OBJECTIVES Off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery is becoming increasingly popular although its effectiveness remains controversial. Our goal was to investigate the effectiveness of on-pump and off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery on early (30 days) and long-term (5 years) clinical outcome in two groups of patients selected using propensity scores. METHODS From November 1994 to December 2...

Renin-angiotensin system activation is suspected of being involved in postcoronary surgery hypertension, but appears to be useful in maintaining blood pressure during anesthesia and cardiopulmonary bypass. To clarify these points, 19 patients were compared: ten as a control group and nine who received captopril during two days before surgery. Anesthesia was the same for the two groups, and card...

cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (cmri) is a well-established noninvasive imaging modality in clinical cardiology. its ability to provide tissue characterization make it well suited for the study of patients with cardiac diseases. we describe a multi-modality imaging evaluation of a 45-year-old man who experienced a near drowning event during swimming. we underline the unique capability of ti...

BACKGROUND The aim of this study was to provide a model-based analysis of the pharmacokinetics of remifentanil in infants and children undergoing cardiac surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB). METHODS We studied nine patients aged 0.5 to 4 years who received a continuous remifentanil infusion via a computer-controlled infusion pump during cardiac surgery with mildly hypothermic CPB were s...

Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) provides a bloodless field for cardiac surgery. It incorporates an extracorporeal circuit to provide physiological support in which venous blood is drained to a reservoir, oxygenated and sent back to the body using a pump. Team effort between surgeon, perfusionist and anaesthesiologist is paramount for the successful use of CPB. However, it also has its share of com...

The use of apical suction devices has been well described for maintaining satisfactory haemodynamics during off-pump surgical coronary revascularization. Its expanded use has been described in a few other situations. We describe here a case of recurrent coarctation where an extra-anatomic ascending to descending thoracic aorta bypass graft was constructed using cardiopulmonary bypass without ar...

An 80-year-old man remained conscious due to vigorous deep breathing during 100 s of ventricular arrest which was recorded on a Holter ECG. Arterial blood flow is considered to have been maintained by changes in intrathoracic pressure produced by deep respiratory movements. This case may represent a pure model of the "thoracic pump" mechanism.

Electrical failure during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) has previously been reported to occur in 1 of every 1500 cases. Most heart-lung machine pump consoles are equipped with built-in battery back-up units. Battery run times of these devices are variable and have not been reported. Different conditions of use can extend battery life in the event of electrical failure. This study was designed to...

Off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCAB) has become a more applicable procedure, even in patients with multi-vessel disease. However, the role of OPCAB for patients with acute coronary syndrome (ACS) requiring emergency revascularization has not been established yet. We reviewed our results of emergency coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) for patients with ACS. Seventy-two patients w...