Outcomes of surgical treatment of Stanford type of aortic dissection at Hanoi Heart Hospital in the period 2015-2020

Background: Stanford type A aortic dissection is a complex disease and a serious surgical emergency. The diagnosis is determined based on diagnostic imagines. Surgery is the mainstay of treatment, with high mortality and morbidity. This study aimed to comment on clinical and paraclinical characteristics and evaluate the results of surgical treatment of type A aortic dissection at Hanoi Heart Hospital within 5 years from 2015 to 2020. Methods: Retrospective and descriptive study of patients diagnosed with type A aortic dissection who were surgically treated at Hanoi Heart Hospital from January 2015 to May 2020. Results: 109 cases were included in the study with the mean age of 56.0 ± 14.4; 50 - 60 age accounted for the highest percentage (30.3%); men accounted for 67.9%. Classic type A aortic dissection in 95 cases (87.2%). Chest pain was the main clinical symptom (91.7%); 4.6% came to the hospital in a state of cardiogenic shock and circulatory arrest. The rate of Marfan phenotype was 13.8%. The most common surgery is replacing the ascending aorta (45.9%); total replacement of the aortic arch accounted for 17.4%; Total root replacement and aortic arch accounted for 3.7%. The average aortic pairing time was 120.7 ± 41.0 minutes, the mean running time was 179.7 ± 57.0 minutes. Re-operative bleeding accounted for 6,4%; cerebrovascular accident accounted for 2,8%. The early mortality rate after surgery was 9.2%. The mean follow-up time was 24.93 ± 16.13 months, the mean survival time was 52.0 ± 1.9 months, the survival rate was 88.1% after 1 year and 85.3% after 5 years. Conclusion: Early mortality, postoperative complications and survival rate after follow-up were positive with surgical technique and conditions of anesthesia and resuscitation at Hanoi Heart Hospital.

Antithrombin activity is a significant predictor of early mortality in pulmonary embolism patients

Introduction and aim. The role of antithrombin (AT) activity in the prediction of early mortality in patients with pulmonary embolism (PE), measured at an early stage of the disease, has not yet been investigated. Therefore the aim is to examine the predictive value of AT activity for all-cause 30-day mortality, measured in consecutive PE patients on admission to the hospital. Methodology. This is a single-center, clinical retrospective cross-sectional study, which followed consecutive patients with acute PE in the period from 2014-2021. On admission to the hospital, venous blood was taken from patients for laboratory analyzes, from which, in addition to basic analyzes, the activity of AT was also measured. The basic parameters of the patients were recorded on admission and through univariate analysis, their connection with 30-day mortality was tested. The predictive significance of AT values for 30-day mortality was tested through quartile values by comparing the first quartile with all others together. Cox regression model analysis was used in the multivariate analysis where one parameter marked as significant in the univariate analysis was added to the basic model (AT, age and risk affiliation in two groups). Results. A total of 378 PE patients were included in the study. The total all-cause 30-day mortality was 30 patients (7.8%). Patients with AT activity in the first quartile had significantly higher early mortality compared with the other quartiles combined (log rank p = 0.001). AT retained a significant predictive value for early mortality in the multivariate analysis despite the comorbidity present, which also significantly affected mortality. Conclusion. Low AT activity measured at admission in PE patients is a significant and independent predictor of 30-day mortality.

Evaluation of Cardiovascular Experiment Animal

In vivo models of myocardial infarction induced by coronary artery ligation in rats usually suffer from high early mortality and a low rate of induction. This study investigated the time course initiation of chronic myocardial infarction in albino rats and the possibility of reducing early mortality rate due to myocardial infarction by modification of the surgical technique. CAL was carried out by passing the suture through the pericardial layer around the midway of the left anterior descending coronary artery including a small area of the myocardium to avoid mechanical damage to the heart geometry. In addition, the role of endothelin-1 in rat heart with congestive heart failure was critically assessed. Time course initiation experiments were designed by sacrificing the animals at different time intervals and by carrying out physiological, biochemical, histopathological, electron microscopical and immunohistochemical studies. Specific markers of myocardial injury, viz. cardiac troponin-T, high sensitivity C-reactive protein, lactate dehydrogenase and fibrinogen were measured at different time points. Serum marker enzymes and activities of lysosomal hydrolases were found to be elevated on the eighth day post-ligation. Histopathological studies demonstrated focal areas showing fibrovascular tissue containing fibroblasts, collagenous ground substance and numerous small capillaries replacing cardiac muscle fibers. Transmission electron micrographs exhibited mitochondrial changes of well-developed irreversible cardiac injury, viz. swelling, disorganization of cristae, appearance of mitochondrial amorphous matrix densities, and significant distortion of muscle fibers and distinct disruption of the intercalated discs. Immune blotting studies confirmed the presence of alpha 2-macroglobulin which supported the inflammatory response. The severity of the CMI was inferred by the measurement of the level of ET-1 in plasma and left ventricle which was significantly higher in the CMI rats than in the sham-operated rats. Immunohistochemical studies at different time intervals showed that there was a significant immunoexpression of ET-1 on the eighth day post-ligation. This study conclusively showed that ligation of left anterior descending artery minimised mortality and ET-1 was expressed during CMI.

