In recent years，West China Hospital of Sichuan University actively participated in medical assistance and rescue in Wenchuan，Yushu and Lushan earthquakes. However，professional roles of cardiovascular surgeons in medical assistance and rescue in earthquakes remain unclear because of the particularity of cardiovascular surgery, which often affects the assembly of medical assistance and rescue teams. Thus，we need to explore the necessity for cardiovascular surgeons to join medical rescue teams within 72 hours after earthquake. In this article，medical rescue work of cardiovascular surgeons within 72 hours after 2008 “5•12” Wenchuan earthquake and 2013 “4•20” Lushan earthquake is analyzed and compared to identify professional roles of cardiovascular surgeons in medical rescue within 72 hours after earthquake. It is necessary for cardiovascular surgeons to join medical rescue teams within 72 hours after earthquake.
Baoxing airborne medical team of West China Hospital participated in the medical rescue in 2013 “4?20”Lushan earthquake. The medical team excellently fulfilled their rescue task for 1 week in the earthquake-struck areas where there was power and communication failure and lack of water and food supply. We found some experiences and problems in airbornemedical team assembly and member selection, which may provide quotable experiences for future disaster assistance and rescue teams.
Surgical treatment of atrial septal defect (ASD) mainly includes occlusion or repair under cardiopulmonary bypass. Surgical treatment of atrial fibrillation includes transcatheter radiofrequency ablation or Maze surgery under cardiopulmonary bypass. There are many treatments for ASD patients combined with atrial fibrillation, but each has its own advantages and disadvantages. We reported an ASD patient combined with atrial fibrillation treated by totally endoscopic "one-stop" radiofrequency ablation and simultaneous transthoracic ASD occlusion of atrial fibrillation, with good postoperative results.
Reactive oxygen species (ROS) play an important role in the pathogenesis of various cardiovascular diseases, by leading to cell apoptosis and thus causing organic injuries. Anti-ROS therapy is highly anticipated, but currently, there is still no appropriate prevention method. Studies have shown that thioredoxin (Trx), being a kind of significant endogenous antioxidant system, has excellent antioxidant capacity. Promotion of Trx can reduce key biomolecules to eliminate ROS or regulate many signaling pathways, thus resisting ROS injuries, which may be a new anti-ROS strategy. Therefore, we reviewed the research progress of Trx in cardiac antioxidant therapy to discuss its potential and possibility to be a target for prevention of heart-related ROS injury.
ObjectiveTo systematically review the relationship between subclinical thyroid dysfunction and the risk of atrial fibrillation.MethodsDatabases including PubMed, EMbase, The Cochrane Library, Web of Science, CNKI, CBM, VIP and WanFang Data were electronically searched to collect cohort studies on associations between subclinical thyroid dysfunction and atrial fibrillation from inception to June 2020. Two reviewers independently screened literature, extracted data, and evaluated risk of bias of included studies. Meta-analysis was then performed using RevMan 5.3 software.ResultsA total of 11 studies involving 620 874 subjects and 19 781 cases were included. Meta-analysis showed that subclinical hypothyroidism was not associated with atrial fibrillation (adjusted RR=1.20, 95%CI 0.92 to 1.57, P=0.18) and subclinical hyperthyroidism could increase the risk of atrial fibrillation (adjusted RR=1.65, 95%CI 1.12 to 2.43, P=0.01). Subgroup analysis showed that for the community population, subclinical hypothyroidism was not associated with atrial fibrillation (adjusted RR=1.03, 95%CI 0.84 to 1.26, P=0.81); for cardiac surgery, subclinical hypothyroidism could increase the risk of atrial fibrillation (adjusted RR=2.80, 95%CI 1.51 to 5.19, P=0.001); subclinical hyperthyroidism could increase the risk of atrial fibrillation among patients with TSH≤0.1 mlU/L (adjusted RR=2.06, 95%CI 1.07 to 3.99, P=0.03) and TSH=0.1～0.44 mlU/L (adjusted RR=1.29, 95%CI 1.01 to 1.64, P=0.04). ConclusionsSubclinical hypothyroidism is not associated with atrial fibrillation and subclinical hyperthyroidism can increase the risk of atrial fibrillation. Due to limited quantity and quality of included studies, more high quality studies are needed to verify above conclusions.
