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Stiff left atrial syndrome with pulmonary veins occlusion after percutaneous radiofrequency ablation: a life-long complication that can lead to heart transplantation

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Stiff left atrial syndrome (SLAS) and pulmonary vein (PV) occlusion are rare yet potentially major life-long complications after radiofrequency ablation for atrial fibrillation. While mostly controlled by medi…  Read More

Case report: Surgical repair of congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries with the guidance of three-dimensional printing

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Front Cardiovasc Med. 2023 Jan 6;9:1101929. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2022.1101929. eCollection 2022.

ABSTRACT

A 10-year-old girl presented with obvious cyanosis, and the saturation of arterial blood oxygen (SpO2) was decreased to 60.5% in the outpatient examination. Computed tomography angiography (CTA) and echocardiography suggested congenitally corrected transposition of the great arteries (ccTGAs), membranous ventricular septal aneurysm (MVSA), atrial septal defect (ASD), severe pulmonary stenosis (PS), and severe tricuspid regurgitation (TR). Due to the complex pathological anatomical structures, the three-dimensional printed model was used for preoperative assessment. After a comprehensive evaluation was completed, the operation was performed by physiological correction under cardiopulmonary bypass, including the resection of MVSA, repair using the bovine pericardial patch for ASD, and linear valvuloplasty of the tricuspid valve. Due to the special anatomical structures of ccTGA, PS was treated by extracardiac pipe technique. After the operation, the patient recovered well, cyanosis disappeared, SpO2 was up to 96%, and the extracardiac pipe was well-functioning without regurgitation or obstruction.

PMID:36684563 | PMC:PMC9852815 | DOI:10.3389/fcvm.2022.1101929

Recurrent embolic strokes due to antiphospholipid syndrome and non-bacterial thrombotic endocarditis in a patient with basal cell carcinoma

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Non-Bacterial Thrombotic Endocarditis (NBTE) is a common form of aseptic thrombotic endocarditis that primarily affects mitral valves and less frequently aortic valves. NBTE is caused by systemic inflammatory …  Read More

Flaw-insensitive fatigue resistance of chemically fixed collagenous soft tissues

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Sci Adv. 2023 Mar 3;9(9):eade7375. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.ade7375. Epub 2023 Mar 3.

ABSTRACT

Bovine pericardium (BP) has been used as leaflets of prosthetic heart valves. The leaflets are sutured on metallic stents and can survive 400 million flaps (~10-year life span), unaffected by the suture holes. This flaw-insensitive fatigue resistance is unmatched by synthetic leaflets. We show that the endurance strength of BP under cyclic stretch is insensitive to cuts as long as 1 centimeter, about two orders of magnitude longer than that of a thermoplastic polyurethane (TPU). The flaw-insensitive fatigue resistance of BP results from the high strength of collagen fibers and soft matrix between them. When BP is stretched, the soft matrix enables a collagen fiber to transmit tension over a long length. The energy in the long length dissipates when the fiber breaks. We demonstrate that a BP leaflet greatly outperforms a TPU leaflet. It is hoped that these findings will aid the development of soft materials for flaw-insensitive fatigue resistance.

PMID:36867693 | PMC:PMC9984180 | DOI:10.1126/sciadv.ade7375