Background: Surgical ventricular reshaping (SVR) is a treatment option for patients with severe ischaemic heart failure (HF). Recently, a new minimally invasive, hybrid technique named "less invasive ventricular enhancement" (LIVE), has been developed adopting the Reviven™ Myocardial Anchoring System

Background: Pulmonary endarterectomy (PEA) is a surgical intervention reserved for patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). In some cases, temporary circulatory support [extracorporeal life support (ECLS)] is required after PEA. Rates of ECLS requirement varies between centers. Reasons for institution of ECLS include respiratory failure, cardiac failure (or both respiratory and cardiac failure), bleeding, and reperfusion edema. This article reviews the experience of ECLS after PEA from the current literature, as well as our own institution's experience as a CTEPH multidisciplinary center. Methods: A literature review was conducted along with a retrospective chart review from 15 years of our PEA program. Results: The literature demonstrates many different approaches are used for mechanically supporting patients who develop complications after PEA. Variations in approach stem from differing indications such as, respiratory failure rather than hemodynamic compromise (or vice versa), time of implantation (immediately in operating room or delayed after surgery) and many other causes. In our center, 12.3% (19/154) of patients need ECLS with extracorporeal membrane oxygenator (ECMO) after PEA procedure. Implantation was mainly in the operating room before or immediately after weaning from cardiopulmonary bypass and mostly peripheral cannulation was used. ECMO lasted an average of 11±8 days. And 52.6% (10 of 19 patients) of patients were weaned from ECLS and of this, 70% (7 of 10 patients) were discharged. Conclusions: In some cases of PEA, ECLS is needed post-operatively. Expert teams should consider this possibility pre-operatively based on predisposing characteristics. The need for ECMO shouldn't be "di per se" a contraindication to surgery but might be considered in the surgical risk estimation. The ideal setup is not fixed and depends on the center's practices as well as indication. Even though complications do occur with ECMO, in general, results are good, being a bridge to further recovery of pulmonary hypertension (PH) or also to transplantation.

In this study, We report on the use of fluorine 18-fluorodeoxyglucose (18 F-FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) scan examinations for the diagnosis of COVID-19 respiratory syndrome in asymptomatic left ventricular assist device (LVAD) recipients. Thus, extreme caution and thoughtful approaches should be taken for a timely detection in delicate LVAD populations, especially if patients are living in a high-density COVID-19-infected area, and the potential intention for LVAD treatment is bridge to transplantation. ASAIO Journal XXX; XX:00-00.

SARS-CoV-2 may cause severe respiratory failure due to massive alveolar damage. Currently, no adequate curative therapy for Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) disease exists. By considering overall impact of COVID-19 pandemic outbreak, an increased need of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support becomes evident. We report on our preliminary institutional experience with COVID-19 patients receiving venovenous ECMO support. ASAIO Journal XXX; XX:00-00.

The elephant trunks, either conventional or frozen represent the major technical improvements in the treatment of complex thoracic aortic disease. In the last decades, these useful techniques progressively evolved along with the introduction of new devices to facilitate the procedure and ameliorate post-operative results. The latest multi-branched hybrid FET prostheses give us the opportunity to greatly facilitate graft implantation and reduce operative times. The following review will provide an overview of the FET technique throughout the current available devices, possible surgical indications and principal surgical steps.

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OBJECTIVES A heart transplant (Htx) remains the gold standard treatment for patients with advanced heart failure. Considering the limited availability of organs, donor risk scores might improve organ selection and allocation. The objective of the study was to compare United Network for Organ Sharing, RADIAL and Eurotransplant scoring models in calculating post-Htx outcomes in an Italian Htx population. METHODS Between January 2000 and December 2017, a total of 461 adult patients underwent Htxs. United Network for Organ Sharing, RADIAL and Eurotransplant scores were calculated. Clinical features and donor risk scores were tested to identify preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative risk variables and eventually validate the scores on our population. RESULTS Early graft failure was detected in 16.1% (74/461). Post-Htx extracorporeal life support was used in 11.1% (51/461). Of the donor-related factors, the use of noradrenaline (P = 0.015) negatively influenced early outcomes, whereas an ischaemic time >240 min (P = 0.037) influenced early graft failure occurrence. The Eurotransplant donor score did not impact outcomes; the RADIAL score significantly influenced both early and late mortality; and the United Network for Organ Sharing score influenced only late mortality. On the multivariable analysis, after adjustment of scores per cohort, noradrenaline infusion was the main independent predictor of in-hospital mortality for the donors, whereas age of the recipient [odds ratio (OR) 1.003, 1.003–1.081; P = 0.032] and use of preoperative extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (OR 3.320, 1.124–9.805; P = 0.030) were the main independent predictors for the recipients. CONCLUSIONS None of the validated donor scoring systems fully behave as reliable predictors of transplant outcomes. According to our ‘local only’ graft selection, specific donor and recipient risk variables should be monitored in order to predict early and late outcomes satisfactorily.

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