplantation were enrolled for assessment with normothermic machine perfusion. Six livers (28.5%) were ultimately discarded after normothermic machine perfusion because of insufficient lactate clearance (>4.1 mmol/L after 4 hours), limited bile production (<0.5 mI/h), or moderate macrosteatosis, whereas 15 (71.5%) were considered suitable for transplantation. Normothermic machine perfusion duration was from 3 hours, 49 minutes to 10 hours, 29 minutes without technical problems or adverse events. No intraoperative or major early postoperative complications occurred in all transplanted recipients. No primary nonfunction occurred after transplantation. Seven livers had early allograft dysfunction with fast recovery, and 1 patient developed ischemic cholangiopathy after 4 months treated with biliary stents. All other patients had good liver function with a follow-up time of 8 weeks to 14 months., Conclusion: In total, 71.5% of discarded livers subjected to ex vivo normothermic machine perfusion were successfully transplanted after organ perfusion and assessment using an institutionally built device. This study challenges the current viability criteria reported in the literature and calls for a standardization of viability markers collection, an essential condition for the advancement of the field., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Cardiovascular events have a major impact on overall outcomes after liver transplantation. Today's transplant patients are older than those in the past and therefore are more likely to have coexisting cardiac comorbidities. In addition, pathophysiologic effects of advanced liver disease on the circulatory system pose challenges in perioperative management. This review discusses important preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative cardiac considerations in patients undergoing liver transplant., (Copyright © 2022 The Cleveland Clinic Foundation. All Rights Reserved.)

BACKGROUND Dobutamine stress echocardiography (DSE) is commonly used for cardiovascular assessment before orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). The coronary artery calcium score (CACS) is a useful screening tool for coronary artery disease (CAD). We aimed to compare the sensitivity and specificity of DSE and CACS for CAD in OLT candidates. MATERIAL AND METHODS A total of 265 of the 1589 patients who underwent OLT at our center between 2008 and 2019 had preoperative coronary angiography (CAG). Of these, 173 had DSE and 133 had a CT scan suitable for CACS calculation within 1 year of OLT. Patients with a nondiagnostic DSE were excluded (n=100). Two reviewers evaluated CACS on CT scans. The sensitivity/specificity of DSE and CACS for detection of angiographically significant CAD were calculated for patients with both tests (n=36). A separate analysis compared the sensitivity/specificity of a diagnostic DSE (n=73) and CACS (n=133) against CAG for all patients with either test. RESULTS Sensitivity and specificity were 57.1% and 89.7%, respectively, for DSE, compared with 71.4% and 62.1% for CACS at ≥100 Agatston score. For the analysis of all patients with either test, the sensitivity/specificity of DSE for detection of CAD and CACS were 30.8% and 85.0% and 80.0% and 62.8%, respectively. On ROC analysis, CACS was a satisfactory predictor of obstructive CAD (AUC, 0.76±0.06, 95% CI, 0.66-0.87; P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS CACS may be an important tool for cardiovascular assessment in patients undergoing OLT. DSE was nondiagnostic in a large percentage of OLT candidates, limiting its use in this population.

