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Biomedical subjects

J M Neutze

Publications and source records attributed to J M Neutze.

At least 73 records · Page 4Linked to original sources

Culture negative infective endocarditis.

Twenty cases of culture negative infective endocarditis admitted to the Cardiology Department of Green Lane Hospital from 1959 to 1980 out of a total of 265 cases (7.5%), were analysed retrospectively. Cases were included only when adequate proof of endocarditis was available at surgery or postmortem. Indiscriminate use of antibiotics before taking blood cultures was the most common association with failure to obtain positive cultures, seen in 16 of the 20 patients described. Failure to obtain positive cultures in four cases was attributed to inadequate bacteriologic techniques before 1967. Where no antibiotics were given prior to collecting blood cultures and bacteriologic techniques were adequate, proven culture negative endocarditis was virtually unknown. When antibiotics have been given, repeated blood cultures are recommended following withdrawal of antibiotic for at least four days.

Anti-Bacterial Agents↗

Congenital aneurysm of the left atrium: diagnosis and management.

A case of congenital aneurysm of the left atrial appendage is presented and previously reported cases are reviewed. The diagnosis can be strongly suspected with the combination of an unusually prominent left heart border in the chest X-ray and two-dimensional echocardiographic findings of a large echo-free space close to the left atrium. The site of communication must be defined accurately and cardiac catheterisation and angiocardiography should be performed. Once the diagnosis is confirmed, surgery is indicated even in the asymptomatic patient because of the risk of systemic embolism.

Child↗

Hemodynamics following the Kreutzer procedure for tricuspid atresia in patients under two years of age.

This study was performed to demonstrate the hemodynamics in three patients who underwent the Kreutzer procedure for repair of tricuspid atresia at the ages of 3, 12, and 18 months, with particular reference to the function of the pulmonary valve. Each patient underwent clinical review and cardiac catheterization 4 to 7 years postoperatively. Cardiac indices were slightly reduced. Pressures in the right atrium were moderately elevated, and tall A waves were incompletely transmitted to the pulmonary artery. Cineangiograms with pressure injections in the main pulmonary artery showed that the pulmonary valves had grown and could function well. Echocardiograms, however, showed no valve closure under normal conditions, and this was confirmed by cineangiography in one patient with a slow, continuous infusion of contrast medium in the main pulmonary artery. We suspect that a structurally perfect valve remains more or less permanently open and serves no function.

Blood Pressure↗

Results after repair of coarctation of the aorta beyond infancy: a 10 to 28 year follow-up with particular reference to late systemic hypertension.

The late outcome in 160 patients aged 1 to 54 years who had surgical repair of coarctation of the aorta was examined 10 to 28 years postoperatively. Twenty years postoperatively the probability of survival of patients discharged from the hospital aged 1 to 19 years at operation was a little less than that of the general population (95% versus 97%). The discrepancy between patients and the general population was more marked in those aged 20 to 39 years and was grossly different when surgical repair was undertaken beyond age 40. There were 19 late deaths (12%), 79% due to cardiovascular disease. Thirteen patients had a poor result because of recoarctation (11 patients) or the development of complications at the site of repair (2 patients). Most patients were hypertensive before operation. The frequency of hypertension decreased markedly in the first few postoperative years. Blood pressure was normal in most patients 5 to 10 years after operation, but when followed up for longer periods the proportion of patients with hypertension increased. Hypertension was more common in patients operated on after 20 years of age than in those aged 5 to 19 years at operation (p = 0.007). The likelihood of being alive without complications and with a normal blood pressure was 69% at 10 years, 55% at 15 years, and 20% at 25 years postoperatively.

Adolescent↗

Serum myoglobin concentration as an index of myocardial damage after cardiac surgery.

