Totally thoracoscopic surgery is a branch of minimally invasive cardiac surgeries, and its operational indicators are expanding with the development of the medical and imaging devices compared with median sternotomy and other minimally invasive cardiac surgeries (such as thoracoscope-assisted small incision surgery and robotic surgery). The learning curve is significantly shortened through the professional technique training. Totally thoracoscopic cardiac surgery has many advantages, such as minor trauma, few serious complications, fast recovery, high patient acceptance and being suitable to our country's current situation. Therefore it will be one main direction of minimally invasive cardiac surgery. This article mainly introduced the current status of totally thoracoscopic technology in the field of cardiac surgery in China.
Gastrointestinal complications after cardiac surgery are rare, but they are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The mechanisms of gastrointestinal complications after cardiac surgery may be unique, as the abdominal cavity is not involved. This review summarizes the current evidence of the pathophysiology, clinical manifestations, risk factors, and management of gastrointestinal complications after cardiac surgery, aiming to improve the recognition of gastrointestinal complications after cardiac surgery.
Objective To explore the effect of preoperative hypothyroidism on postoperative cognition dysfunction (POCD) in elderly patients after on-pump cardiac surgery. Methods Patients who were no younger than 50 years and scheduled to have on-pump cardiac surgeries were selected in West China Hospital from March 2016 to December 2017. Based on hormone levels, patients were divided into two groups: a hypo group (hypothyroidism group, thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH) >4.2 mU/L or free triiodothyronine 3 (FT3) <3.60 pmol/L or FT4 <12.0 pmol/L) and an eu group (euthyroidism group, normal TSH, FT3 and FT4). The mini-mental state examination (MMSE) test and a battery of neuropsychological tests were used by a fixed researcher to assess cognitive function on 1 day before operation and 7 days after operation. Primer outcome was the incidence of POCD. Secondary outcomes were the incidence of cognitive degradation, scores or time cost in every aspect of cognitive function. Results No matter cognitive function was assessed by MMSE or a battery of neuropsychological tests, the incidence of POCD in the hypo group was higher than that of the eu group. The statistical significance existed when using MMSE (55.56% vs. 26.67%, P=0.014) but was absent when using a battery of neuropsychological tests (55.56% vs. 44.44%, P=0.361). The incidence of cognitive deterioration in the hypo group was higher than that in the eu group in verbal fluency test (48.15% vs. 20.00%, P=0.012). The cognitive deterioration incidence between the hypo group and the eu group was not statistically different in the other aspects of cognitive function. There was no statistical difference about scores or time cost between the hypo group and the eu group in all the aspects of cognitive function before surgery. After surgery, the scores between the hypo group and the eu group was statistically different in verbal fluency test (26.26±6.55 vs. 30.23±8.00, P=0.023) while was not statistically significant in other aspects of cognitive function. Conclusion The incidence of POCD is high in the elderly patients complicated with hypothyroidism after on-pump cardiac surgery and words reserve, fluency, and classification of cognitive function are significantly impacted by hypothyroidism over than other domains, which indicates hypothyroidism may have close relationship with POCD in this kind of patients.
Frailty is a syndrome characterized by vulnerability to stressors due to loss of physiological reserve. In recent years, many researches have confirmed that frailty is a risk factor for postoperative complications of cardiac surgery, such as readmission, adverse cardiovascular events, and death in elderly patients. This paper reviews the concept of frailty, the relationship between frailty and cardiac surgery, the frailty assessment and intervention strategy in perioperative period, aimed at providing decision making basis for the risk stratification and perioperative management of cardiac surgery in elderly patients.
