ObjectiveTo study the relationship between the timing of surgery and one-year outcome in patients with infective endocarditis. MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 97 patients suffered from leftside native valve infective endocarditis with neoplasm, admitted in Shanghai First People's Hospital between January 2000 and December 2011. There were 65 males and 32 females with mean age of 55.2±16.3 years (ranged 29 to 75 years). They were divided into two groups according to whether the surgery was performed within a week after diagnosis. The in-hospital mortality and one-year mortality, embolism and re-infection were calculated and compared between the two groups. ResultsThere was no significant difference in the in-hospital mortality between the early surgery group and the conventional surgery group (1.9% versus 6.7%, P=0.241). While there was a significant difference in the rate of inhospital embolism related complications (1.9% versus 13.3%, P=0.030) between the two groups. There was no significant difference in one-year mortality between the two groups (1.9% versus 8.9%, P=0.122). The incidence rate of embolism related complication was 5.8% in the early surgery group and 20.0% in the conventional surgery group with a statistical difference (P=0.034). There was one patient with recurrent cerebral infarction among the 11 patients of cerebral infarction in the early surgery group,while 6 recurrent patients in the 9 patients with cerebral infarction in the conventional surgery group (9.1% versus 66.7%, P<0.005). ConclusionsEarly surgery in patients with left-side native valve infective endocarditis can't reduce the in-hospital mortality and one-year mortality but does decrease embolic events significantly. Early surgery is feasible in the patients with cerebral infarction.
ObjectiveTo study the short-term efficacy and safety of tocilizumab in treating patients with active and resistant rheumatoid arthritis (RRA). MethodForty patients with RRA treated with tocilizumab between October 2013 and October 2014 were included in our study. The combined drug treatment was continued with the addition of tocilizumab 8 mg/kg per four weeks. The clinical responses and laboratory parameters were evaluated at the baseline, week 1, 4, 12, 16 and 24, and week 4 and 8 of tocilizumab withdrawal. ResultsTocilizumab was effective for several clinical lesions and laboratorial parameters at all time points. With the extension of treatment, the effect was better. At week 1, the visual analogue scale score of pain by patients, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein (CRP), disease activity score 28 (DAS28) and health assessment questionnaire (HAQ) results decreased significantly (P<0.05). At week 12, the inflammatory biomarkers of all patients were normal, and 62.9% (22/35) of the patients achieved American College of Rheumatology (ACR)20, and 28.6% (10/35) of the patients achieved ACR50. At week 24, twelve patients achieved ACR50 and low activity (DAS28 score≤3.2), and the score of HAQ was minimum (3.1±1.6). The score of HAQ was significantly different between week 24 and the baseline (20.2±6.7) (P<0.01). All parameters were not significantly changed at week 4 of tocilizumab withdrawal compared with those before the withdrawal. Most parameters increased significantly at week 8 of tocilizumab withdrawal compared with week 4 of withdrawal (P<0.01) except for swollen joints, CRP, DAS28 and HAQ. The main adverse reactions were abnormal hepatic function and dyslipidemia followed by leukopenia. Only one patient stopped treatment because of adverse reaction. ConclusionsTocilizumab has rapid efficacy onset and good safety. After tocilizumab withdrawal, the efficacy can be maintained for 4 to 8 weeks.
Exercise-induced muscle fatigue is a phenomenon that the maximum voluntary contraction force or power output of muscle is temporarily reduced due to muscular movement. If the fatigue is not treated properly, it will bring about a severe injury to the human body. With multi-channel collection of lower limb surface electromyography signals, this article analyzes the muscle fatigue by adoption of band spectrum entropy method which combined electromyographic signal spectral analysis and nonlinear dynamics. The experimental result indicated that with the increase of muscle fatigue, muscle signal spectrum began to move to low frequency, the energy concentrated, the system complexity came down, and the band spectrum entropy which reflected the complexity was also reduced. By monitoring the entropy, we can measure the degree of muscle fatigue, and provide an indicator to judge fatigue degree for the sports training and clinical rehabilitation training.
