Preoperative sarcopenia defined from the psoas muscle area was associated with long-term outcomes after valve surgery. Thus, the measurement of psoas muscle area can help facilitate more accurate risk scoring in elderly patients.

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Results of our novel approach, integrating in vitro assessment into gene expression profiling, implicated chronic inflammation characterized by MMP-TIMP dysregulation, increased VEGFA expression, and TGF-β signalling in the development of dissection. Further investigation may reveal novel diagnostic biomarkers and uncover the mechanism(s) underlying ATAAD.

Objective: Left ventricular free wall rupture is a catastrophic complication of acute myocardial infarction. Sutureless repair has been reported to be an effective surgical procedure for left ventricular free wall rupture. However, the outcomes of sutureless repair remain unclear.Methods: Between January 2001 and December 2016, 42 patients were treated for left ventricular free wall rupture at Jichi Medical University. Of them, 35 consecutive patients undergoing sutureless repair using the TachoComb (CSL Behring, Tokyo, Japan) or TachoSil (Nycomed, Zurich, Switzerland) patches were included in this study. No patient required cardiopulmonary bypass. The oozing type of left ventricular free wall rupture was observed in 33 patients (94%), and the blow-out type was observed in 2 patients (6%). The rupture sites were the anterior wall in 16 patients (46%), the posterior-lateral wall in 11 patients (31%), and the inferior wall in 8 patients (23%).Results: The in-hospital mortality rate was 17% (6 patients). Re-rupture after sutureless repair occurred in 17% (6 patients). Of them, 4 cases (67%) of re-rupture occurred within 24 hours after surgery. The 2 patients with blow-out type left ventricular free wall rupture experienced re-rupture. Three patients required mitral valve surgery after sutureless repair during the admission. The overall survivals at 1, 5, and 10 years were 71.4%, 68.6%, and 62.9%, respectively. Multivariable analysis revealed that re-rupture was an independent predictor for decreased survival (hazard ratio, 58.6; 95% confidence interval, 4.9-701.6; P ¼ .001). Postoperative pseudoaneurysm formation was not detected during the follow-up.Conclusions: Sutureless repair using TachoComb/TachoSil patches can be a viable treatment option for left ventricular free wall rupture. Care should be taken when applying this technique in cases of the blow-out type left ventricular free wall rupture.

C1039G/+ascending SMCs showed that apoptotic SMCs have increased elastolytic potential compared with viable cells, mostly because of caspase activity. Moreover, in vitro (1) cell membrane isolation, (2) immunofluorescence staining, and (3) scanning electron microscopy studies illustrate that caspases are expressed on the exterior cell surface of apoptotic SMCs. Conclusions-Caspase inhibition attenuates aneurysm development in an