Study Objective: To test whether patients who experience hypotension in the post-anesthesia care unit or during surgery are most likely to experience hypotension on surgical wards., Design: A prediction study using data from two randomized controlled trials., Setting: Operating room, post-anesthesia care unit, and surgical ward., Patients: 550 adult patients having abdominal surgery with ASA physical status I-IV., Interventions: Blood pressure measurement per routine intraoperatively, and with continuous non-invasive monitoring postoperatively., Measurements: The primary predictors were minimum mean arterial pressure (<60, <65, <70 and < 80 mmHg) and minimum systolic blood pressure (<70, <75, <80, <85 mmHg) in the post-anesthesia care unit. The secondary predictors were intraoperative minimum blood pressures with the same thresholds as the primary ones. Our outcome was ward hypotension defined as mean pressure < 70 mmHg or systolic pressure < 85 mmHg. A threshold was considered clinically useful if both sensitivity and specificity exceeded 0.75., Main Results: Minimum mean and systolic pressures in the post-anesthesia care unit similarly predicted ward mean or systolic hypotension, with the areas under the curves near 0.74. The best performing threshold was mean pressure < 80 mmHg in the post-anesthesia care unit which had a sensitivity of 0.41 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.35, 0.47) and specificity of 0.91 (95% CI, 0.87, 0.94) for ward mean pressure < 70 mmHg and a sensitivity of 0.44 (95% CI, 0.37, 0.51) and specificity of 0.88 (95% CI, 0.84, 0.91) for ward systolic pressure < 85 mmHg. The areas under the curves using intraoperative hypotension to predict ward hypotension were roughly similar at about 0.60, with correspondingly low sensitivity and specificity., Conclusions: Intraoperative hypotension poorly predicted ward hypotension. Pressures in the post-anesthesia care unit were more predictive, but the combination of sensitivity and specificity remained poor. Unless far better predictors are identified, all surgical inpatients should be considered at risk for postoperative hypotension., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: To develop machine learning models that can predict post-transplantation major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE), all-cause mortality, and cardiovascular mortality in patients undergoing liver transplantation (LT)., Design: Retrospective cohort study., Setting: High-volume tertiary care center., Participants: The study comprised 1,459 consecutive patients undergoing LT between January 2008 and December 2019., Interventions: None., Measurements and Main Results: MACE, all-cause mortality, and cardiovascular mortality were modeled using logistic regression, least absolute shrinkage and selection surgery regression, random forests, support vector machine, and gradient-boosted modeling (GBM). All models were built by splitting data into training and testing cohorts, and performance was assessed using five-fold cross-validation based on the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve and Harrell's C statistic. A total of 1,459 patients were included in the final cohort; 1,425 (97.7%) underwent index transplantation, 963 (66.0%) were female, the median age at transplantation was 57 (11-70) years, and the median Model for End-Stage Liver Disease score was 20 (6-40). Across all outcomes, the GBM model XGBoost achieved the highest performance, with an area under the receiver operating curve of 0.71 (95% confidence interval [CI] 0.63-0.79) for MACE, a Harrell's C statistic of 0.64 (95% CI 0.57-0.73) for overall survival, and 0.72 (95% CI 0.59-0.85) for cardiovascular mortality over a mean follow-up of 4.4 years. Examination of Shapley values for the GBM model revealed that on the cohort-wide level, the top influential factors for postoperative MACE were age at transplantation, diabetes, serum creatinine, cirrhosis caused by nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, right ventricular systolic pressure, and left ventricular ejection fraction., Conclusion: Machine learning models developed using data from a tertiary care transplantation center achieved good discriminant function in predicting post-LT MACE, all-cause mortality, and cardiovascular mortality. These models can support clinicians in recipient selection and help screen individuals who may be at elevated risk for post-transplantation MACE., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest None., (Copyright © 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

The primary aim of this single-center, phase 1 exploratory study was to investigate the safety, feasibility, and impact on intrahepatic hemodynamics of a fresh frozen plasma (FFP)-based perfusate in ex situ liver normothermic machine perfusion (NMP) preservation. Using an institutionally developed perfusion device, 21 livers (13 donations after brain death and 8 donations after circulatory death) were perfused for 3 hours 21 minutes to 7 hours 52 minutes and successfully transplanted. Outcomes were compared in a 1:4 ratio to historical control patients matched according to donor and recipient characteristics and preservation time. Perfused livers presented a very low resistance state with high flow during ex situ perfusion (arterial and portal flows 340 ± 150 and 890 ± 70 mL/minute/kg liver, respectively). This hemodynamic state was maintained even after reperfusion as demonstrated by higher arterial flow observed in the NMP group compared with control patients (220 ± 120 versus 160 ± 80 mL/minute/kg liver, P = 0.03). The early allograft dysfunction (EAD) rate, peak alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and peak aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels within 7 days after transplantation were lower in the NMP group compared with the control patients (EAD 19% versus 46%, P = 0.02; peak ALT 363 ± 318 versus 1021 ± 999 U/L, P = 0.001; peak AST 1357 ± 1492 versus 2615 ± 2541 U/L, P = 0.001 of the NMP and control groups, respectively). No patient developed ischemic type biliary stricture. One patient died, and all other patients are alive and well at a follow-up of 12-35 months. No device-related adverse events were recorded. In conclusion, with this study, we showed that ex situ NMP of human livers can be performed safely and effectively using a noncommercial device and an FFP-based preservation solution. Future studies should further investigate the impact of an FFP-based perfusion solution on liver hemodynamics during ex situ normothermic machine preservation., (Copyright © 2019 by the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.)

