Our data suggest that pulsatile as well as non-pulsatile left ventricular assist devices are equally able to treat chronic heart failure. However pulsatile devices seem to have a greater impact on reversing the changes in plasma renin activity and might thus offer a greater advantage when recovery of left ventricular function is expected.

Routine division of the short gastric vessels during Nissen fundoplication in the followed patient group yields neither functional nor clinical advantages in short- or long-term follow-up.

Meningiomas are typically benign solitary intracranial tumors. Atypical (World Health Organization [WHO] grade II) or malignant/anaplastic (WHO grade III) meningiomas are seldom, and distant metastases occur only in rare exceptions. We present a case of a 54-year-old male patient with atypical (WHO grade II) meningioma who underwent 1 cycle of peptide receptor radionuclide therapy. Previous imaging studies were confined to the head, but posttherapeutic whole-body Lu-DOTATATE scintigraphy revealed thoracic uptake arising from previously undetected pulmonic meningioma metastases. The case highlights the importance of consideration of rare/untypical metastatic sides and the value of radiotracer whole-body imaging in identifying these.

Background Primary malignant cardiac tumors rarely occur in clinical care. Little is known about the impact of a parameter on postoperative survival. Methods From May 1991 to May 2014, a total of 24 patients underwent surgical treatment of a primary cardiac sarcoma in our center. We analyzed our clinical database retrospectively for information on patient characteristics and treatment data. The follow-up could be completed to 91.7%. Results Angiosarcoma and non-otherwise-specified sarcoma were the most common tumor entities. R0 resection was achieved in most cases. Postoperative mortality within the first 30 days was 20.8% (n = 5). In four of these five cases, postoperative low-output cardiac failure was the leading cause of death. The cumulative survival rate was 77.3% after 30 days, 68.2% after 3 months, 50.0% after 6 months, 45.0% after 12 months, and 18.0% after 24 months. The mean survival time in the whole group was 47.0 months. A low tumor differentiation was associated with low mean survival, but this was not statistically significant. Mean survival of sarcoma was higher after R0 resection. There was no significant rate of survival difference regarding the adjuvant therapy concept. Conclusion Extended surgery alone or in combination with chemo- and/or radiotherapy may be successful in certain cases and may offer a satisfactory quality of life. The establishment of a multicenter heart tumor register in Germany is necessary to increase the number of cases in studies, get more remarkable study results, and standardize the diagnosis and therapy.

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