Es el reimplante valvular mejor que el bentall biológico modificado para tratar aneurismas de la raíz asociados a insuficiencia?

Es el reimplante valvular mejor que el Bentall Biológico Modificado para tratar aneurismas de la raíz asociados a insuficiencia? Obando CE; Gutiérrez HF; Santamaría G, Bresciani R; Camacho J; Sandoval N; Umaña J. Departamento de Cirugía Cardiovascular, Fundación Cardio Infantil, Bogotá, Colombia. Objetivo: comparar resultados funcionales, morbilidad y sobrevida a corto y mediano plazo, tras la realización de Bentall modificado con prótesis Freestyle vs reimplante valvular de Tirone David, en insuficiencia aortica secundaria a aneurisma de la raíz. Diseño: revisión de registros institucionales de 88 pacientes tratados entre enero de 2003 y agosto de 2009 con insuficiencia aortica secundaria a aneurisma de la raíz sin daño valvular, distribuidos en dos cohortes: Grupo 1 (Bentall modificado) y Grupo 2 (reimplante valvular). Se evaluaron complicaciones perioperatorias, transfusiones, estancias hospitalarias y en el seguimiento a mediano plazo insuficiencia valvular, clase funcional, función ventricular y sobrevida. Solidez de los resultados verificada mediante análisis de propensidad con balanceo de grupos. Resultados: Grupo (1) 51(57.9%) pacientes y grupo (2) 37(42.1%). Aunque el grupo 2 es mas joven, patrones similares de coomorbilidad, anatomía de la raíz, función y diámetros ventriculares hacen comparables los dos grupos. Seguimiento de 3.3 años (IQR 2.0-4.4). Mortalidad temprana 2(3.8%) vs 0 p =0.2 y tardía de 2(4.1%) vs 0 p=0.33. El análisis estratificado de covariables en bloques de distribución tampoco identifica diferencias en mortalidad. El análisis de sobrevida de mortalidad y sobrevida libre de eventos identifica desenlaces similares entre los grupos (Log-Rank chi2=0.9, p=0.3); incluyendo Insuficiencia aortica = II temprana (3.8% vs 0, p=0.2) y tardía (3.8%vs 0, p=0.1), transfusiones perioperatorias, reintervenciones por sangrado (2.3% vs 3.4%, p=0.4), arritmias (25.5% vs 13.5%, p=0.2) y disfunción neurológica (5.7% vs 2.9%, p=0.9). Finalmente la hospitalización total (6.5 {1-35} vs 4{3-16} p=0.001) y estancia en Cuidado intensivo (2.5 {1-21} vs 1{1-16} p=0.001) es superior en el grupo1. Conclusiones: el tratamiento de los aneurismas de la raíz aortica asociados a insuficiencia valvular sin daño estructural, mediante reimplante valvular o Bentall biológico modificado ofrece resultados similares a corto y mediano plazo. La preservación valvular se asocia a estancias mas cortas, pero no hay diferencia en complicaciones postoperatorias, estatus funcional, insuficiencia valvular, función ventricular, mortalidad y sobrevida libre de eventos adversos.

Long-term outcomes following Medtronic Open Pivot valved conduit

Aortic root replacement is a complex procedure, though subsequent modifications of the original Bentall procedure have made surgery more reproducible. The study aim was to examine the outcomes of a modified Bentall procedure, using the Medtronic Open PivotTM valved conduit. Whilst short-term data on the conduit and long-term data on the valve itself are available, little is known of the long-term results with the valved conduit. Patients undergoing aortic root replacement between February 1999 and February 2010, using the Medtronic Open Pivot valved conduit were identified from the prospectively collected Cardiothoracic Register at The Prince Charles Hospital, Brisbane, Australia. All patients were followed up echocardiographically and clinically. The primary end-point was death, and a Cox proportional model was used to identify factors associated.with survival. Secondary end-points were valve-related morbidity (as defined by STS guidelines) and postoperative morbidity. Predictors of morbidity were identified using logistic regression. A total of 246 patients (mean age 50 years) was included in the study. The overall mortality was 12%, with actuarial 10-year survival 79% and a 10-year estimate of valve-related death of 0.04 (95% CI: 0.004, 0.07). Preoperative myocardial infarction (p = 0.004, HR 4.74), urgency of operation (p = 0.038, HR 2.8) and 10% incremental decreases in ejection fraction (p = 0.046, HR 0.69) were predictive of mortality. Survival was also affected by the valve gradients, with a unit increase in peak gradient reducing mortality (p = 0.021, HR 0.93). Valve-related morbidity occurred in 11 patients. Urgent surgery (p <0.001, OR 4.12), aortic dissection (p = 0.015, OR 3.35), calcific aortic stenosis (p = 0.016, OR 2.35) and Marfan syndrome (p 0.009, OR 3.75) were predictive of postoperative morbidity. The reoperation rate was 1.2%. The Medtronic Open Pivot valved conduit is a safe and durable option for aortic root replacement, and is associated with low morbidity and 10-year survival of 79%. However, further studies are required to determine the effect of valve gradient on survival.

Structure and mechanism of diet specialisation: testing models of individual variation in resource use with sea otters

Studies of consumer-resource interactions suggest that individual diet specialisation is empirically widespread and theoretically important to the organisation and dynamics of populations and communities. We used weighted networks to analyze the resource use by sea otters, testing three alternative models for how individual diet specialisation may arise. As expected, individual specialisation was absent when otter density was low, but increased at high-otter density. A high-density emergence of nested resource-use networks was consistent with the model assuming individuals share preference ranks. However, a density-dependent emergence of a non-nested modular network for core resources was more consistent with the competitive refuge model. Individuals from different diet modules showed predictable variation in rank-order prey preferences and handling times of core resources, further supporting the competitive refuge model. Our findings support a hierarchical organisation of diet specialisation and suggest individual use of core and marginal resources may be driven by different selective pressures.

An annotated synopsis of paleozoic fossil spores and the definition of generic groups /

"Prepared in collaboration with the Department of Geology, Coe College, and the Tennessee State Division of Geology."