We assessed serum myoglobin concentration as an index of myocardial damage after cardiothoracic surgery in a dog model and man. Experimentally, we compared 12 dogs subject to left thoracotomy either with or without coronary artery ligation to cause an infarct. Serial blood sampling for 24 hours after surgery showed that the times taken for the myoglobin peak concentrations to appear distinguished the two groups without overlap. These times were 2.4 +/- 0.4 hours after surgery without ligation compared with 9.8 +/- 0.8 hours in the ligated group (P less than 0.001). Clinically, serial sampling was performed over 48 hours in 20 patients having undergone cardiac surgery involving cardiopulmonary bypass. A further 80 patients were investigated for 12 hours. Myoglobin was compared with the activities of creatine kinase, 2-hydroxybutyrate dehydrogenase and glutamate-oxaloacetate transaminase in relation to electrocardiographic criteria of myocardial damage. A myoglobin peak greater than 800 micrograms/1 appearing later than 6 hours after starting bypass was found in those patients suffering myocardial damage. The appearance times and activities of the enzymes tested were widely scattered and difficult to interpret. We conclude that blood samples taken at approximately 3 and 6 hours after starting bypass should suffice to characterise both peak myoglobin and its time of appearance which together form a sensitive index of myocardial damage. However, this conclusion is limited by the low incidence of myocardial damage (3%) in this group of patients.

Animals↗

Comparative studies on the hemodynamic effects of prostaglandin E1 prostacyclin, and tolazoline upon elevated pulmonary vascular resistance in neonatal swine.

Forty-eight hour old anesthetised and ventilated neonatal piglets were cannulated in order to measure pressure, blood gases and cardiac outputs (CO) from which pulmonary (PVR) and systemic (SVR) vascular resistances were calculated. After baseline measurements had been made inspired gases were altered to produce hypoxemia and hypercapnia, to raise PVR. Animals then received Prostaglandin E1 (PGE1), Tolazoline (TOL), and Prostacyclin (PGI2) in varying dosages until PVR was reduced or the dosage no longer tolerated. With "hypoxia" CO, PVR and pulmonary artery (PA) pressures rose; aortic pressure also rose although SVR tended to fall. PGE1 (5microgram/kg/min) and PGI2 (1.0 microgram/kg/min) both produced a significant fall in PVR. The decrease in PVR with TOL (1 mg/kg/10 minutes and 2 mg/kg/1 hour) was less consistent and in surviving animals did not achieve statistical significance by multivariate analysis. SVR fell with all drugs although the change with TOL was again non-significant. With both PGI2 and TOL there was a trend for CO to rise and, although this did not reach significant levels, it restricted the drop in arterial pressure to approximately control levels. The fall in arterial pressure with PGE1 was greater. The death rate with treatment with TOL was much higher than that seen with the other two drugs. Circulatory changes in a group of animals with normal blood gases treated with PGI2 (1 microgram/kg/min) were similar to those seen with the hypoxic group.

Alprostadil↗

Infective endocarditis: a lethal disease.

One-hundred-and-eighty-nine episodes of infective Endocarditis were seen in 177 patients in the Green Lane Cardiology Unit over a 18-year period. Hospital survival was 79% and 13-year actuarial survival was 47%. A number of factors including the underlying cardiac lesion, infecting organism, clinical features and surgical intervention were related to outcome. No patient with extreme heart failure survived without operation. Hospital survival in patients with severe heart failure was 69% (9/13 patients) where surgery was carried out before completion of antibiotic treatment, and 40% (6/15 patients) where the antibiotic course was completed. Survival was 53% in patients who still had a fever after one week of antibiotic treatment and 96% if the temperature was normal. In 61% of patients with a fever at one week, extended infected pannus was present compared with 6--10% where the temperature was normal. In patients undergoing operation before completion of antibiotics, the surgical mortality was higher but neither the incidence of recurrence of endocarditis nor the need for re-operation was increased. We believe that better results will be achieved with a policy of surgical intervention when signs of infection and heart failure have not settled within one week of treatment.

Actuarial Analysis↗

Open mitral valvotomy. Effect of preoperative factors on result.

