BackgroundSternal wound infection (SWI) is an uncommon but potentially life-threatening complication of cardiac surgery. Predisposing factors for SWI are multiple with varied frequencies in different studies. The purpose of this study was to assess the incidence, risk factors, and mortality of SWI after coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) at Tehran Heart Center.MethodsThis study prospectively evaluated multiple risk factors for SWI in 9201 patients who underwent CABG at Tehran Heart Center between January 2002 and February 2006. Cases of SWI were confirmed based on the criteria of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Deep SWI (bone and mediastinitis) was categorized according to the Oakley classification.ResultsIn the study period, 9201 CABGs were performed with a total SWI rate of 0.47 percent (44 cases) and deep SWI of 0.22 percent (21 cases). Perioperative (in-hospital) mortality was 9.1% for total SWI and about 14% for deep SWI versus 1.1% for non-SWI CABG patients. Female gender, preoperative hypertension, high functional class, diabetes mellitus, obesity, prolonged intubation time (more than 48 h), and re-exploration for bleeding were significant risk factors for developing SWI (p = 0.05) in univariate analysis. In multivariate analysis, hypertension (OR = 10.7), re-exploration (OR = 13.4), and female gender (OR = 2.7) were identified as significant predictors of SWI (p < 0.05 for all). The rate of SWI was relatively similar in 3 groups of prophylactic antibiotic regimen (Cefazolin, Cefazolin + Gentamycin and Cefazolin + Amikacin: 0.5%, 0.5%, and 0.34% respectively).ConclusionRarely reported previously, the two risk factors of hypertension and the female gender were significant risk factors in our study. Conversely, some other risk factors such as cigarette smoking and age mentioned as significant in other reports were not significant in our study. Further studies are needed for better documentation.

Behcet's disease is a multisystem disorder and classified as "vasculitic syndrome with a wide variety of clinical manifestations." Cardiac involvement is very rare but can occur with different presentations including: pericarditis, cardiomyopathy, endocarditis, endomyocardial fibrosis, intracavitary thrombosis, and coronary artery disease. Great vessel involvement is more common. Recurrent Phlebitis, commonly involving large vessels (superior vena cava, inferior vena cava, hepatic veins) and cerebral veins are the sole presentation in this regard. Arterial involvement is expressed by aneurysm or pseudoaneurysmal formation. Due to the wide variety of cardiovascular manifestations and the resulting high mortality, cardiac surgeons should be familiar with this disease. In this paper we review the articles and introduce our four cases presenting with aneurysm of ascending aorta with free aortic insufficiency, aneurysm of descending aorta, pulmonary artery aneurysm, and pseudoaneurysm of aortic arch. doi: 10.1111/j. 1540-8191.2008.00607.x (J Card Surg 200823:765-768) Behcet's disease (BD) was first discovered in 1937 by Hulusi Behcet. It is an autoimmune disease and is classified as a vasculitic syndrome. This disease is a multisystem disorder with a wide variety of clinical manifestations including skin, eye, musculoskeletal, neurologic, and cardiovascular presentations. 1,2 The spectrum of cardiac diseases may include pericarditis, coronary artery stenosis or aneurysm, myocarditis, cardiomyopathy, congestive heart failure, valvular pathology, endocarditis or endocavitary thrombosis, aneurysm of aorta and its branches, pulmonary artery aneurysm, or venous thrombosis. Due to its wide variety of pathologies, disease presentation may vary in each case. CASE REPORT Case 1A 24-year-old man, a known case of BD, under followup by the rheumatology clinic in our center, developed exertional chest pain a few weeks prior to presentation to our ward. His workup, including chest xray (CXR), computed tomography (CT) scan, transthoracic echocardiography, and aortography, showed cardiomegaly, severe aortic insufficiency, and a huge aneurysm of ascending aorta as is shown in (Fig. 1). aortic valve no. 23. The patient had a smooth postoperative course and an uneventful recovery, but 20 days postoperative the patient was operated on once again Address for correspondence: Mehrab Marzban, M.D., Tehran Heart Center, Tehran, Iran. Fax: +98-21-88029256; e-mail: mehrabmarzban2007@yahoo.com due to massive pericardial effusion resulting from subxiphoid drainage. Now, two years postoperative, the patient is on maintenance prednisolone therapy. Case 2A 50-year-old woman, a known case of BD with cutaneous and ocular manifestation on prednisolone and colchicine, presented to our center with a history of upper abdominal pain, mild dysphagia, and weight loss for a few weeks. Her workup, including CXR, echocardiography, CT scan, and aortogram, showed a saccular aneurysm of descending aorta, just above the diaphragm (Fig. 2). The patient...

After surgery, and with the inclusion of all the pre-, intra-, and postoperative variables into model two, the following were revealed to be prognostic factors for in-hospital mortality: a history of diabetes, hypertension, the presence of angina, CCS grades III or IV, EF -30%, absence of internal mammary artery (IMA) use, prolonged cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) time, and prolonged ICU stay.

To identify higher-risk patients requiring special intensive care, and in whom new interventions can be performed to improve outcome, we recommend the preoperative calculation of creatinine clearance, especially in older women with a lower body mass index.

Predictors and Early Outcome of ProlongedResults: PMV occurred in 6.6% of patients. Initial ventilation hours, atrial fibrillation, cardiac arrest and reintubation were the most prevalent postoperative complications. Preoperative renal failure, postoperative stroke, intra aortic balloon pump insertion, emergent operation, complete heart block, longer perfusion time were independent predictors of PMV in our patients.Conclusion: PMV is associated with significant comorbidities and increased hospital mortality. Strategies to delineate the patients at risk and to modify these risk factors by prophylactic measures should probably lead to a lower incidence of prolonged mechanical ventilation for patients undergoing isolated valve surgery.

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AbstractAnemia is an indisputable finding in patients scheduled for coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) that can occur any time preoperatively. In presence of severe coronary artery disease, anemia can dramatically affect surgical outcomes. Therefore, we conducted this study to determine the effect of low preoperative hemoglobin (Hgb) on postoperative outcome in patients who underwent coronary artery bypass graft (CABG). In all, 4432 patients who had undergone isolated CABG at Tehran Heart Center over the 2-year period from March 2006 to February 2008 were studied. All medical records of the aforementioned patients were derived from our hospital surgery data bank. After adjustment for confounders, the association of different preoperative levels of Hgb with risk of cardiac, pulmonary, infectious, and ischemic complications, and also with prolonged ventilation and resource utilization, were assessed in a multivariable model. After adjustment for confounders that may affect mortality and morbidities, we found that cardiac, infectious, ischemic, and pulmonary complications, as well as postoperative mortality, were significantly higher in anemic patients compared to those with normal Hgb levels. In addition, total ventilation time, total intensive care unit hour stay (ICU), hospital length of stay (HLOS), and postsurgery length of stay (PLOS) were significantly longer in anemic patients. We concluded that isolated CABG patients with preoperative anemia have significantly higher mortality and morbidity, and use more health care resources. Preoperative anemia is an independent variable for increased resource utilization, morbidity, and mortality.

Few cases of a floating thrombus in a normal aorta have been reported without other underlying reasons for the thrombus formation and its systemic embolic complications. We report a case in which a floating thrombus in the proximal aortic arch was detected after echocardiography and computed tomography angiography as an origin of upper extremities and ophthalmic embolism.