ObjectiveTo investigate the negative emotions of patients before cardiac surgery in West China Hospital in order to analyze the related factors.MethodsThe Huaxi emotional-distress index (HEI), a screening tool for mood disorders developed by the Mental Health Center of West China Hospital, was used for preoperative psychological evaluation of 1 968 adult patients hospitalized in cardiac surgery from March 2016 to July 2014. There were 835 males and 1 133 females at age of 49±13 years.Results Fifty-one patients (2.6%) had negative emotions, among whom 6 patients were screened for suicide risk. After intervention, none of them had serious consequences caused by adverse emotions, such as automatic discharge from hospital, avoidance of surgery and suicide.ConclusionThis study found that most of the cardiac surgery patients in West China Hospital have good psychological status before surgery, and a few suffered from negative emotions. “Huaxi emotional-distress index” is simple, effective and worth promoting.
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is one of the most common complications after cardiac surgery. The existing treatment of postoperative AF mainly focuses on preoperative prevention, intraoperative protection and postoperative treatment for factors prone to AF before, during and after surgery, but the postoperative treatment in various areas and hospitals is different. This article combines the latest literature published in Europace about the practice guidance of cardioversion of AF and atrial flutter, and summarizes the treatment of electrical cardioversion, in order to provide clinical guidance for electrical cardioversion of AF after cardiac surgery.
Objective To explore the safety and efficacy of mobile APP in telemanagement for patients who received oral warfarin anticoagulant therapy after mechanical heart valve replacement. Methods A prospective cohort study was performed. According to the inclusion and exclusion criteria, a total of 80 patients who underwent mechanical heart valve replacement for more than half a year and received oral warfarin anticoagulant therapy in outpatient department were included in our hospital from January 1, 2017 to December 31, 2017. These patients were divided into a telemanagement group (40 paitents, telemanagement using mobile APP) and a control group (40 patients, anticoagulant management in outpatient clinics) according to patients' wishes and local hospital international normalized ratio (INR) monitoring conditions. After 12-month follow-up, clinical effect of the two groups was compared. The INR, time in therapeutic range (TTR), fraction in therapeutic range (FTTR), anticoagulation-related complications and patient satisfaction were analyzed. Results During the follow-up period of anticoagulation, there was no significant difference in INR between the two groups (P=0.732). The average interval of INR monitoring in the telemanagement group was 3-65 (21.4 ± 12.5) days, while that in the control group was 7-93 (39.6 ± 14.7) days (P=0.012). TTR was 42.7% (6 027.6 d/14 116.0 d) in the control group and 67.9% (10 168.6 d/14 972.0 d) in the telemanagement group (P=0.018). And FTTR in the two groups was 45.6% (144/316) and 67.1% (432/644), respectively (P=0.015). No serious thromboembolism or hemorrhage events occurred in the 80 patients during the 12-month follow-up period. There was no significant difference in the incidence of anticoagulation-related complications, general bleeding and embolism between the two groups (P>0.05). Conclusion For patients with stable anticoagulation after cardiac mechanical valve replacement, it is safe and effective to telemanagement by mobile APP. Telemanagement can increase the frequency of anticoagulation monitoring without increasing anticoagulation risk, meanwhile, it also could obtain more convenient and rapid consultation, save time and economic costs,and improve the quality of life and patient satisfaction.
Frailty is a syndrome characterized by vulnerability to stressors due to loss of physiological reserve. In recent years, many researches have confirmed that frailty is a risk factor for postoperative complications of cardiac surgery, such as readmission, adverse cardiovascular events, and death in elderly patients. This paper reviews the concept of frailty, the relationship between frailty and cardiac surgery, the frailty assessment and intervention strategy in perioperative period, aimed at providing decision making basis for the risk stratification and perioperative management of cardiac surgery in elderly patients.