ObjectiveTo analyze the death causes of postoperative early-stage after orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT) in rats, and to provide appropriate treatment strategies. MethodsThree hundreds of rat OLT models were performed by modified Kamada two-cuff technique. Operation time of each stage during OLT and postoperative survival time of rats were recorded and analyzed. According to survival time, the rats were divide into 4 groups:intraoperative death group (rats died during operation), < 6 hours group, 6-24 hours group, and > 24 hours group. Then comparison of operation time of each stage during OLT in rats of 4 groups was performed, and reasons of death during 24 hours after OLT were analyzed. ResultsOf the 300 OLT models, 37 rats died during operation (12.33%), 51 rats died within 6 hours after operation (17.00%), 76 rats died during 6-24 hours after operation (25.33%), and 136 rats survived longer than 24 hours (45.34%). The most common death causes of < 6 hours group were as follows:lose too much blood during the operation (27.45%, 14/51), postoperative bleeding (27.45%, 14/51), and vascular embolization (15.69%, 8/51). However, the most common death causes of 6-24 hours group were as follows:angiostenosis (27.63%, 21/76), postoperative bleeding (21.05%, 16/76), and pulmonary edema (19.74%, 15/76). There were significant differences in the cold ischemia time and anhepatic phase among the 4 groups (P < 0.05). The cold ischemia time and anhepatic phase of intraoperative death group were longer than those of other 3 groups (P < 0.05), in addition, the cold ischemia time of > 24 hours group was shorter than those of other 3 groups (P < 0.05). ConclusionsThere are many reasons leading to the early death after OLT. The long time of anhepatic phase and the cold ischemia time, intraoperative and postoperative bleeding, thrombosis, angiostenosis, and pulmonary edema are key factors for the improvement of prognosis in rats after OLT operation. Improvements of the reasons above are helpful to improve the successful rate of modeling and quality of OLT rats.
Objective To investigate the security and feasibility of silk ligating for pulmonary artery in video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy, and to summarize the clinical skills. Methods We retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 68 patients underwent the video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy from April 2013 to March 2015. There were 49 males and 19 females with the mean age of 59.6±10.3 years, ranging from 38 to 76 years. We divided the patients into an ECR60W cut-up group (31 patients) and a silk ligation group (37 patients). There were 22 males and 9 females patients with the average age of 59.3±9.9 years with ECR60W. There were 27 males and 10 females patients with the average age of 59.9±10.5 years with silk ligation. We observed the effect of hemostasis, and analyzed the amount of bleeding loss during operation, postoperative suction drainage and the cost of operation material between the two groups. Results There were 4 patients out of 68 converted to the open lobectomy, and all of them used ECR60W. The application of silk ligation for pulmo-nary artery could effectively control bleeding loss and avoid massive amount of bleeding due to the vascular tear in opera-tions. Furthermore, the application can reduce the rate of severe complications such as massive bleeding resulting from postoperative silk ligation slippage. There was a statistical difference between the two groups on the cost of operation mate-rials (P < 0.01). Conclusions Silk ligation for pulmonary artery in video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy is simple and prac-tical to apply. Compared with the ECR60W, it can significantly reduce the cost of operation material. It's worth to popularize in clinic.