Standardized clinical pathways are useful tool to reduce variation in clinical management and may improve quality of care. However the evidence supporting a specific clinical pathway for a patient or patient population is often imperfect limiting adoption and efficacy of clinical pathway. Machine intelligence can potentially identify clinical variation and may provide useful insights to create and optimize clinical pathways. In this quality improvement project we analyzed the inpatient care of 1786 patients undergoing colorectal surgery from 2015 to 2016 across multiple Ohio hospitals in the Cleveland Clinic System. Data from four information subsystems was loaded in the Clinical Variation Management (CVM) application (Ayasdi, Inc., Menlo Park, CA). The CVM application uses machine intelligence and topological data analysis methods to identify groups of similar patients based on the treatment received. We defined "favorable performance" as groups with lower direct variable cost, lower length of stay, and lower 30-day readmissions. The software auto-generated 9 distinct groups of patients based on similarity analysis. Overall, favorable performance was seen with ketorolac use, lower intra-operative fluid use (< 2000 cc) and surgery for cancer. Multiple sub-groups were easily created and analyzed. Adherence reporting tools were easy to use enabling almost real time monitoring. Machine intelligence provided useful insights to create and monitor care pathways with several advantages over traditional analytic approaches including: (1) analysis across disparate data sets, (2) unsupervised discovery, (3) speed and auto-generation of clinical pathways, (4) ease of use by team members, and (5) adherence reporting.

Background: There is limited data in the literature evaluating outcomes of bariatric surgery in severely obese patients with left ventricular assist device (LVAD) as a bridge to make them acceptable candidates for heart transplantation. This study aims to assess the safety and effectiveness of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy (LSG) in patients with previously implanted LVAD at our institution., Methods: All the patients with end-stage heart failure (ESHF) and implanted LVAD who underwent LSG from2013 to January 2017 were studied., Results: Seven patients with end stage heart failure (ESHF) and implanted LVAD were included. The median age and median preoperative BMI were 39 years (range: 26-62) and 43.6 kg/m 2 (range 36.7-56.7), respectively. The median interval between LVAD implantation and LSG was 38 months (range 15-48). The median length of hospital stay was 9 days (rang: 6-23) out of which 4 patients had planned postoperative ICU admission. Thirty-day complications were noted in 5 patients (3 major and 2 minor) without any perioperative mortality. The median duration of follow-up was 24 months (range 2-30). At the last available follow-up, the median BMI, %EWL, and %TWL were 37 kg/m 2 , 47%, and 16%, respectively. The median LVEF before LSG and at the last follow-up point (before heart transplant) was 19% (range 15-20) and 22% (range, 16-35), respectively. In addition, the median NYHA class improved from 3 to 2 after LSG. Three patients underwent successful heart transplantations., Conclusion: Patients with morbid obesity, ESHF, and implanted LVAD constitute a high-risk cohort. Our results with 7 patients and result from other studies (19 patients) suggested that bariatric surgery may be a reasonable option for LVAD patients with severe obesity. Bariatric surgery appears to provide significant weight loss in these patients and may improve candidacy for heart transplantation.

