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Biomedical subjects

M A Ergin

Publications and source records attributed to M A Ergin.

At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources

Macromastia as a factor in sternal wound dehiscence following cardiac surgery: management combining chest wall reconstruction and reduction mammoplasty.

Major sternal wound infection occurs in nearly 2% of patients following coronary artery bypass graft surgery. The relationship of this complication to gender has not been reported in detail, nor has female breast size previously been implicated as a factor increasing the risk of sternotomy dehiscence. We report two cases of sternotomy wound dehiscence in women with large, pendulous breasts undergoing myocardial revascularization surgery and postulate that the weight of large, unsupported breasts produced inferolateral tension on the midline sternotomy incisions, contributing to dehiscence of the wounds. Chest wall reconstruction was accomplished using pectoralis muscle flaps, and the procedures were combined with amputative reduction of the size of the breasts, with subsequently successful healing in each case. Combining sternal reconstruction with breast reduction surgery may lead to improved secondary outcome, and postoperative use of supportive brassieres may reduce the frequency of this complication.

Aged

The history of heart and heart-lung transplantation.

The current success of heart and heart-lung transplantation is grounded in a long progression of experimental and clinical advances. Beginning with an isolated heart transplant performed as a technical exercise in 1905, slowly accumulated experimental efforts yielded solutions to problems involving technique, recipient and graft protection, post-transplant function and immunology, and provided a foundation for subsequent clinical applications. Clinical studies augmented these observations and addressed legal and logistic issues involved in human transplantation.

Animals

Angiosarcoma of the left atrium mimicking myxoma: case report.

The case of a 65-year-old female patient with a pedunculated left atrial angiosarcoma is presented. Histologically, the tumor was composed of vascular spaces lined by atypical cells with similar cells in the solid portion of the tumor. Immunohistochemical stain for factor VIII-related antigen was positive in the cells forming vascular spaces. Immunoperoxidase stain for Ulex Europaeus I lectin was positive in cells lining vascular lumina and in individual cells in the solid portion of the tumor. Cardiac angiosarcomas characteristically occur in men, arise in the right atrium, are large mural masses that infiltrate widely at the time of presentation, and are usually rapidly fatal. Review of the literature reveals that this case of cardiac angiosarcoma is unusual by virtue of its occurrence in a female, left atrial location as a polypoid lesion, and prolonged symptom-free survival after surgical resection alone. Cardiac angiosarcoma may clinically and radiologically simulate myxoma.

Aged

Hemodynamic changes after nafcillin administration during coronary artery bypass surgery.

The hemodynamic response to nafcillin administration was studied in 45 patients with good left ventricular function and no known history of hypersensitivity to penicillin during coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG). Group I (15 patients) received 1 gram of nafcillin in 10 mL of saline as an intravenous (IV) bolus, group II (15 patients) received 1 gram of nafcillin in 50 mL of saline as a slow IV infusion over 15 minutes, and group III (15 patients) did not receive nafcillin. Hemodynamic variables and plasma histamine and catecholamine levels were measured before and after nafcillin administration, after 500 mg of CaCl2, and after 0.1 mg of phenylephrine. Bolus nafcillin administration produced profound hypotension secondary to vasodilatation with significant increases in cardiac index and decreases in systemic and pulmonary vascular resistances. Cardiac index increased from 3.15 +/- 0.3 L/min/m2 to 5.75 +/- 0.25 L/min/m2 (P less than 0.005) one minute after nafcillin administration, and remained at 5.1 +/- 0.35 L/min/m2 after administration of CaCl2 (P less than 0.005). All hemodynamic parameters returned toward control values after administration of 0.1 mg of phenylephrine, IV. Plasma epinephrine, norepinephrine, and histamine levels increased more than 100%. In group II, cardiac index increased, while systemic and pulmonary vascular resistances and mean arterial pressure decreased. However, these changes were less significant than those found in group I.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Blood Pressure

Annular destruction in acute bacterial endocarditis. Surgical techniques to meet the challenge.

Destruction and disruption of ventricular-aortic or mitral-aortic continuity in the presence of acute infection of the annular tissue is a significant surgical challenge. Among 82 patients who underwent surgical treatment for acute endocarditis over a 10-year period, 15 (18.2%) had extensive destruction of the anulus necessitating special reconstructive techniques for treatment. Surgical treatment involved removal of all infected tissue including annular elements followed by appropriate restoration of the anulus for safe anchoring of the prosthetic valve. The reconstruction of the anulus consisted of the following: a Teflon felt patch inside and outside the aorta or ventricle, or both, for secure attachment of the prosthesis (felt aortic root, in three patients with native valve endocarditis), valved composite graft replacement of the aortic root for ventricular-aortic discontinuity (Bentall procedure, in eight patients with prosthetic valve endocarditis), composite patch reconstruction of the mitral anulus and the ascending aorta to restore mitral-aortic continuity (mitral-aortic composite patch in two patients with mitral-aortic prosthetic valve endocarditis), and direct suture of the sewing skirts of the mitral and aortic prostheses to restore the defect (attached skirts, in one patient with mitral-aortic native valve endocarditis). There was one hospital death caused by multiple organ failure. The most common complication was heart block. Two late deaths were due to reinfection resulting from continued intravenous drug abuse. One patient with a felt aortic root repair required late reoperation for subannular aneurysm. Eleven patients were followed up from 7 months to 66 months and are alive and well without complications. This experience indicates that these seemingly radical surgical techniques can be used in these desperately ill patients with safety and good long-term results. They offer the only lasting solution for major disruption in cardiac anatomy in the presence of infection.

Acute Disease

Urgent operation for acute transverse aortic arch dissection.

