Intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) represents a severe complication of infective endocarditis (IE) and stands as a significant contributor to the poor prognosis associated with IE. Current guidelines suggested a delay of 4 weeks for cardiac surgery in patients with ICH, but these recommendations were based on insufficient clinical evidence, and recent studies have yielded different opinions. In this paper, we thoroughly reviewed relevant guidelines and their references in conjunction with 3 typical cases with IE and ICH, discussed the recommendations with controversy, and proposed a process for the management of IE with ICH.
Tricuspid regurgitation (TR) is a common cardiac valve disease in clinic. Traditional medical treatment can only relieve symptoms, while surgical operations, due to their large trauma and high risks, are difficult to cover high-risk patients who are elderly and with multiple comorbidities. Transcatheter tricuspid valve intervention (TTVI), as a new treatment strategy, provides a new choice for this group. In recent years, various devices for TTVI have emerged. This paper elaborates the characteristics of TR, the design characteristics of existing TTVI devices, relevant clinical research, and the comprehensive evaluation means of device selection, and points out the existing shortcomings and future development direction.
Abstract: Ventricular septal rupture is a rare complication of acute myocardial infarction, but it can easily lead to such complications as acute heart failure and cardiac shock with sinister prognosis. Surgical treatment is a fundamental measure to improve the prognosis, and the selection of operation time is a key factor. The basic guiding principles of operation timing are as follows. Those patients who have acute heart failure and/or cardiac shock soon after the onset of ventricular septal rupture, and can not be controlled by nonsurgery therapy and are also unable to tolerate surgery, will die soon. For them, surgery treatment cannot be implemented because they have missed the optimal operation time. For those whose perforation was so small that they can be stably controlled by nonsurgery therapy, surgery treatment can be postponed for 1 to 4 weeks. However, emergency operation should be performed in time once the condition of the patients becomes unstable. For others, no matter in what state they are, surgical treatment should be implemented immediately.
Severe acute pancreatitis (SAP) is a serious acute inflammatory disease with complex pathogenesis, rapid progression, high mortality, extensive treatment, and heavy socioeconomic burden, which is often complicated by systemic multiple organ dysfunction. Renal replacement therapy (RRT) is essential for removing inflammatory mediators, cytokines or other toxins, as well as stabilizing the internal environment. Therefore, RRT is utilized as an organ support technology in the clinical management of SAP. Currently, there is no consensus regarding when and under what circumstances RRT can be employed in patients with SAP. In this paper, the pathogenesis of SAP and the indications and timing of initiation of RRT will be discussed.
Acute kidney injury is a common complication in the critically ill patients with high morbidity and mortality. Continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) is one of the most important treatments for the disease. The timing of starting and stopping of CRRT is often a matter of choice for clinicians. Early stopping of CRRT may lead to inadequate treatment, recurrent disease and poor prognosis, while excessive treatment of CRRT may prolong the hospital stay, increase medical costs and increase the risk of CRRT-related complications. In order to illustrate the proper stopping time of CRRT, this paper summarizes the research progress of the clinical indicators and biomarkers by reviewing relevant domestic and foreign data.
Since the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, a large number of elective or limited operations, including tumor treatment, have been postponed. With the deepening of the understanding of the virus and the change of the prevention policy, the impact of the pandemic is gradually shrinking, and a large number of operations delayed by the pandemic will be rescheduled. However, there is no consensus on the best time to perform surgery for patients infected with SARS-CoV-2, and the consensus on thoracic surgery is more limited. This article reviews the research progress in the timing of surgical operations, especially thoracic surgery, after SARS-CoV-2 infection.
ObjectiveTo summarize the current progress of clinical therapy for concha-type microtia.MethodsThe domestic and overseas literature about the treatment of concha-type microtia was reviewed and the contents of operative timing, operation selection, and complications were analyzed.ResultsThe unified therapeutic schedule of the concha-type microtia has not yet been determined due to its complicated various therapeutic methods and unknown etiology. The operation methods commonly used in clinic are partial ear reconstruction with autologous costal cartilage framework and free composite tissue transplantation. The timing of the partial ear reconstruction depends on the development of costal cartilage and children’s psychological healthy. The timing of free composite tissue transplantation depends on the severity. It is recommended to perform the operation at about 10 years old for mild patients. For moderate patients, ear cartilage stretching should be performed at 1-2 years old and free composite tissue transplantation would be performed at about 10 years old. The complications of partial ear reconstruction with autologous costal cartilage framework for concha-type microtia mainly include framework exposure, deformation, infection, cartilage absorption, and skin necrosis. The complications of free composite tissue transplantation have not been reported.ConclusionEtiology and elaborated classifications with individualized treatment are the future research directions.