Intraoperative lactic acid concentration during liver transplantation and cutoff values to predict early mortality: a retrospective analysis of 3,338 cases

Background: We aimed to explore intraoperative lactic acid (LA) level distribution during liver transplantation (LT) and determine the optimal cutoff values to predict post-LT 30-day and 90-day mortality.Methods: Intraoperative LA data from 3,338 patients were collected between 2008 to 2019 and all-cause mortalities within 30 and 90 days were retrospectively reviewed. Of the three LA levels measured during preanhepatic, anhepatic, and neohepatic phase of LT, the peak LA level was selected to explore the distribution and predict early post-LT mortality. To determine the best cutoff values of LA, we used a classification and regression tree algorithm and maximally selected rank statistics with the smallest P value.Results: The median intraoperative LA level was 4.4 mmol/L (range: 0.5–34.7, interquartile range: 3.0–6.2 mmol/L). Of the 3,338 patients, 1,884 (56.4%) had LA levels > 4.0 mmol/L and 188 (5.6%) had LA levels > 10 mmol/L. Patients with LA levels > 16.7 mmol/L and 13.5–16.7 mmol/L showed significantly higher 30-day mortality rates of 58.3% and 21.2%, respectively. For the prediction of the 90-day mortality, 8.4 mmol/L of intraoperative LA was the best cutoff value.Conclusions: Approximately 6% of the LT recipients showed intraoperative hyperlactatemia of > 10 mmol/L during LT, and those with LA > 8.4 mmol/L were associated with significantly higher early post-LT mortality.

Significance of Early Acidosis in Predicting Early Mortality Among Flame Burned Patients in a Kenyan National Hospital

Background: Burn pathophysiology, fluid therapy and mortality have been assessed by various laboratory parameters including lactate and base deficit serum markers. This study targeted flame injured cohort with an objective to determine the significance of early acidosis, through measurement of three acid base indices at admission in predicting 5-day (early) mortality among the flame burned patients.Methodology: A cohort study. Eighty flame injured patients presenting within 24 hours of incident were assessed for arterial blood pH, lactate and base deficit (BD). Mortality was recorded until day 28. Receiver operating characteristics curves were drawn; area under curve, cut offs, sensitivities and specificities for BD, lactate and pH were determined for 5-day mortality. The cut offs were used to derive contingency tables for calculation of predictive values. Odds ratios were calculated at 95% confidence interval. 28 day survival curve was generated. Level of significance was <0.05.Results: 28-day mortality was 39%. Five-day mortality was 24%. The latter was predicted by a lactate level of 2.36 mmol/L, BD of -10.05 mmol/L and pH of 7.344 with 75%,74% and 95% sensitivities respectively. Odds of patients dying at these levels or worse were 6.3, 11.4 and 36.9 respectively all with significant p-values.Conclusion: Arterial pH, base deficit and lactate are good predictors of 5-day mortality among fire victims in the Kenyan context.

Age at League Entry and Early All-Cause Mortality among National Football League Players

