BACKGROUND Dramatic advances in ventricular assist device (VAD) design and patient management have made mechanical circulatory support an attractive therapeutic option for the growing pool of elderly heart failure patients. METHODS A literature review of all relevant studies was performed. No time or language restrictions were imposed, and references of the selected studies were checked for a...

Deep hypothermic circulatory arrest (DHCA) has been used routinely for surgery involving the aortic arch. Recently, techniques have been developed that avoid circulatory arrest and maintain low̄ow cerebral perfusion (LFCP) in an attempt to avoid the potential neurological sequelae associated with DHCA. We describe a technique of LFCP that avoids circulatory arrest and direct cannulation of the a...

P harmacologic management of patients with cardiac arrest or cardiogenic shock may be insuI cient in restoring adequate circulatory support. This has led physicians to investigate and develop more aggressive interventions for these problems. Cardiogenic shock most frequently occurs in the following clinical settings: (1) acute myocardial infarction; (2) postcardiotomy; (3) an acute exacerbation...

The fetal circulation is an entirely transient event, not replicated at any point in later life, and functionally distinct from the pediatric and adult circulations. Understanding of the physiology of the fetal circulation is vital for accurate interpretation of hemodynamic assessments in utero, but also for management of circulatory compromise in premature infants, who begin extrauterine life ...

nervous and circulatory systems. The American terminology, neuro-circulatory asthenia, is to be preferred, since it lays emphasis on the neurasthenic as well as the circulatory symptoms which form the chief clinical features of the disorder. Though more common in soldiers during war time, the syndrome is not rare in civilians. Extreme physical effort may bring about symptoms of circulatory dist...

OBJECTIVES Mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) are important intermediates in the signal transduction pathways involved in neuronal dysfunction following cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury. One subfamily, extracellular regulated kinase 1/2, has been heavily implicated in the pathogenesis of post-ischemic neuronal damage. However, the contribution of extracellular regulated kinase 1/2 to ...

BACKGROUND Cerebral protection during surgery for acute aortic dissection type A relies on hypothermic circulatory arrest, either alone or in conjunction with cerebral perfusion. METHODS AND RESULTS The perioperative and intraoperative conditions of 1558 patients submitted from 44 cardiac surgery centers in German-speaking countries were analyzed. Among patients with acute aortic dissection t...

Background—Cerebral protection during surgery for acute aortic dissection type A relies on hypothermic circulatory arrest, either alone or in conjunction with cerebral perfusion. Methods and Results—The perioperative and intraoperative conditions of 1558 patients submitted from 44 cardiac surgery centers in German-speaking countries were analyzed. Among patients with acute aortic dissection typ...

The minimum duration of pulselessness required before organ donation after circulatory determination death has not been well studied.