Survey on the Readiness for Hospital Discharge and Its Influencing Factors among Patients with Cardiac Valve Replacement

Background: There are about 200,000 patients in China who need to undergo valve replacement surgery each year. With the promotion and application of the Fast-Track Surgery concept and the increase in hospital bed turnover rate, the average hospital stay of patients undergoing CVR surgery has been significantly shortened, and thus the patients are still in the recovery stage rather than fully recovered when they are discharged from the hospital. Good preparation for discharge can improve patients’ post-discharge self-care ability, reduce the risk of re-admission, and save medical resources. Objective: To describe the status of readiness for hospital discharge among postoperative patients that have undergone CVR, and to explore its influencing factors. Methods: The general information questionnaire, the Readiness for Hospital Discharge Scale and the Quality of discharge Teaching Scale were utilized to investigate 130 post-CVR patients admitted to the Cardiothoracic Surgery Department of a tertiary A-Class hospital in Guangzhou from July 2019 to October 2020. Results: The Readiness for Hospital Discharge Scale was at a moderate level with a total score of 163.88 ± 39.082, while the Quality of Discharge Teaching Scale was also at a moderate level with a total score of 194.09 ± 40.643. Multiple linear regression analysis revealed that the quality of discharge guidance, gender, and occupation were the influencing factors of CVR patient’s readiness for hospital discharge. These three variables jointly explained 45.8% of the total variation. Conclusion: The level of CVR patients’ readiness for hospital discharge is at a moderate level, and the quality of discharge guidance positively affects patients’ readiness for discharge. Therefore, in clinical work, attention should be paid to patient discharge guidance. Personalized health education should be implemented to improve the quality of patient guidance.

Effect of prophylactic oral amiodarone on postoperative outcomes in patients with preoperative atrial fibrillation undergoing cardiac valve surgery for rheumatic heart disease

Background Atrial fibrillation（AF） is the most common arrhythmia in patients with rheumatic heart disease（RHD）. The impact of prophylactic oral amiodarone and total dosage on postoperative outcomes in RHD patients accompanied by AF after cardiac valve surgery（CVS） is still unknown. Methods This retrospective analysis was performed on a total of 562 RHD patients with preoperative permanent AF undergoing CVS. One hundred and thirty-five patients receiving preoperative oral amiodarone were in the amiodarone group, 427 patients with no exposure to amiodarone were in the control group. Data gathered included constitution of the surgical approaches, postoperative incidence of conversion from AF to sinus rhythm, low cardiac output, rapid AF and ventricular arrhythmias, mechanical ventilation time, length of ICU stay, length of hospital stay, and average ventricular rates in patients with AF at discharge. Results In the amiodarone group, 30 patients converted to sinus rhythm after surgery, the incidence（30/135, 22.2%） was higher than that in the control group（45/427, 10.5%, P 〈 0.05）. Compared with patients in the control group,incidence of rapid AF（19.3% vs 27.4%） and ventricular arrhythmias（6.7% vs 12.1%） in the amiodarone group were significantly lower（P 〈 0.05）. Length of ICU stay and hospital stay in the amiodarone group were significantly shorter than those in the control group（P 〈 0.05）. The sinus rhythm conversion rate of the patients with total dosage of above 10 g（14/43, 32.6%） was significantly higher than that of the patients receiving less than 10 g（16/92, 17.4%） amiodarone（P 〈 0.05）. Conclusions Prophylactic oral amiodarone increases postoperative sinus rhythm conversion rate in RHD patients with preoperative permanent AF after CVS, and shows a dose-response relationship with the conversion rate. It also reduces the incidences of tachyarrhythmia and ventricular arrhythmias, shortens ICU stay and hospital stay, thus improving the prognosis of those patients.

Is it the time to reconsider the choice of valves for cardiac surgery： mechanical or bioprosthetic？

Valvular heart disease is a pathologic process involving one or more of the four valves(aortic,pulmonary,mitral and tricuspid)of the heart typified by stenosis or regurgitation and leading to patient symptoms.The most common causes are tissue degeneration,rheumatic fever and congenital heart diseases.Aortic valve replacement(AVR)using either mechanical or bioprosthetic(tissue)valves via open-heart surgical

VAD implantation in cardiac failure patients with prosthetic valves

Objective An increasing number of patients requiring ventricular assist devices (VAD) have had previous valvular corrections,including valve repair,and valve replacement with mechanical or bioprosthetic valves. The operative and peri-operative management of these patients are various. Methods A retrospective study of VADs between Jan 1994 and June 2008 revealed 10 patients

A case report of chylous ascites after cardiac surgery

Background:Chylous ascites(CA),an emulsion rich in triglycerides,is a rare type of ascites,especially after cardiac surgery.Also,there are few reports of the occurrence of CA after mitral valve replacement,aortic valve replacement,tricuspid valvuloplasty,and coronary artery bypass grafting.Case presentation:We report the case of a 53-year-old man who underwent surgery for a diagnosis of mitral incompetence,aortic incompetence,tricuspid incompetence,and coronary atherosclerotic heart disease.Fifteen days after surgery,3000 mL of milky-yellow ascites appeared in the abdominal cavity,diagnosed as CA by laboratory examination.The ascites gradually disappeared after being drained,and the patients improved.The curative was objective,but the exact cause is not clear.Conclusion:Although CA is rare,it may occur during the surgical intervention in cardiac surgery.