ObjectiveTo analyze clinical experience and outcomes of bileaflet preservation in mitral valve replace-ment (MVR) for patients with severe mitral regurgitation (MR). MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed clinical data of 17 patients with severe MR who underwent MVR with bileaflet preservation in the Department of Cardiovascular surgery of Guangdong General Hospital from June 2011 to January 2013. There were 14 males and 3 females with mean age of 63.41±11.82 years (range, 38 to 82 years). There were 13 patients with atrial fibrillation. Preoperatively, 5 patients were in New York Heart Association (NYHA) functional class Ⅲ, and 12 patients were in NYHA class Ⅳ. There were 7 patients with ischemic MR, 9 patients with degenerative MR, and 1 patient with rheumatic MR. ResultsMVR with bileaflet preservation was performed for all the patients. Concomitant coronary artery bypass grafting was performed for 4 patients. Eleven patients received bioprosthetic MVR, and 6 patients received mechanical MVR. There was no in-hospital death, postoperative low cardiac output syndrome or left ventricular rupture. All the 17 patients were followed up for a mean duration of 16.44±5.02 months (range, 2 to 25 months). During follow-up, 1 patient died of severe paravalvular leak 2 months after surgery. All the other patients had good mitral valve function. None of the patients had anticoagulation or prosthetic valve related complication. Patient's heart function was significantly improved. Eleven patients were in NYHA functional class Ⅰ, 4 patients were in NYHA class Ⅱ, and 1 patient was in NYHA class Ⅲ. Cardiothoracic ratio, left atrial dimension, left ventricular end-diastolic dimension and left ventricular end-systole dimension postoperatively and during follow-up were significantly smaller than preoperative values. Postoperative left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) was significantly lower than preoperative LVEF(50.94%±8.78% vs. 55.31%±10.44%, P=0.04), but LVEF during follow-up was not statistically different from preoperative LVEF(55.31%±10.44% vs. 56.13%±9.67%, P=0.73), and LVEF during follow-up was significantly higher than postoperative LVEF(56.13%±9.67% vs. 50.94%±8.78%, P=0.02). There was no statistical difference between postoperative mitral pressure half-time (PHT)and PHT during follow-up (95.06±19.00 ms vs. 94.56±19.19 ms, P=0.91). ConclusionMVR with bileaflet preservation is a safe and effective surgical technique for patients with severe MR, and can significantly improve postoperative left ventricular remodeling and function.
Objective To observe the effect of quality control circle (QCC) management tools to improve the electronic medical record timely writing rate. Methods Between June 2014 and January 2015, we used QCC to manage electronic medical record timely writing rate. By determining the subjects, investigation of the status quo, factor analysis, and and formulation and implementation of strategies, we tried to improve the electronic medical record timely writing rate. Results After QCC implementation, electronic medical records untimely rate dropped from 39.6% to 13.8%, with surgical departments dropping from 45.6% to 15.2% and non-surgical departments from 33.6% to 12.4%. Target compliance rate reached 124.04%, of which the untimely rate of nursing records and the overtime rate of rescue records were both reduced to 0. Quality management methods, team cohesion, confidence, personal comprehensive ability and problem-solving ability all improved significantly. Conclusions The timeliness of electronic medical records management has its importance and urgency. We should make good use QCC management to ensure timely electronic medical records writing.
ObjectiveTo investigate the methods and significances of the breast ultrasonographic breast imaging reporting and data system (BI-RADS) category 4 lesions divided into category 4a, 4b, and 4c, and to assess the risk of malig-nancy of lesions with BI-RADS category 4 in order to improve the accuracy of diagnosis. MethodsTwo hundred and eighty-eight breast lesions with BI-RADS category 4 confirmed by histopathology were collected. The ultrasonographic characteristics of benign and malignant lesions, containing the shape, aspect ration, margin, calcification, changes of the surrounding tissue, boundary, blood flow characteristics, internal echo, rear echo of the lesions, were comparatively anal-yzed, and the lesions with BI-RADS-US category 4 were divided into 4a, 4b, 4c according to these ultrasonographic charac-teristics and analyzed by statistics. ResultsThere were 192 malignant lesions and 96 benign lesions in the 288 breast lesions. There were statistical significances in the benign and malignant lesions with the shape, aspect ratio, margin, calci-fication, change of surrounding tissue, and boundary (P < 0.05), in other words, the proportion of these ultrasonographic characteristics were higher in the malignant lesions as compared with the benign lesions. But there were no significant differences of internal echo, rear echo, and blood flow characteristics between two lesions (P > 0.05). The positive predictive value of malignant tumor with BI-RADS category 4a, 4b, and 4c were 21.74%, 58.90%, and 91.78%, respectively, and there was significant difference (χ2=106.09, P=0.000). ConclusionsThe classification of breast lesions with BI-RADS category 4 is refined, it could more accurately assess the risk of benign and malignant breast masses. At the same time, it has an important clinical significance for diagnosis and treatment of benign and malignant breast masses.