Background: Triple-low events (mean arterial pressure less than 75 mmHg, Bispectral Index less than 45, and minimum alveolar fraction less than 0.8) are associated with mortality but may not be causal. This study tested the hypothesis that providing triple-low alerts to clinicians reduces 90-day mortality., Methods: Adults having noncardiac surgery with volatile anesthesia and Bispectral Index monitoring were electronically screened for triple-low events. Patients having triple-low events were randomized in real time, with clinicians either receiving an alert, "consider hemodynamic support," or not. Patients were blinded to treatment. Helpful responses to triple-low events were defined by administration of a vasopressor within 5 min or a 20% reduction in end-tidal volatile anesthetic concentration within 15 min., Results: Of the qualifying patients, 7,569 of 36,670 (20%) had triple-low events and were randomized. All 7,569 were included in the primary analysis. Ninety-day mortality was 8.3% in the alert group and 7.3% in the nonalert group. The hazard ratio (95% CI) for alert versus nonalert was 1.14 (0.96, 1.35); P = 0.12, crossing a prespecified futility boundary. Clinical responses were helpful in about half the patients in each group, with 51% of alert patients and 47% of nonalert patients receiving vasopressors or having anesthetics lowered after start of triple low (P < 0.001). There was no relationship between the response to triple-low events and adjusted 90-day mortality., Conclusions: Real-time alerts to triple-low events did not lead to a reduction in 90-day mortality, and there were fewer responses to alerts than expected. However, similar mortality with and without responses suggests that there is no strong relationship between responses to triple-low events and mortality.

Background: Whether the deleterious effects of carbon dioxide pneumoperitoneum on the kidneys are exacerbated in the obese population remains unknown. We hypothesized that increased body mass index (BMI) is associated with an increased incidence of postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients undergoing noncardiac laparoscopic surgery., Methods: Following institutional review board approval, we analyzed data on 8,543 adult patients with American Society of Anesthesiologists physical status scores of I-IV who had inpatient noncardiac laparoscopic surgery from 2005-2014. Because the exposure (current BMI) is a chronic condition, we a priori assumed that diabetes mellitus, hypertension, coronary artery disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease might mediate the effect of obesity on outcome. Our primary analysis was a proportional odds logistic regression model with current BMI as a predictor and AKI as an ordinal outcome., Results: After controlling for potential confounding variables, the odds of developing a more serious level of AKI was 7% (95% CI 0%, 15%) greater with a 5-unit increase in BMI ( P =0.05). When the analysis was adjusted for the a priori mediators in an attempt to estimate the pure effect of BMI on AKI, the result was no longer significant (Wald test P =0.35), with the residual effect of BMI of 3% (95% CI -4%, 11%)., Conclusion: We found a marginal association between BMI and an increased risk of developing AKI in adult patients after having noncardiac laparoscopic surgery. The BMI effect became insignificant when potential mediator variables were considered. The association of BMI and AKI after noncardiac laparoscopic surgery is likely mediated through components of the metabolic syndrome.

Background: Operating room (OR) utilization generally ranges from 50% to 75%. Inefficiencies can arise from various factors, including prolonged anesthesia preparation time, defined as the period from induction of anesthesia until patients are considered ready for surgery. Our goal was to use patient-related and procedure-related factors to develop a model predicting anesthesia preparation time., Methods: From the electronic medical records of adults who had noncardiac surgery at the Cleveland Clinic Main Campus, we developed a model that used a dozen preoperative factors to predict anesthesia preparation time. The model was based on multivariable regression with "Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operator" and 10-fold cross-validation. The overall performance of the final model was measured by R, which describes the proportion of the variance in anesthesia preparation time that is explained by the model., Results: A total of 43,941 cases met inclusion and exclusion criteria. Our final model had only moderate discriminative ability. The estimated adjusted R for prediction model was 0.34 for the training data set and 0.27 for the testing data set., Conclusions: Using preoperative factors, we could explain only about a quarter of the variance in anesthesia preparation time-an amount that is probably of limited clinical value.