On hundred fifty-four patients who underwent open mitral valvotomy in the years of 1968 to 1976 were reviewed 1 to 112 months (mean 48) postoperatively. There was one hospital death and there were 14 late deaths (nine cardiac), and 16 patients required reoperation during the follow-up period. Preoperative factors were examined to assess their association with an unsatisfactory postoperative course. End points included unsatisfactory symptomatic status, the need for reoperation, and postoperative death. Maori race and atrial fibrillation (AF) were associated with all three end points. Other preoperative factors associated with at least one unfavorable end point were female sex, unfavorable preoperative symptomatic status, the presence of mild associated mitral incompetence (MI), a previous operation, and the presence of calcification in the mitral valve. The degree of subvalvular fusion and the adequacy of valvotomy assessed at operation were also related to outcome. A binary regression program was developed to assist in the prediction of outcome from an assessment of preoperative factors. Preoperative embolism occurred in 31 patients and postoperative embolism in 13. Postoperative embolism occurred in 35% of patients with a preoperative embolic episode and AF. Open mitral valvotomy carries a low operative risk, but unfavorable preoperative factors militate against a satisfactory long-term result and protection from recurrent embolism is only partial.

Adolescent↗

Variant of tetralogy of fallot with absent pulmonary valve leaflets and origin of one pulmonary artery from the ascending aorta.

Absent pulmonary valve leaflets and anomalous origin of a pulmonary artery from the ascending aorta have been reported as separate lesions associated with tetralogy of Fallot but not in combination. The clinical, radiologic and pathologic findings are presented in three patients with this previously undescribed combination. A search of the literature for similar cases revealed 233 patients with absent pulmonary valve leaflets and 56 patients with anomalous origin of a pulmonary artery from the ascending aorta; these cases are reviewed. Although 17 patients with absent pulmonary valve leaflets and tetralogy of Fallot also had absence of the proximal portion of the left pulmonary artery, none had an anomalously arising pulmonary artery from the ascending aorta. In the reviewed cases, anomalous origin of the right pulmonary artery from the ascending aorta was more frequent than that of the left pulmonary artery (44 compared with 12 cases, respectively), but the latter was more often associated with tetralogy of Fallot.

Aorta↗

Congenital valvar aortic stenosis. Natural history and assessment for operation.

Two hundred and eighteen patients with congenital valvar aortic stenosis aged between 1 and 25 years at presentation were followed for one to 26 years (average 8.7 years). Assessment of severity of aortic stenosis was essentially based on clinical findings including symptoms, the character of the pulse, and the behaviour of the second heart sound, management being further influenced by the degree of left ventricular hypertrophy shown in the electrocardiogram. There was reasonable correlation between clinical and haemodynamic assessment and all patients with a gradient between left ventricle and aorta (LV-Ao) greater than 50 mmHg (6.7 kPa) were judged to have moderate or severe aortic stenosis on physical signs. Fifty-five per cent of those judged mild on presentation still had a mild lesion 18 years later; 42 per cent of those judged moderate on presentation still had a moderate lesion 15 years later. Forty-four patients had an operation and of the 30 patients who underwent aortic valvotomy, only 40 per cent still had a satisfactory result 13 years later. There were three preoperative and seven postoperative deaths but in only two patients was death directly related to severe aortic stenosis and both of these patients had been lost to follow-up. It is concluded that indications for operation are aortic stenosis which is moderate or severe on physical findings, together with restrictive symptoms or ST and T wave changes on the electrocardiogram. Using these criteria, the risk of sudden death is minimal and irreversible myocardial damage unlikely. We do not recommend either routine cardiac catheterisation or routine operation at any arbitrary LV-Ao gradient.

Adolescent↗

Developmental progress after cardiac surgery in infancy using hypothermia and circulatory arrest.

Seventy-two of 76 long-term survivors who had surgical repair of congenital heart lesions at 11 days to 26 months of age using profound hypothermia and circulatory arrest underwent psychometric testing (Stanford-Binet) late postoperatively. The mean IQ of the 72 patients was 92.9 +r16.5 (SD). Stanford-Binet scores bore no relationship to the duration of circulatory arrest or other aspects of surgical technique. Scores were significantly lower in those who had a low birth weight for gestational age, important neurologic problems preoperatively or were in the lower socioeconomic classes. An "ideal" control group of 69 children randomly selected from patients satisfying certain criteria based on birth and neonatal characteristics had a mean IQ of 106.2 +r11.6. Twenty-five patients who had surgical treatment of cogenital heart disease met the criteria for the control group except for their heart lesions. Their mean IQ was 101.4 +r15.0(NS). We could not demonstrate any significant deleterious effect that could be attributed to the surgical methods. Rather, the postoperative IQ scores reflected characteristics related to individual patients.

Cardiac Surgical Procedures↗