ObjectiveTo explore the postoperative characteristics and management experience of patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) undergoing cardiac and vascular surgery. MethodsFrom December 7, 2022 to January 5, 2023, the patients with COVID-19 who were admitted to Cardiovascular Hospital Affiliated to Kunming Medical University and underwent cardiac and vascular surgery were selected. The clinical history, surgical information, postoperative recovery process and treatment plan were analyzed retrospectively. ResultsThere were 18 patients in this group, including 11 (61.1%) males and 7 (38.9%) females, with an average age of 58.1±10.9 years. There were 7 patients of hypertension, 5 patients of diabetes, 3 patients of respiratory diseases, and 2 patient of chronic renal insufficiency. There were 5 (27.8%) patients receiving emergency operations and 13 (72.2%) elective operations. All the 18 patients underwent cardiac and vascular surgery in the period of COVID-19, and the time between the last positive nucleic acid test and the surgery was 1.50 (1.00, 6.25) days. There were 8 patients of pulmonary imaging changes, including 3 patients with chest patch shadow, 3 patients with thickened and disordered lung markings, and 2 patients with exudative changes before operation. Antiviral therapy was not adopted in all patients before operation. Three patients were complicated with viral pneumonia after operation, including 2 patients with high risk factors before operation, who developed into severe pneumonia after operation, and underwent tracheotomy. One patient with thrombus recovered after anticoagulation treatment. Another patient of mild pneumonia recovered after antiviral treatment. The other 15 patients recovered well without major complications. There was no operation-related death in the whole group. One patient died after surgery, with a mortality rate of 5.6%. Conclusion Patients with COVID-19 are at high risk of cardiac and vascular surgery, and patients with high-risk factors may rapidly progress to severe pneumonia. Patients with preoperative lung imaging changes or other basic visceral diseases should consider delaying the operation. Early antiviral combined with immunomodulation treatment for emergency surgery patients may help improve the prognosis.
Severe heart and great vessel injuries were a fatal traumatic entity. How to improve the survival rate of these victims still was a challenge to date. This paper included： the pathogenesis and resuscitation of commotio eordis ; traumatic pericardial rupture associated with heart luxation and/or diaphragmatocele in pericardial cavity; indication selection of emergency room thoracotomy for severe heart injury and traumatic aortic disruption treated with endovascular stent graft. For the purpose of increasing our recognition of the severe trauma and making the early diagnosis and management as early as possible. The main relative references published in recently 5 years were reviewed.
Objective To summarize our experience of cardiovascular surgery for patients dependent on dialysis, and evaluate its safety and efficacy.?Methods?Clinical data of 10 consecutive patients dependent on maintenance dialysis underwent cardiovascular operations between Dec. 2004 and April 2011 in Peking Union Medical College Hospital were analyzed retrospectively. There were 6 male and 4 female patients, aged between 23 to 71 （57.6±13.2） years. They were put on dialysis 3-98 （25.2±30.6） months prior to operation due to diabetic nephropathy in 6 patients, chronic glomerulitis in 3 patients and systemic lupus erythemus in 1 patient, and 8 were dependent on hemodialysis and 2 on peritoneal dialysis. Five patients underwent coronary artery bypass grafting, one underwent Bentall procedure，two underwent aortic valve replacement, one underwent mitral valve replacement, and one underwent superior vena cava thrombectomy and patch repair. Patients underwent dialysis on the day before elective operation, followed by continuous ultra-filtration during cardiopulmonary bypass, and then bedside heparin-free continuous veno-venous hyperfiltration-dialysis started 5-32 hours after the operation. Conventional peritoneal dialysis or hemodialysis was resumed 4-7 days after operation.?Results?All operations were successfully completed. Cardiopulmonary bypass time was （125.8±33.5）minutes, aortic clamp time was（77.2±25.5） minutes. One in-hospital death occurred due to septic shock after deep chest wound infection. One patient underwent re-exploration due to pericardial temponade to achieve hemostasis. Three patients experienced atrial fibrillation and were all converted to sinus rhythm by amiodarone. Nine patients recovered to discharge and were followed-up for 8-76 months. Two late deaths occurred due to intracranial hemorrhage and liver carcinoma respectively. Seven survived patients were all in New York Heart Association grade II functional class, and none of them experience major advertent cardiac events related to grafts or prosthetic valve. One patient switched to hemodialysis 14 months after discharge due to peritonitis.Conclusion?Cardiovascular surgery can be practiced in patients dependent on maintenance hemodialysis or peritoneal dialysis with appropriate peri-operative management, so that symptoms can be relieved and quality of life improved.
Objective To review and analyze the statistics of laboratory critical values in the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery in order to improve the procedures of dealing with these values and provide references for the enhancement of the nursing level. Methods We retrospectively analyzed laboratory critical values of 236 inpatients in the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery from April 2013 to April 2014. General data of the patients including the type of critical values, the critical value, distribution, clinical processing time and complications related to the critical values. Results A total of 208 laboratory critical values of 185 inpatients were analyzed including abnormal blood potassium was involved in 99 (47.60%); abnormal blood glucose was involved in 13 (6.25%); abnormal blood sodium was involved in 11 (5.29%); abnormal blood troponin was involved in 13 (6.25%); and 72 cases had other kinds of critical values (34.62%). A total of 136 critical values were closely related to the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery. Among them, 60 cases had a processing time of 15 minutes or shorter. After re-examination, 16 were confirmed to be fake critical values; and 11 critical values did not need to be treated according to the condition of the patients. There were altogether 27 cases of complications related to critical values, including 23 cases of arrhythmia related to abnormal blood potassium, 2 cases of abnormal muscle strength caused by abnormal blood sodium, and 2 cases of hypoglycemia. After the critical values were handled, related complications disappeared without any recurrence. Conclusions Perfect regulatory regime and process of recording and handling laboratory critical values are important for nurses in our department to carry out more accurate measures in treating these critical values including abnormal blood potassium, blood glucose, blood sodium, and blood troponin, etc. In order to continuously improve medical and nursing quality, nurses should pay more attention to the identification and treatment of laboratory critical values.
ObjectiveTo summarize the surgical management of complicated mediastinal tumor involving the heart or great vessels.
MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 38 patients with complicated mediastinal tumor invading the heart and large blood vessels underwent extended thymectomy in our hospital between February 1997 and May 2014. There were 26 males and 12 females at age of 41.3± 13.6 years ranking from 4 to 68 years. Multiple personalized procedures were applied within the 38 patients and some patients underwent more than one procedure. Besides the resection of mediastinal tumor, 3 patients underwent partial right atrial resection. Sixteen patients underwent resection, plasty or grafting vessels. Ten patients took partial excision and repair of pericardium. Eight patients underwent pulmonary wedge resection. Two patients underwent lobectomy. Two patients required cardiopulmonary bypass.
ResultAll operations were completed successfully. There was no perioperative mortality. The operating time was 105-282 min and blood loss was 200-1 500 ml. The postoperative complications rate was 23.7%. The incidence of ICU admission was 47.4% with an average ICU stay of 1.8 days. The average length of post-operative hospital stay was 11.2 days. The five-year survival rate was 57.0%.
ConclusionSurgical resection of mediastinal tumor invading the heart or great vessels is complicated and highly risky. However, desirable clinical outcome can be achieved with comprehensive perioperative assessment and appropriate surgical procedures.