Mitral valve disease is the most common cardiac valve disease. The main treatment of mitral valve disease is surgery or interventional therapy. However, as the anatomy of mitral valve is complicated, the operation is particularly difficult. As a result, it requires sophisticated experiences for surgeons. Three-dimensional (3D) printing technology can transform two-dimensional medical images into 3D solid models. So it can provide clear spatial anatomical information and offer safe and personalized treatment for the patients by simulating surgery process. This article reviews the applications of 3D printing technology in the treatment of mitral valve disease.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the influence of dexmedetomidine on early postoperative cognitive dysfunction in adult patients after receiving noncardiac surgery under general anesthesia. MethodsThe randomized controlled trials (RCTs) about the influence of dexmedetomidine on the early postoperative cognitive dysfunction of patients after receiving noncardiac surgery with general anesthesia was searched in PubMed, EBSCO, Springer, Ovid, The Cochrane Library (Issue 1, 2013), CNKI, VIP, WanFang Data and Google Scholar up to November 30th, 2013. The references of included literature were also retrieved manually. Two reviewers independently screened literature according to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, extracted data, and assessed the methodological quality of included studies. Then meta-analysis was performed using RevMan 5.2. ResultsA total of 22 RCTs involving 1 356 patients were enrolled. The results of meta-analysis indicated that:a) dexmedetomidine reduced the incidence of postoperative cognitive dysfunction on the first day (RR=0.38, 95%CI 0.29 to 0.49, P < 0.001), on the seventh day (RR=0.55, 95%CI 0.23 to 1.29, P=0.17); improved postoperative MMSE scores after surgery (on the first day:MD=2.38, 95%CI 1.42 to 3.34, P < 0.001; on the seventh day:MD=0.92, 95%CI 0.16 to 1.68, P=0.02), and decreased the expression of inflammatory factor IL-6 (instant:MD=-11.96, 95%CI-18.45 to-5.46, P=0.000 3; after 24 h:MD=-7.50, 95%CI-13.73 to-1.27, P=0.02); and TNF-α (instant:MD=-4.09, 95%CI-7.02 to-1.16, P=0.006)) in patients. b) No significant difference was found between two groups (MD=-0.97, 95%CI-2.37 to 0.43, P=0.17). ConclusionDexmedetomidine can effectively reduce the early-stage postoperative cognitive dysfunction, improve MMSE scores after the operation, and reduce inflammatory reaction. In addition, due to the limited quantity and quality of studies included, larger sample, high quality RCTs are needed to verify the abovementioned conclusion.
ObjectiveTo compare the effectiveness of different β-blockers for preventing postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) after cardiac surgery. Methods Databases of PubMed, Science Direct, Web of Science, The Cochrane Library, SinoMed, CKNI, VIP, WanFang were searched by the computer from inception to April 31, 2022 to collect randomized controlled studies on the comparison of the effectiveness of different β-blockers for preventing POAF. Two investigators independently screened the literature and extracted information. The quality of the literature was evaluated using Cochrane bias risk tool, and RevMan 5.3 and STATA 17.0 were used for meta-analysis. Results A total of 17 randomized controlled studies with 3 290 patients were included. Direct meta-analysis showed that landiolol and metoprolol were more effective than placebo (P≤0.001), and carvedilol was more effective than metoprolol in preventing the development of POAF (P<0.001). Network meta-analysis showed that landiolol, carvedilol and metoprolol were more effective than placebo in preventing the incidence of POAF (P<0.05). Landiolol and carvedilol were more effective than metoprolol, and carvedilol were more effective than nebivolol (P<0.05). The surface under the cumulative ranking curve from high to low were carvedilol, landilol, propranolol, atenolol, metoprolol, and nebivolol. Conclusion Carvedilol and landilol have different degrees of improvement in the occurrence of POAF, and carvedilol has the best preventive effect. More studies are required to verify the strength of evidence due to the limited sample size.
ObjectiveTo evaluate the effectiveness of preoperative immunosuppressive therapy combined with surgical intervention. MethodsA retrospective study was conducted on Behçet's disease patients who underwent cardiac surgery at Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital from 2012 to 2021. Patients were divided into immunosuppressive group and non-immunosuppressive group based on whether they received immunosuppressive therapy before surgery. The complications and long-term survival rates of the two groups were analyzed. ResultsA total of 28 patients were included, among which 2 patients underwent reoperation, a total of 30 surgeries were performed, including 16 males (53.3%), and the confirmed age was 37 (31, 45) years old. There were 15 surgeries in the immunosuppressive group and 15 surgeries in the non-immunosuppressive group. Compared with the non-immunosuppressive group, the incidence of complications during hospitalization in the immunosuppressive group was lower (13.3% vs. 53.3%, P=0.008). One patient died in hospital, and the rest were discharged and followed up, with a median follow-up time of 38.7 (15.1, 57.3) months, and there was no statistically significant difference in long-term survival rate between the two groups (26.7% vs. 6.7%, P=0.158). There was no statistically significant difference in the cumulative incidence of complications one month (20% vs. 53%, P=0.058) and one year (27% vs. 60%, P=0.065) after surgery between the immunosuppressive group and the non-immunosuppressive group, but there was a statistically significant difference in the cumulative incidence of complications three years after surgery (47% vs. 92%, P=0.002). ConclusionSurgical treatment can save lives in Behçet's disease patients with cardiovascular diseases, but the incidence of postoperative complications is high. Timely use of immunosuppressants before cardiovascular surgery can reduce the incidence of postoperative complications.
