Oral communications about Cardiac Surgery, Thoracic Surgery and Vascular Surgery presented at the SPCCTV 4D Visions 20, 28-29 November 2020, Figueira da Foz, Portugal.
Objectives: Pneumonectomy is a procedure with high post-operative morbidity and mortality. This study aims to assess and identify possible risk factors that can affect post-operative outcome, therefore determining the safety of pneumonectomy in specific groups.
Methods: A total of 63 patients submitted to pneumonectomy at our centre, from February 2008 to February 2018, were included in our retrospective study. Age, gender, side of intervention, diagnosis, pre-operative symptoms, substance abuse and comorbidities were assessed. Early and late post-operative complications, as well as death were our major outcomes. We analysed the impact of preoperative variables on major outcomes using SPSS statistics.
Results: We found a 9,8% surgery-related mortality and 1-year survival rate of 76,2%. The incidence of early complications in our population was of 35% while eleven patients (17,4%) developed late post-operative complications. No statistical difference was found when comparing survival time between genders or age groups. Right sided pneumonectomies seem to be associated with an higher mortality risk. No other association between risk factors and outcomes reached statistical significance in both univariate and multivariate analysis.
Conclusions: Pneumonectomy is a viable option regardless of age whenever the patient has a good functional and cardiopulmonary status. Gender and diagnostic group do not seem to influence adverse event risk, although right-sided pneumonectomies show an increased risk for post-operative death. Care should be taken with patients submitted to neoadjuvant therapy. All patients should be encouraged to cease smoking as early as possible before surgery, given the increased risks for post-operative complications.
A 19 years-old woman, on her 17th week of pregnancy presented to the emergency department with thoracic pain and vomiting. An empyema was diagnosed and she was transferred to a tertiary hospital for treatment. After drainage of the empyema a mediastinal mass was detected and a thoracic MRI revealed a multicystic lesion of the anterior mediastinum, causing cardiac and left lung compression, suggestive of a complicated teratoma. After a multidisciplinary discussion involving pulmonology, radiology, obstetrics and thoracic surgery, she was operated successfully by clamshell incision. A mature complicated teratoma was resected and a left pleurectomy/decortication performed. She was discharged on day 17 with no obstetrical or respiratory symptoms..
Aortoiliac occlusive disease (AIOD) remains an area of debate concerning open and endovascular treatment options. A case of a 63-year old female is reported, with previous known vascular intermittent claudication, that presented in the emergency room with acute ischemia of the right lower limb with 24-hours of evolution. The computer tomographic angiography unveiled occlusion of the superior mesenteric artery, occlusion of left common iliac artery (CIA), subocclusive stenosis of right CIA, occlusion of distal runoffs vessels in the right lower limb and diffuse aorto-iliac disease. The first approach was to place the patient under catheter directed thrombolysis (48h) which led to right pedal pulse recovery but the occlusion of left CIA remained. The patient was then electively submitted to Covered Endovascular Repair of Aortic Bifurcation (CERAB) with chimney to inferior mesenteric artery and with an additional bailout left iliac sandwich due to dissection. Distal pulses are still present after 18 months of follow-up. Endovascular techniques provide a low morbimortality option with similar symptomatic improvement, challenging open surgery as the standard of care even in complex AIOD.
A 42 years-old female presented with right inguinal swelling with one year of evolution. Magnetic resonance imaging was suggestive of inguinal endometriosis adherent to femoral vessels. Due to the rarity of this pathology (prevalence 0.3-0.6%), clinical suspicion is essential. Surgical excision is the treatment of choice.
Aortic mural thrombus is a rare condition with 0.45% incidence in the general population, being the thoracic aorta the most affected portion. In the absence of an atherosclerotic wall lesion, other specific conditions should be studied and excluded. The authors describe two clinical cases of a 64 years old male and a 48 years old female that despite a non- -atherosclerotic diseased aorta, had a thoracic mural thrombus which presented clinically with mesenteric and lower limb microembolization, respectively. Once presented with peripheral embolization, the aim should be to exclude the embolic source and prevent end organ malfunction. TEVAR has been developed as a therapeutic solution to exclude the embolic source, with a high rate of technical success and few comorbidities associated. Long term anti-coagulation is debatable but may prevent further embolization events.
A 48 year-old female patient presented with arterial hypertension. Computed tomography angiography revealed small stenoses alternating with areas of dilatation (due to small fusiform aneurysms) in the middle to distal portions of the main renal arteries, creating a "string of beads" appearance, findings in keeping with fibromuscular dysplasia.
Objectives: To compare 7-year survival and freedom from reoperation, as well as early clinical and hemodynamic outcomes, after surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) with mechanical or bioprosthetic valves in patients aged 50-70 years.
Methods: single-center retrospective cohort study including adults aged 50-70 years who underwent SAVR in 2012 with a mechanical or bioprosthetic valve. Median follow-up was 7 years. Univariable analyses were performed using Kaplan-Meier curves and Log-Rank tests for survival and freedom from reoperation analyses. Multivariable time-to-event analyses were conducted using Cox Regression.
Results: Of a total of 193 patients, 76 (39.4%) received mechanical valves and 117 (60.6%) received bioprosthetic valves. A trend for better survival was found for mechanical prostheses when adjusting for EuroSCORE II (HR: 0.35; 95%CI: 0.12-1.02, p=0.054), but using a backward stepwise Cox regression prosthesis type was not retained by the model as an independent predictor of survival. Moreover, mechanical prostheses showed trends for higher freedom from reoperation (100% vs. 95.5%, Log-Rank, p=0.076), higher median EuroSCORE II (2.52% vs. 1.95%, p=0.06) and early mortality (7.9% vs. 2.6%, p=0.086). However, after adjusting for EuroSCORE II, there was no significant difference in early mortality (OR: 2.3, 95%CI: 0.5-10.5, p=0.272). Regarding hemodynamic performance at follow-up echocardiogram, there were no differences other than left ventricular mass regression, which was not as pronounced in the mechanical group (-12% vs. -21%, p=0.002).
Conclusion: Mechanical and bioprosthetic aortic valves prostheses showed similar mid-term survival in the 50-70 age group. Further prospective and larger studies are needed to provide evidence-based recommendations on this topic.