ObjectiveTo analyze clinical experience and outcomes of video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS)for bioprosthetic mitral valve replacement (MVR). MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed 32 patients who underwent VATS bioprosthetic MVR in the Department of Cardiovascular Surgery of Guangdong General Hospital from March to December 2013. There were 14 males and 18 females with a mean age of 55.6±17.3 years (range, 19 to 80 years), mean body weight of 55.7±9.7 kg (range, 37 to 78 kg) and mean body surface area of 1.67±0.16 m2 (range, 1.30 to 1.95 m2). Five patients had atrial fibrillation. There were 20 patients in New York Heart Association (NYHA)functional class Ⅱ, 11 patients in class Ⅲ, and 1 patient in class Ⅳ. There were 16 patients with rheumatic mitral valve disease, 11 patients with degenerative mitral valve disease, 4 patients with infective endocarditis and 1 patient with associated congenital heart disease. ResultsVATS bioprosthetic MVR was successfully performed for all the patients, including 27 patients with Medtronic Hancock Ⅱ Bioprosthesis and 5 patients with Medtronic Mosaic Bioprosthesis. Concomitantly, tricuspid valvuloplasty was performed for 13 patients and atrial septal defect repair was performed for 1 patient. There was no in-hospital death, low cardiac output syndrome or left ventricular rupture. Postoperative echocardiography showed good bioprosthetic function in all the patients without paravalvular leakage. Postoperative cardiac function significantly improved compared with preoperative cardiac function. There were 9 patients in NYHA functional class Ⅰ, 17 patients in class Ⅱ, and 6 patients in class Ⅲ. Left atrial diameter and left ventricular end-diastolic diameter examined postoperatively and 3 months after surgery were significantly smaller than preoperative values. Left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF)examined postoperatively and 3 months after surgery was significantly lower than preoperative LVEF. ConclusionsVATS bioprosthetic MVR is a minimally invasive, safe and feasible procedure with a low postoperative morbidity. Incision size can be significantly reduced with a special type of bioprosthesis.
Objective To examine the effect and safety of thoracoscopic surgery for left atrium myxoma excision. Method Sixty-nine left atrial myxoma patients underwent excision of left atrial myxoma in our hospital between January 2012 and August 2014 year. The patients were divided into two groups according to the procedure. Thirty patients under-went thoracoscopic surgery, as a thoracoscopic group, with 8 males and 22 females, aged 47.36±13.02 years. Thirty-nine patients received median sternotomy surgery, as a median sternotomy group, with 10 males and 29 females, aged 49.17±13.09 years. The effect and safety between the two groups were compared. Results All patients survived after surgery without death and other serious complications. Compared with the median sternotomy surgery group, longer cardiopul- monary bypass and aortic cross clamp time, shorter ICU stay, ventilator support, and postoperative drainage time, shorter hospital stay time, less postoperative drainage, lower cost, and more higher rate of returning to work in 1 month after surgery were found in the thoracoscopic group with P value less than 0.05. There was no complication of stroke and other neurological complication in the two groups. All patients were followed up for 11 months to 4 years and 7 months, average age of 38.5±12.7 months. There was no recurrence in both groups. Conclusions The thoracoscopic left atrial myxoma excision cardiopulmonary is effective and safe. It can be used as a surgical treatment of left atrial myxoma preferred.