Objective: Due to their unique pathophysiological profile, patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) undergoing non-cardiac surgery require additional attention to perioperative management. We sought to compare perioperative outcomes of patients with HCM undergoing non-cardiac surgery with a matched group patients without HCM., Methods: This observational cohort study conducted at a tertiary care centre included patients with HCM (n=92, age 67 years, 54% men) undergoing intermediate-risk and high-risk non-cardiac surgeries between 1/2007 and 12/2013 (excluding <18 years, prior septal myectomy/alcohol ablation, low-risk surgery) who were 1:2 matched (based on age, gender, type and time of non-cardiac surgery) with patients without HCM (n=184, median age 65 years, 53% men). A composite endpoint (30-day postoperative death, myocardial infarction, stroke, in-hospital decompensated congestive heart failure (CHF) and rehospitalisation within 30 days) and postoperative atrial fibrillation (AF) were recorded., Results: There was a significantly lower incidence of intraoperative hypotension/tachycardia in patients with HCM versus those without HCM (p<0.001). At 30 days postoperatively, 42 (15%) patients had composite events. Rates of 30-day death, MI or stroke were very low in patients with HCM (5%). However, a significantly higher proportion of patients with HCM met the composite endpoint versus patients without HCM (20 (22%) vs 22 (12%), p=0.03), driven by decompensated CHF. On logistic regression, HCM, high-risk non-cardiac surgery, high anaesthesia risk score and intraoperative duration of hypotension were independently associated with 30-day composite events (p<0.05)., Conclusions: Patients with HCM undergoing high-risk and intermediate-risk non-cardiac surgeries have a low perioperative event rate, at an experienced centre. However, they have a higher risk of composite events versus matched patients without HCM., (Published by the BMJ Publishing Group Limited. For permission to use (where not already granted under a licence) please go to http://www.bmj.com/company/products-services/rights-and-licensing/)

Normothermic machine perfusion (NMP) has been introduced as a promising technology to preserve and possibly repair marginal liver grafts. The aim of this study was to compare the effect of temperature on the preservation of donation after cardiac death (DCD) liver grafts in an ex vivo perfusion model after NMP (38.5°C) and subnormothermic machine perfusion (SNMP, 21°C) with a control group preserved by cold storage (CS, 4°C). Fifteen porcine livers with 60 min of warm ischemia were preserved for 10 h by NMP, SNMP or CS (n = 5/group). After the preservation phase all livers were reperfused for 24 h in an isolated perfusion system with whole blood at 38.5°C to simulate transplantation. At the end of transplant simulation, the NMP group showed significantly lower hepatocellular enzyme level (AST: 277 ± 69 U/L; ALT: 22 ± 2 U/L; P < 0.03) compared to both SNMP (AST: 3243 ± 1048 U/L; ALT: 127 ± 70 U/L) and CS (AST: 3150 ± 1546 U/L; ALT: 185 ± 97 U/L). There was no significant difference between SNMP and CS. Bile production was significantly higher in the NMP group (219 ± 43 mL; P < 0.01) compared to both SNMP (49 ± 84 mL) and CS (12 ± 16 mL) with no significant difference between the latter two groups. Histologically, the NMP livers showed preserved cellular architecture compared to the SNMP and CS groups. NMP was able to recover DCD livers showing superior hepatocellular integrity, biliary function, and microcirculation compared to SNMP and CS. SNMP showed some significant benefit over CS, yet has not shown any advantage over NMP., (© 2016 International Center for Artificial Organs and Transplantation and Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Background: During functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS), intraoperative bleeding can significantly compromise visualization of the surgical field. Clonidine constricts peripheral blood vessels and reduces systemic blood pressure, which in combination decrease nasal mucosa blood flow. This dual effect can potentially reduce bleeding during FESS and stabilize the intraoperative hemodynamic profile of the patient., Aim: The aim of this prospective study was to assess if the quality of the surgical field visualization during FESS was improved when clonidine was used as a premedication agent., Methodology: A group of 44 patients undergoing FESS for chronic sinusitis and polyp removal were enrolled and randomly assigned to receive either oral clonidine or midazolam as preoperative premedication. During the operation, the quality of the surgical field was assessed and graded by the operating surgeon using the scale proposed by Boezaart. The evaluations were done during surgery at 15 minutes (K1), 30 minutes (K2), 60 minutes (K3) and 120 minutes (K4) after incision., Results: The duration of the surgical procedure was significantly shorter in the clonidine group: mean time of surgery: 80 vs. 96 min in the clonidine and midazolam groups, respectively. Also better quality of surgical field was observed at all time points in the clonidine group., Conclusion: Premedication with clonidine before FESS results in shortening of the surgical time and a better quality of the surgical field.