Effects of Oxidized Low Density Lipoprotein on Transformation of Valvular Myofibroblasts to Osteoblast-like Phenotype

In order to investigate the roles of Wnt signal pathway in transformation of cardiac valvular myofibroblasts to the osteoblast-like phenotype, the primary cultured porcine aortic valve myofibroblasts were incubated with oxidized low density lipoprotein（ox-LDL, 50 mg/L）, and divided into four groups according to the ox-LDL treatment time： control group, ox-LDL 24-h group, ox-LDL 48-h group, and ox-LDL 72-h group. Wnt signal pathway blocker Dickkopf-1（DDK-1, 100 μg/L） was added in ox-LDL 72-h group. The expression of α-smooth muscle actin（α-SMA）, bone morphogenetic protein 2（BMP2）, alkaline phosphatase（ALP）, and osteogenic transcription factor Cbfa-1 was detected by Western blotting, and that of β-catenin, a key mediator of Wnt signal pathway by immunocytochemical staining method. The Wnt/β-catenin was observed and the transformation of myofibroblasts to the osteoblast-like phenotype was examined. The expression of α-SMA, BMP2, ALP and Cbfa-1 proteins in the control group was weaker than in the ox-LDL-treated groups. In ox-LDL-treated groups, the protein expression of α-SMA, BMP2, ALP, and Cbfa-1 was significantly increased in a time-dependent manner as compared with the control group, and there was significant difference among the three ox-LDL-treated groups（P〈0.05 for all）; β-catenin protein was also up-regulated in the ox-LDL-treated groups in a time-dependent manner as compared with the control group（P〈0.05）, and its transfer from cytoplasm to nucleus and accumulation in the nucleus were increased in the same fashion（P〈0.05）. After addition of DKK-1, the expression of α-SMA, bone-related proteins and β-catenin protein was significantly reduced as compared with ox-LDL 72-h group（P〈0.05）. The Wnt/ β-catenin signaling pathway may play an important role in transformation of valvular myofibroblasts to the osteoblast-like phenotype.

Is the European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation useful in Chinese patients undergoing heart valve surgery？

Background The European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation （EuroSCORE） is one of the most widely used risk models for the predicting mortality after cardiac surgery. The aim of this study was to validate the EuroSCORE model for predicting operative mortality in heart valve surgery on a Chinese multicenter database and comparing the performance of EuroSCORE with our new risk stratification system, the Sino System for Coronary Operative Risk Evaluation （SinoSCORE）. Methods Data from patients undergoing heart valve surgery between January 2007 and December 2008 were retrospectively collected, from 43 hospitals in China. The EuroSCORE and the SinoSCORE were calculated for each patient. Mortality was defined as any in-hospital death. Area under the receiver operating characteristics curve （AUC） was used to study the discriminatory abilities of the models. The Hosmer-Lemeshow （H-L） goodness-of-fit test was used to study the calibration of the predictive models. Results A total of 15 367 patients were analyzed. For the entire cohort, the observed mortality was 2.34%, the predicted mortality was 3.71% （additive）, 3.19% （logistic） and 3.66% （SinoSCORE）. AUC was 0.747 for SinoSCORE, 0.699 additive and 0.696 for logistic EuroSCORE. Calibration of SinoSCORE and additive EuroSCORE was good （H-L： P=-0.250 and P=0.051, respectively）, but the logistic EuroSCORE model had a poor calibration （H-L： P〈0.05）. The discriminatory ability and calibration of the SinoSCORE were good in low- and high-risk patients, However, the discriminatory ability of the EuroSCORE model was poor in all risk deciles. Conclusions The EuroSCORE does not accurately predict mortality in Chinese patients with heart valve surgery, and the SinoSCORE is superior to the EuroSCORE at predicting in-hospital mortality in Chinese heart valve surgery patients.

Quantitative analysis of host cells growing into canine homograft valved aortic and pulmonary artery

Background Cryopreserved conduit valved homografts （CVH） have been widely used in surgical treatment of cardiac disease. This study aimed to determine the extent of host cell ingrowth and the durability and immunogenicity of CVH,and to compare the performance of CVH stored at 4℃ and CVH cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen at -196℃.Methods Heterotopic transplants of canine CVH stored at 4℃ （n=14） and cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen （n=14） were made onto the abdominal aorta of recipient dogs. Animals were sacrificed at 7 and 15 days and at 1, 3, 6, 9, and 12months after transplantation to excise the implanted CVHs. Tissue DNA extraction and quantitative polymerase chain reaction （PCR） were performed to calculate the ratio of donor cells and host cells in the CVH. The tissue viability of CVH after implantation was analyzed by detecting alkaline fibroblast growth factor 2 （FGF-2） using immunohistochemical staining and by observation under transmission electron microscope and scanning electron microscope.Results All the animals survived and recovered well. There were few repopulating host cells （0.04-0.83%） in the implanted CVH at 7 or 15 days. The ratio of ingrowing host cells into the CVH continued rising after implantation and reached 40%-47% in the 12th month postoperation. Histology, transmission electron microscopy and FGF-2immunohistochemical staining indicated that fibroblasts and the host＇s endothelial cells were the main cellular elements invading the CVH. There were no significant differences in results between CVH stored at 4℃ and CVH cryopreserved in liquid nitrogen.Conclusions Host cells growing into CVH are very important for maintaining the long-term structure and function of the implanted CVH. There is no significant difference between CVH storing at 4℃ or in liquid nitrogen in regard to the ingrowth of host cells or of morphologic features after CVH allografting.