Background: A growing body of research suggests that American football players are exposed to higher cumulative head impact risk as competition level rises. Related literature finds that head impacts absorbed by youth, adolescent, and emerging adult players are associated with elevated risk of long-term health problems (e.g., neurodegenerative disease onset). Most National Football League (NFL) players enter the League as emerging adults (18–24 years old), a period of continued cognitive and overall physical development. However, no prior research has studied the effect of age-at-entry on long-term NFL player health. Hypothesis/Purpose: This study assesses whether early NFL player age-at-entry is associated with increased risk of early all-cause mortality, controlling for player position, BMI, year-of-entry, birth year, and NFL Draft round (expected ability upon League entry). Study Design: This retrospective cohort study included 9049 players who entered the NFL from 1970–2017 and subsequently played at least one game. The variables whether deceased, age-at-death, age-at-entry, and controls were collected from Pro Football Reference website, a leading data site for American football that has been used extensively in the literature. Data collection began on 13 July 2017, and follow-up ended on 1 July 2018. Statistical analysis was performed from 10 March 2020 to 3 August 2020. Data was validated by checking a large sub-sample of data points against alternative sources such as NFL.com and NFLsavant.com. Methods: Cox proportional hazards regression models were used to examine variation in death hazard by NFL player age-at-entry, conditional upon a full set of controls. Results: Conditional on controls, Cox regression results indicate that a one-year increase in age-at-entry was significantly associated with a 14% decreased hazard-of-death (H.R., 0.86; 95% CI, 0.74–0.98). Among relatively young entering players, the increased hazard appears to be concentrated in the first quartile of players by age at League entry (20.2 to 22.3 years). Players not in this quartile exhibited a decreased hazard-of-death (H.R., 0.74; 95% CI, 0.57–0.97) compared with players who entered at a relatively young (first quartile) age. Conclusion: An earlier age-at-entry is associated with an increased hazard-of-death among NFL players. Currently, the NFL regulates age-at-entry only indirectly by requiring players to be 3 years removed from high school before becoming NFL Draft-eligible. Implementing a minimum age at entry for NFL players of 22 years and 4 months at beginning of season is expected to result in reduced mortality. What is known about this subject? There are no prior studies on the effects of NFL player age-at-entry on early mortality risk. What this study adds to existing knowledge: This study determines whether entering the NFL at an age of physical and physiological development is related to early mortality risk.

It Is Advisable to Control the Duration of Hypothermia Circulatory Arrest During Aortic Dissection Surgery: Single-Center Experience

Objective: The duration of hypothermic circulatory arrest (HCA) is one of the important factors affecting the prognosis of arch surgery, which is still controversial. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of HCA duration on early prognosis in type A aortic dissection (TAAD) patients who underwent arch surgery in our center.Methods: All consecutive patients who underwent surgical treatment for TAAD in Fuwai Hospital from January 2013 to December 2018 were included in this study and divided into four quartile groups based on HCA time. Baseline characteristics, perioperative indicators, and early mortality were statistically analyzed by propensity score matching (PSM) and restricted cubic spline (RCS) method. Perioperative adverse events were confirmed according to the American STS database and Penn classification.Results: About 1,018 consecutive patients (mean age 49.11 ± 1.4 years, male 74.7%) with TAAD treated surgically were eventually included in this study. After PSM, with the prolongation of HCA time, the surgical mortality rates of group [2,15], (15,18], (18,22], and (22,73] were 4.1, 6.6, 7.8, and 10.9% with p = 0.041, respectively. As shown in RCS, the mortality rate increased sharply after the HCA time exceeded 22 min. And from the subgroup analysis, the HCA time of 22 min or less was associated with better clinical outcomes (OR 2.09, 95%CI 1.25–3.45, p = 0.004).Conclusions: The early mortality increases significantly with the duration of HCA time when arch surgery was performed. And multiple systems throughout the body can be adversely affected.

Redefining Remission Induction Chemotherapy Ineligibility by Early Mortality in De Novo Acute Myeloid Leukemia

The therapeutic strategies for acute myeloid leukemia (AML) patients ineligible for remission induction chemotherapy have been improving in the past decade. Therefore, it is important to define ineligibility for remission induction chemotherapy. We retrospectively assessed 153 consecutive adult de novo AML patients undergoing remission induction chemotherapy and defined early mortality as death within the first 60 days of treatment. The 153 patients were stratified into the early mortality group (n = 29) and the non-early mortality group (n = 124). We identified potential factors to which early mortality could be attributed, investigated the cumulative incidence of early mortality for each aspect, and quantified the elements. The early mortality rate in our study cohort was 19.0%. Age ≥ 65 years (odds ratio (OR): 3.15; 95% confidence interval (CI): 1.05–9.44; p = 0.041), Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group performance status ≥ 2 (OR: 4.87; 95% CI: 1.77–13.41; p = 0.002), and lactate dehydrogenase ≥ 1000 IU/L (OR: 4.20; 95% CI: 1.57–11.23; p = 0.004) were the risk factors that substantially increased early mortality in AML patients. Patients with two risk factors had a significantly higher early mortality rate than those with one risk factor (68.8% vs. 20.0%; p < 0.001) or no risk factors (68.8% vs. 9.2%; p < 0.001). In conclusion, older age, poor clinical performance, and a high tumor burden were risks for early mortality in AML patients receiving remission induction chemotherapy. Patients harboring at least two of these three factors should be more carefully assessed for remission induction chemotherapy.