Objective To evaluate the application of three-dimensional printing technique in surgical treatments on complex congenital heart diseases. Methods Two patients were enrolled with complex congenital heart diseases. The computerized tomography data were used to build the 3D architecture of cardiac anomalies. The White-Jet-Process technique was used to print the models with 1∶1 ratio in size. The models were used to make the treatment strategy making, young surgeon training and operation simulation. Results The full color and hollowed-out cardiac models with 1∶1 ration in size were printed successfully. They were transected at the middle point of vertical axis, which was conveniently to explore the intracardiac anomalies. However, for patient 1, the model lost the atrial septal defect. Taking the two models as references, operation group held preoperative consultation, operation simulation, and finally, the operation plans were determined for the two patients. Both the two operation were carried out smoothly. Conclusion Although the limitations of 3D printing still exist in the application for congenital heart diseases, making the preoperative plan and operation simulation via 3D cardiac model could enhance the understanding of following operation and procedure details, which could improve the tacit cooperation among operation group members. Furthermore, operation results also could be improved potentially. Therefore, the cardiac 3D printing should be popularized in clinic in the future.
Objective To develop and compare the predictive performance of five machine learning models for adverse postoperative outcomes in cardiac surgery patients, and to identify key decision factors through SHapley Additive exPlanations (SHAP) interpretability analysis. Methods A retrospective collection of perioperative data (including demographic information, preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative indicators) with 88 variables was conducted from adult cardiac surgery patients at the First Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University in 2023. Adverse postoperative outcomes were defined as the occurrence of acute kidney injury and/or in-hospital mortality during the postoperative hospitalization period following cardiac surgery. Patients were divided into an adverse outcome group and a favorable outcome group based on the presence of adverse postoperative outcomes. After screening feature variables using the least absolute shrinkage and selection operator (LASSO) regression method, five machine learning models were constructed: eXtreme gradient boosting (XGBoost), random forest (RF), gradient boosting machine (GBM), light gradient boosting machine (LightGBM), and generalized linear model (GLM). The dataset was randomly divided into a training set and a test set at a 7 : 3 ratio using stratified sampling, with postoperative outcome as the stratification factor. Model performance was evaluated using receiver operating characteristic curves, decision curve analysis, and F1 Score. The SHAP method was applied to analyze feature contribution. Results A total of 639 patients were included, comprising 395 males and 244 females, with a median age of 62 (55, 69) years. The adverse outcome group consisted of 191 patients, while the favorable outcome group included 448 patients, resulting in an adverse postoperative outcome incidence of 29.9%. Univariate analysis showed no significant differences between the two groups for any variables (P>0.05). Using LASSO regression, 16 feature variables were selected (including cardiopulmonary bypass support time, blood glucose on postoperative day 3, creatine kinase-MB isoenzyme, systemic inflammatory response index, etc.), and five machine learning models (GLM, RF, GBM, LightGBM, XGBoost) were constructed. Evaluation results demonstrated that the XGBoost model exhibited the best predictive performance on both the training set (n=447) and test set (n=192), with area under the curve values of 0.761 [95%CI (0.719, 0.800) ] and 0.759 [95%CI (0.692, 0.818) ], respectively. It also significantly outperformed other models in positive predictive value, and balanced accuracy in the test set. Decision curve analysis further confirmed its clinical utility across various risk thresholds. SHAP analysis indicated that variables such as cardiopulmonary bypass support time, blood glucose on postoperative day 3, creatine kinase-MB isoenzyme, and inflammatory markers (SIRI, NLR, CAR) had high contributions to the prediction. Conclusion The XGBoost model effectively predicts adverse postoperative outcomes in cardiac surgery patients. Clinically, attention should be focused on cardiopulmonary bypass support time, postoperative blood glucose control, and monitoring of inflammatory levels to improve patient prognosis.