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Posts Tagged ‘cardiac surgery’

Learning cardiac surgery : Free entry to some of best cardiac surgery theatres !

Posted in cardiac surgery, tagged , , , , on November 2, 2010| Leave a Comment »

Internet has revolutionsed the way we learn . Now,  you can watch experts  perfoming  complex cardiac surgries sitting at any where in the globe !

The credit not only goes to the broad-band internet , but also the greatness of   European association of cardiothoracic  surgery  which has made it available free of cost .

A must visit website for all those  physicians and surgeons ,  concerned with  cardiac care of our population .

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Beware of beating heart CABG : It is minimally invasive and minimally effective !

Posted in cardiac surgery, Cardiology - Clinical, Cardiology -Interventional -PCI, cardiology journal club, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on November 6, 2009| Leave a Comment »

The NEJM’s breaks the  hidden truths about cardiopulmonary bypass in a beating  heart. The irony in medical science is   ,  trend setting  land mark articles usually arrive  very late . . .   to disappoint  all those  patients who  got the wrong treatment ! Off pump by pass is definitely one among them . . .

The major reason for off pump CABG’s s poor showing is

  • The surgeon’s  conflict   in defining   what is successful CABG  .The success of CABG   is   in    relief of symptoms & providing good bypass graft  with long term patency   .It is not in  less  thoracic trauma or in  a quick hospital discharge  !
  • The second major reason is denial of  the fact  that off pump CABG is indeed inferior  and hence no course correction was attempted  ! ( And  now that it   has become a hard  evidence   we expect some changes  . It  required almost 10 years for our cardiology community to  recognise this .)
  • Lesion access and  difficulty in mobilizing LIMA .Many times the the point of anastomoses is preselected by the accessibility and technical issues rather than lesion guided approach .This often happens than we imagine , and this could be a very bad advertisement for off  pump CABG

cabg on pump vs off pump beatin heart

Click on the link to NEJM abstract  ROOBY study

http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/361/19/1827

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Some thoughts about left main disease : Why CABG will always prevail over PCI in left main disease ?

Posted in cardiac surgery, Cardiology - Clinical, Cardiology -Interventional -PCI, cardiology -Therapeutics, Uncategorized, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on March 6, 2009| Leave a Comment »

Why PCI  in   left main CAD is considered  an inferior modality than CABG ?

CABG is superior to PCI for the  simple reason it provides complete revascularisation virtually in all  patients with LMCAD , while PCI is possible only in a fraction of patients with LMCAD.

If  we take 100 patients  with left main  disease may be ten (At best !)   would be  suitable for PCI ! In other words PCI is contraindicated in vast majority of LMCAD  by technical criteria alone , while there can never be a contraindication for CABG in patients with LMCAD.(Except  when , comorbidity precludes surgery )

Why  PCI in  LMCAD difficult ?

It is  dependent on  technicalities

CABG does not tackle a lesion,  it simply avoids it  and by passes it ” No great brains required”

while PCI takes on the plaque frontally ,  in the dangerous  terrain of  left main artery  itself !

so,  much caution,  planing ,  logistics are required . Further ,  if there is a complication there is a potential

for catastrophe  as the only  supply line is cut off . This is the reason , cardiologists were worried to try this on

unprotected left main. (Protected LMCAD refers to left main disease following CABG  wherein atleast   LAD or LCX is  grafted )

Points to ponder in LMCAD

  • PCI is suited for isolated discrete LM disease.In realty  this is seen in less  than 5-8 % CAD.
  • LMCAD is very often associated  with  critical and multivessel distal CAD . So these patients will be candidates for CABG.
  • Left main ostium or LAD ostial  involvement makes PCI a tougher exercise
  • Calcification is more common in LMCAD that  again makes PCI difficult.

The following article in Feb 2009 is a major blow for proponents of  PCI for left main

http://circ.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/extract/119/7/1013

left-main

http://content.onlinejacc.org/cgi/content/abstract/51/5/538?ijkey=84c977d189e84327c3abbd4c1228de17dd99048a&keytype2=tf_ipsecsha

Final message

  • Conquering left main disease is an interventionist’s  ultimate dream.
  • But, before that they have  to tackle the bifurcation lesions .This is of vital importance, because 2/3 rd of left main  patients have  some form of bifurcation lesions. Current techniques , hardware  and outcomes are far below the idealistic solutions in bifurcation lesions.
  • Till that time ,  CABG would  remain the only choice for all , but for  a small fraction of isolated  left main disease where PCI may be possible.

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