Surgical intervention is generally accepted for acute type A dissection, but little is published regarding therapy for acute dissection of the transverse portion of the aortic arch, though involved in approximately 15% of cases. Often, surgical treatment is withheld if aortography suggests a primary tear in the aortic arch. Similarly, resection is limited to the ascending aorta despite intimal tears within the transverse portion of the arch. This work reports a 9-year experience with a policy of emergency resection for all acute aortic dissections involving the aortic arch. Intensive "antiimpulse" therapy is instituted and aortic angiograms are obtained. Type A dissections are resected under moderate hypothermia and, if the primary tear extends into the arch or is not found in the ascending aorta, the arch is explored during a brief period of deep hypothermia and circulatory arrest. If necessary, the arch is replaced during circulatory arrest, the patient's head is packed in ice, steroids are administered, and a barbiturate coma is induced. If arch replacement is anticipated preoperatively, surface cooling is also employed. Sixteen acute (up to 14 days) and three subacute (15 to 28 days) transverse arch dissections were treated in this manner between May 1979 and May 1988, with four (21%) hospital deaths (25%, acute; 0%, subacute). Mortality was related to left main coronary dissection with extensive myocardial infarction in two of our four cases, a third death was related to persistent seizures in a renal transplant patient requiring hemodialysis who had lupus cerebritis, and the fourth resulted from rupture of the descending aorta 15 days after arch replacement.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Acute Disease

The protective effect of profound hypothermia on the canine central nervous system during one hour of circulatory arrest.

Circulatory arrest during profound hypothermia is a safe technique of cardiac surgery when used in selected instances. Despite its proven safety, the degree of cerebral protection offered by this technique is still poorly defined. Ten dogs anesthetized with Pentothal (thiopental sodium) were surface cooled to 32 degrees C. They were placed on cardiopulmonary bypass, cooled to 13 degrees C (cerebral temperature), and then underwent one hour of circulatory arrest. At the end of the arrest period, the dogs were rewarmed, resuscitated, and successfully weaned from bypass. A control group of 6 dogs were subjected to the same protocol but without the one-hour period of circulatory arrest. There were no group differences in animal weight, duration of surface cooling, cardiopulmonary bypass, or rewarming, mean flow, or mean arterial pressure. After a 7-day observation period, the dogs were killed with rapid tissue fixation using formalin. No neurological deficits were noted in any of the dogs during the observation period. The fixed brains were examined by a neuropathologist. No gross or microscopic evidence of cerebral hypoxia was seen in any of the animals. We conclude that one hour of circulatory arrest under profoundly hypothermic temperatures produces no detectable neurological changes or histological evidence of cerebral hypoxia.

Animals

Successful treatment of multiple simultaneous great vessel disruptions.

Survival following ruptures of the thoracic aorta at sites other than the aortic isthmus is exceedingly rare. Herein we describe a successful outcome in a 62-year-old woman with ascending and isthmic aortic lacerations compounded by disruptions of the subclavian-innominate artery junction and the left vertebral-subclavian junction. Chest wall instability and a myocardial contusion further complicated her case.

Aorta, Thoracic

Extended aortic arch anastomosis for repair of coarctation in infancy.

Surgical repair of coarctation of the aorta was performed in 17 infants, median age 14 days, median weight 3.5 kg. Extended end-to-end aortic arch anastomosis was used. A long incision was made in the inferior aspect of the aortic isthmus and arch, which was then anastomosed to the obliquely trimmed distal aorta. The aortic arch was hypoplastic in eight patients. Mean cross-clamp time was 17.1 min. Pulmonary artery bands were placed in five patients. Follow-up two-dimensional echocardiographic and Doppler studies on 13 patients 1 to 56 months after surgery demonstrated normal distal aortic flow in 10, slightly decreased flow in two, and diminished flow in one. Patients with abnormal Doppler flow showed no gradient in one case and a 30 mm Hg gradient in two. Extended aortic arch anastomosis is safe in infancy, leaves no native coarctation shelf tissue in the repaired segment, does not sacrifice the subclavian artery, is useful in hypoplastic isthmus, and is at low risk to develop aneurysm or recoarctation.

Aorta, Thoracic

Primary reconstruction of interrupted aortic arch by total aortic outflow obstruction.

Primary aortic arch reconstruction was undertaken in three neonates with interrupted aortic arch and ventricular septal defect. Total ascending aortic occlusion without cardiopulmonary bypass or profound hypothermia permitted, in each case, a rapid tension-free end-to-side descending-to-ascending aortic anastomosis without resulting neurologic or cardiac sequelae. This technique offers distinct advantages over previously described methods and should be considered whenever interrupted aortic arch is present with a ventricular septal defect.

Abnormalities, Multiple

Anaesthesia for aortic arch aneurysm repair: experience with 17 patients.

Mortality and morbidity during aortic arch aneurysm repair is high despite improvements in surgical technique which attempt to assure brain protection during surgery. We successfully managed 17 patients using deep hypothermia and circulatory arrest. Anaesthesia consisted of pancuronium, fentanyl, plus isoflurane or halothane if needed. Pulmonary artery and arterial catheters were inserted. Surface cooling was performed followed by core cooling on cardiopulmonary bypass, using a heat exchanger. Total circulatory arrest was performed when esophageal temperature reached 12-14 degrees C after previous administration of thiopentone 30 mg X kg-1, methylprednisolone 2 gm, furosemide 40 mg and mannitol 25 gm. At that time the head was packed in ice and surgical correction performed. Mean arrest time was 36.5 +/- 13 minutes at a mean oesophageal temperature of 12.5 +/- 0.75 degrees C. No serious, permanent neurological deficit was found. Tracheostomy was required in five patients of whom two had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Two of these patients died of adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and renal failure. The reported technique is safe and can be easily used in patients undergoing aortic arch aneurysm repair.

Adjuvants, Anesthesia