The findings of the review underscore the importance of attending

to the targeted population in the practice and study of psychotherapeutic interventions for bereaved persons.”
“Background: Patients undergoing emergency coronary artery bypass grafting represent a unique and high-risk population that remains challenging for cardiac surgeons. We examined the changing trends in patients undergoing emergency bypass grafting over the past 20 years.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective review of find more our database between 1990 and 2009 and patients were divided into 2 groups based on year of operation: 1990-1999, n = 393; 2000-2009, n = 184. The primary outcomes of interest for this study are operative mortality and incidence of low cardiac output syndrome.

Results: The percentage of patients undergoing emergency coronary bypass grafting has decreased from 2.7% to 1.7% over time. The percentage of patients with dyslipidemia, hypertension, triple vessel disease, peripheral vascular disease, and left main disease increased over time (P < .05). Operative mortality remained at 8.1% in both year groups. Preoperative hypertension, congestive heart failure, left ventricular ejection fraction less than 20%, and previous cardiac surgery independently predicted selleck chemical operative mortality by logistic regression

analysis. Low cardiac output syndrome developed in 25% of the patient population undergoing emergency bypass grafting. The independent Phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase predictors of low cardiac output syndrome were small body surface area, congestive heart failure, shock, myocardial infarction, earlier decade (1990-1999) and increased age.

Conclusions: Despite a changing preoperative risk profile, the operative mortality of emergency coronary artery bypass grafting has remained stable over the years. However, mortality remains significantly above the observed mortality in elective bypass grafting. Continued improvements in the management of heart failure and the care of the elderly will likely result in reduced risks of emergency

coronary artery bypass grafting. (J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2011; 142: 816-22)”
“We aimed to assess the relationship between atherosclerotic carotid plaque composition analyzed using multidetector computed tomography (MDCT) and the appearance of new ischemic lesions detected by diffusion-weighted images (DWI) after carotid artery stenting (CAS).

We quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed plaque characteristics in carotid arteries using MDCT before CAS in 19 patients. Carotid plaques were expediently subdivided into four components with Hounsfield unit (HU) values of < 0, 0-60, 60-130, and > 600. The incidence of distal embolism was evaluated with DWI. Pearson’s correlation analyses were used to assess the association between plaque composition and the incidence of cerebral embolization.