ObjectiveTo evaluate the timing of chest tube removal after resection of lung or esophageal cancer.MethodsA prospective randomized controlled study was performed. From June 2014 to February 2016, 150 patients suspected with the cancer of lung or esophagus undergoing neoplasm resection and lymph node dissection in our single medical unit were classified into 3 groups according to the random number generated by SPSS17.0 with 50 patients in the each group. The drainage volume for chest tube removal was ≤100 mL/d in the group Ⅰ, 101–200 mL/d in the group Ⅱ, and 201–300 mL/d in the group Ⅲ. Chest radiography was performed 48 hours following chest tube removal. ResultsThe 127 patients (108 males and 19 females, with an average age of 59.0±8.7 years) eligible for analysis consisted of 45 patients in the group Ⅰ, 41 in the group Ⅱ, and 41 in the group Ⅲ respectively after the 23 patients were excluded from this study who were diagnosed as benign lesions through intraoperative frozen pathology (n=20) and postoperative complications (empyema in 2 patients and chylothorax in 1 patient). Age, sex, types of neoplasm, and comorbidities except procedures via video-assisted thoracic surgery (and laparoscopy) showed no significant difference among the three groups (P>0.05). No mortality was observed in this study. There were postoperative complications in 6 patients and its distribution had no statistical differences among the three groups (P>0.05). The mean postoperative duration of chest tube was 181.0±68.2 h, 111.0±63.1 h, 76.0±37.2 h, the mean drainage volume was 1 413.0±500.9 mL, 1 005.0±686.4 mL, 776.0±505.8 mL, and the mean hospital stay time following chest tube removal was 19.0±9.7 d, 14.0±8.0 d, 9.0±4.8 d in the group Ⅰ,Ⅱ and Ⅲ, respectively; there was a significant difference among the three groups (P=0.000). The 13 patients required reintervention after chest tube removal due to pleural effusion accumulation and there was no difference among the three groups (P>0.05). Chest pain relieved essentially after chest tube removal in all patients.ConclusionA drainage volume of ≤300 mL/d as a threshold for chest tube removal after resection of lung or esophageal cancer can shorten postoperative hospital stay and accelerate early recovery of the patients.
Objective To explore the timing and safety of limited-period lung cancer surgery in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Methods Clinical data of of patients infected with COVID-19 undergoing lung cancer surgery (an observation group) in the Department of Thoracic Surgery of Guangdong Provincial People's Hospital, the Department of Thoracic Surgery of General Hospital of Southern Theater Command of PLA, and the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery of the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangdong Pharmaceutical University from December 2022 to January 2023 were retrospectively analyzed and compared with patients who underwent surgery during the same period but were not infected with COVID-19 (a control group), to explore the impact of COVID-19 infection on lung cancer surgery. Results We finally included 110 patients with 73 patients in the observation group (28 males and 45 females at age of 52.62±12.80 years) and 37 patients in the control group (22 males and 15 females at age of 56.84±11.14 years). The average operation time of the observation group was longer than that of the control group, and the incidence of anhelation was higher than that of the control group (P<0.05). There were no statistcal differences in blood loss, length of hospital stay, moderate or above fever rate, degree of cough and chest pain, or blood routine between the two groups. ConclusionIt is safe and feasible to perform lung cancer surgery early after recovery for COVID-19 patients with lung cancer.
ObjectiveTo explore the optimal surgical timing of sequential laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) following percutaneous cholecystostomy (PC) in the patients with acute cholecystitis, so as to provide a clinical reference. MethodsThe patients who underwent PC and then sequential LC in the Fifth Affiliated Hospital of Xinjiang Medical University from March 2021 to July 2023 were selected based on the inclusion and exclusion criteria, who were categorized into 3 groups: the short interval group (3–4 weeks), the intermediate interval group (5–8 weeks), and the long interval group (>8 weeks) based on the time interval between the PC and LC. The gallbladder wall thickness before LC, operative time, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative hospitalization time, total hospitalization time, time and cases of drainage tube placement, admission to intensive care unit, conversion to open surgery, occurrence of complications, and total hospitalization costs were compared among the 3 groups. ResultsA total of 99 patients were enrolled, including 25 in the short interval group, 41 in the intermediate interval group, and 33 in the long interval group. The data of patients among the 3 groups including demographic characteristics, blood routine, C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, fibrinogen, international standardized ratio, liver function indicators, and comorbidities had no statistical differences (P>0.05). The gallbladder wall thickness before LC and the operative time, intraoperative blood loss, postoperative hospitalization time, total hospitalization time, time and cases of drainage tube placement, admission to intensive care unit, conversion to open surgery, occurrence of complications, and total hospitalization costs during and after LC had statistical differences among the 3 groups (P<0.05). These indicators of the intermediate interval group were better than those of the other two groups by the multiple comparisons (P<0.05), but which had no statistical differences except total hospitalization costs (P=0.019) between the short interval group and the long interval group (P>0.05). ConclusionAccording to the results of this study, the optimal surgical timing of sequential LC following PC is 5–8 weeks, however, which needs to be further validated by large sample size and multicenter data.