Background: Intraoperative hypotension may contribute to postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) and myocardial injury, but what blood pressures are unsafe is unclear. The authors evaluated the association between the intraoperative mean arterial pressure (MAP) and the risk of AKI and myocardial injury., Methods: The authors obtained perioperative data for 33,330 noncardiac surgeries at the Cleveland Clinic, Ohio. The authors evaluated the association between intraoperative MAP from less than 55 to 75 mmHg and postoperative AKI and myocardial injury to determine the threshold of MAP where risk is increased. The authors then evaluated the association between the duration below this threshold and their outcomes adjusting for potential confounding variables., Results: AKI and myocardial injury developed in 2,478 (7.4%) and 770 (2.3%) surgeries, respectively. The MAP threshold where the risk for both outcomes increased was less than 55 mmHg. Compared with never developing a MAP less than 55 mmHg, those with a MAP less than 55 mmHg for 1-5, 6-10, 11-20, and more than 20 min had graded increases in their risk of the two outcomes (AKI: 1.18 [95% CI, 1.06-1.31], 1.19 [1.03-1.39], 1.32 [1.11-1.56], and 1.51 [1.24-1.84], respectively; myocardial injury 1.30 [1.06-1.5], 1.47 [1.13-1.93], 1.79 [1.33-2.39], and 1.82 [1.31-2.55], respectively]., Conclusions: Even short durations of an intraoperative MAP less than 55 mmHg are associated with AKI and myocardial injury. Randomized trials are required to determine whether outcomes improve with interventions that maintain an intraoperative MAP of at least 55 mmHg.

As survival after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) improves, cardiovascular (CV) disease has emerged as the leading cause of non-graft-related deaths. The aims of our study were to determine the cumulative risk of CV events after OLT and to analyze predictive risk factors for those experiencing a CV event after OLT. We identified all adult patients who underwent OLT at our institution for end-stage liver disease between October 1996 and July 2008. The cumulative risk of CV events after OLT was analyzed with the Kaplan-Meier method. Multivariate logistic regression analysis was used to identify factors independently associated with CV events after OLT. In all, 775 patients were included in our study cohort (mean age of 53.3 years, female proportion = 44%, Caucasian proportion = 84%, median follow-up = 40 months). The most common indications for OLT were hepatitis C virus (33.2%), alcohol (14.5%), and cryptogenic cirrhosis (12.7%). Eighty-three patients suffered 1 or more CV events after OLT. Posttransplant metabolic syndrome was more prevalent in patients with CV events versus patients with no CV events (61.4% versus 34.1%, P < 0.001). According to a multivariate analysis, independent predictors of CV events were an older age at transplantation [odds ratio (OR) = 1.2, addition of 95% confidence interval (CI) = 1.1-1.3, P = 0.006], male sex (OR = 2.0, 95% CI = 1.2-3.3, P = 0.01), posttransplant diabetes (OR = 2.0, 95% CI = 1.3-3.3, P = 0.003), posttransplant hypertension (OR = 1.8, 95% CI = 1.1-3.0, P = 0.02), and mycophenolate mofetil (OR = 2.0, 95% CI = 1.3-3.2, P = 0.003). Among post-OLT patients, the cumulative risk at 5 years of 13.5%, respectively. In conclusion, cardiac complications after liver transplantation are common (Approximately 10% of patients experience 1 or move cv events). Patients with posttransplant hypertension and diabetes, which are modifiable risk factors, are approximately twice as likely to experience a CV event., (Copyright © 2012 American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases.)

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effects of intraoperative fluid therapy on length of hospital stay and pulmonary complications in patients undergoing spine surgery. A total of 1307 patients were analyzed. Sixteen pulmonary complications were observed. Patients with a higher volume of administered crystalloids, colloids, and total intravenous fluids were more likely to have postoperative respiratory complications: the odds of postoperative respiratory complications increased by 30% with an increase of 1000 mL of crystalloid administered. The best cutoff point for total fluids was 4165 mL, with a sensitivity of 0.8125 and specificity of 0.7171, for postoperative pulmonary complications. A direct correlation existed between fluids and length of stay: patients who received >4165 mL of total fluids had an average length of stay of 3.88±4.66 days vs 2.3±3.9 days for patients who received <4165 mL of total fluids (P<.0001). This study should be considered as hypothesis-generating to design a prospective trial comparing high vs low intraoperative fluid regiments for patients undergoing spine surgery., (Copyright 2012, SLACK Incorporated.)

Background: Obesity is associated with endothelial dysfunction and increased inflammation as well as with expansion of the capillary bed in regional adipose deposits, and a balance between these factors is involved in angiogenesis. Osteopontin (OPN) is a proinflammatory cytokine involved in regulating immune processes and mediating chronic inflammation. Its level is usually elevated in the plasma and adipose tissue of obese subjects. E-selectin, an adhesion molecule which is released by dysfunctional endothelial cells, is believed to be a marker of an early atherosclerotic process. Endostatin (END), an angiogenesis inhibitor, is present in the blood of obese subjects. The most effective treatment to achieve weight loss in morbidly obese subjects is bariatric surgery. The aim of the study was to evaluate and compare the circulating concentrations of OPN, E-selectin and END as well as the insulin resistance (HOMA-IR) of severely obese patients with metabolic syndrome before and after vertical banded gastroplasty (VBG)., Material and Methods: The test cohorts comprised eight males and 20 females (total 28 patients) aged from 20 to 59 years with simple obesity and the presence of metabolic syndrome, both before and 3, 6, 12, 24 months after bariatric surgery (six patients were also checked after 36 and four after 48 months)., Results: Bariatric surgery significantly reduced (over 24 months) body weight, BMI, waist circumference, HOMA-IR and blood concentrations of CRP. Plasma OPN gradually increased after VBG and E-selectin in systemic blood decreased. We did not observe any differences in END concentrations from 12 to 48 months after surgery., Conclusion: VBG improves metabolic syndrome parameters, decreases E-selectin and gradually increases OST blood concentrations but it does not have any significant influence on END levels., (Copyright © 2011 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Background: Fluid management during orthotopic liver transplantation poses unique challenges for the anesthesiologist. Maintenance of hypovolemia as indicated by low central venous pressure has been associated with reduced blood loss and improved outcomes in some studies, but with higher 30-day mortality and increased incidence of renal dysfunction in others. The primary aim was to evaluate the association of central venous pressure management after liver allograft reperfusion with immediate postoperative patient outcomes., Methods: This was a retrospective investigation evaluating the intraoperative and postoperative records of 144 consecutive patients who underwent orthotopic liver transplantation at a single institution., Results: We did not find any important association between central venous pressure management after graft reperfusion and postoperative patient outcomes. Specifically, these data do not support the hypothesis that maintenance of lower central venous pressure during the post-anhepatic phase of orthotopic liver transplantation is associated with improved immediate postoperative allograft function (except for a steeper decrease in post operative days 1-3 in 2 of the 3 liver function test: alanine aminotransferase and bilirubin) or overall patient survival, graft survival, composite graft/patient survival, intensive care length of stay, hospital length of stay or the occurrence of infections., Conclusion: Maintaining a lower central venous pressure during the post-anhepatic phase during orthotopic liver transplantation is not associated with any benefit in terms of immediate postoperative allograft function, graft survival or patient survival.

Wider selection of young patients for prosthetic valve replacement for valvular heart disease has resulted in an increase in number of women with heart disease reaching childbearing age. Such patients presenting in labor for emergency cesarean section require special consideration. We present a report of a parturient who presented at 36 weeks of gestation with severe aortic and mitral stenosis, pulmonary edema and severe preeclampsia. The goals of our anesthetic management included (1) careful airway management (2) maintaining stable hemodynamics (3) optimizing fluid status, and (4) preventing seizures. Issues related to management of patients with severe valvular disease, prosthetic valves and complications due to anticoagulant therapy during pregnancy are discussed.

Seventeen unipolar cardiac pacemakers powered by hybrid biogalvanic cells were implanted in dogs. Long term clinical effects and electrical performance in vivo of the generators were investigated. The biogalvanic cells were designed to provide 50 years of generator operation. No systemic pathological changes which would be attributed to the generator or the biogalvanic cell were observed. Local reaction to implants was mild and not significantly different from the one observed in conventional pacemaker implantations to date. The electrical performance of the biogalvanic cells was very encouraging. Final steady-state cell voltage levels of .65V to .75V were reached in 100--150 days after implantation and remained constant in 3 units to date which represents over 36 months after implantation for each generator.