Objectives: Rheumatic heart disease remains a significant cause of morbidity and mortality and it is the leading cause of acquired paediatric cardiac disease in the developing world. The aim of this study was to understand the burden of rheumatic heart disease and to review the surgical management of rheumatic mitral valve disease at our institution. Methods: We retrospectively reviewed 76 consecutive patients who underwent mitral valve surgery for rheumatic heart disease between 1998 and 2010. The results and follow-up were reviewed, where death and reoperation were the primary endpoints. The follow up included a review of the latest information from the patients' medical records and telephonic interviews or home visits. Results: A 91% follow up was achieved over a median follow up period of 7.4 years (range 0.1-15.2 years). The mean age at surgery was 10.7 years (SD +- 2.7 years). The females constituted 66% and males 34%. Mitral valve repairs were performed in 64% of patients and of the 64% repairs, 0.06% only had commissurotomies. Replacements were performed in 36% of patients. All mitral valve replacements were mechanical prostheses. The actuarial freedom from reoperation for repairs was 83% (+-2.2) and 66% (+-3.4) at 5 and 10 years and for replacements was 87% (+-4.8) and 87%(+-4.8) respectively (p=0.27). Actuarial freedom from embolic cerebrovascular accidents in the repair group at both 5 and 10 years was 100%, compared to 90.2% (+-6.6) and 79% (+-12.0) for the replacement group at 5 and 10 years respectively (p=0.02). Actuarial freedom from death at 5 and 10 years for children over 12.8 years was 77.7% (+-9.9) and 69.1% (+-12.0) respectively, compared to 93.6% (+-3.6) and 93.6% (+-3.6) for children under 12.8 years (p=0.03). No statistical significant difference was noted in freedom from valve related failure and death between repairs and replacements. Conclusions: There was no significant difference in survival between mitral valve repairs and replacements. There was surprisingly worse survival among children who were above 12.8 years at time of the surgery.

Bibliography: leaves 54-60. / From recent statistics (79,59) it has been concluded that COPD is the most common lung disease in the United States affecting almost 16 million people. The mortality is rising, COPD is the fourth most common cause of death in USA after myocardial infarctions, cancer and stroke (91). COPD is clearly under diagnosed in the early stages (101). Early smoking cessation would have an enormous impact on the progression of the disease (7,24,25,58,106).

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographical references. / Rheumatic heart disease is still the most common cause of valvular heart lesions requiring replacement or repair procedures worldwide. In South Africa, where there is an interesting mix of first and third world dynamics, factors sustaining the epidemic of rheumatic disease are still commonplace. The choice of appropriate valve procedure and prosthesis in our setting will depend on an adequate knowledge of short and long term outcomes of valve replacement and repair. The aim of this thesis was to evaluate the demographics and presentation of our rheumatic and non-rheumatic patients and to determine if our current implantation choices could be validated.

Includes abstract. / Includes bibliographic references (leaves 53-62). / Off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCAB) was developed to avoid the deleterious effects of CPB. Current literature reveals some peri-operative advantages of OPCAB, with few studies detailing these in Africa. We review our institutional experience with both approaches in higher risk patients to determine pre-operative characteristics, short and mid-term outcomes in a developing country.

Includes bibliographical references (leaves 45-48). / Retrospective institutional review of the pathology, aetiology classification and surgical management of left ventricular submitral aneurysms (LVSMA). These aneurysms are a well recognized but relatively rare disease found commonly in patients from African ancestry. The series comprises 20 consecutive patients treated surgically at three institutions from 1985 to 2002. Natural history, clinical presentation, histo-pathological findings, suspected aetiology, operative techniques, along with a discussion of the condition is presented. There were 10 female and 10 male patients and the mean age was 17+-6 (range 8-34) years. Patients were grouped as to the degree of posterior mitral annulus involvement by the aneurysm. In Group I, (n=12) a single aneurysm neck was found. In Group II, (n=3) multiple necks and in Group III, (n=5) involvement of the entire posterior annulus by teh aneurysm was found. Mean age in Group III (29 +/-5 years) was older than that of Groups I and II (15.5 +/- 4 years) suggesting a progressive nature of these aneurysms to enlarge. Clinically patients were in New YOrk Heart Association (NYHA) class I-IV. An intra-cardiac surgical approach was used in 11, extra-cardiac approach in two and a combined approach in seven patients. Mitral valve repair was attempted in 14 patients, with two intra-operative mitral valve repair failures. Failure to control the aneurysm neck (n=2) and failure of mitral valve repair (n=2) resulted in subsequent re-operation. There was no operative mortality. Histology of the aneurysm tissue suggested co-existing rheumatic heart disease in two, tuberculosis in four and infective endocarditis in two. Unknown or congenital disease was postulated in nine patients. Although LVSMA are thought to be congenital, 8 out of 20 patients (40%) had evidence of co-existent inflammatory pathology. The etiology of LVSMA remains uncertain. Many are thought to be congenital, but the findings in this study strongly support the view that rheumatic disease, chronic infections and malnutrition also play a role. A new classification is proposed based on the pathological findings. Involvement of the entire annulus in the older patients suggests a possible progressive nature of the disease. Surgery should be the difinitive therapy in all patients. Surgical approach must be individualized but the intra cardiac approach is suitable for the surgical repair in most cases. Success in mangement is dependent on the appropriate understanding of the relationship between aneurysm and valve.

Includes bibliographical references.

Includes bibliographical references.

No description available.

Researchers have identified several methods for treating acute myocardial infarction (AMI) patients affected by ischemia and reperfusion injury. Some of these therapies include thrombolysis, balloon angioplasty, and coronary arterial bypass graft (CAGB). This lab has previously demonstrated that transplantation of mitochondria into the ischemic zone of a rabbit heart during reperfusion significantly improved recovery as compared to current techniques. In order for this therapy to be translated into the clinic a rapid isolation method for producing highly pure and functional mitochondria will be required. Previously described mitochondrial isolation methods using differential centrifugation and/or Ficoll gradient centrifugation require 60 to 100 minutes to complete. Herein, a method for rapid isolation of mitochondria from mammalian tissue biopsies is described. In this protocol, manual homogenization is replaced with the tissue dissociator's standardized homogenization cycle. This allows for uniform and consistent homogenization of tissue that is not easily achieved with manual homogenization. Following tissue dissociation, the homogenate is filtered through nylon mesh filters which eliminates repetitive centrifugation steps. Mitochondrial isolation time is less than 30 minutes compared to 60-100 minutes using alternative methods. This isolation protocol yields approximately 2 x 10^10 viable and respiration competent mitochondria from 0.18 ± 0.04 g (wet weight) tissue sample.

Penetrating injuries of the intrathoracic great vessels are well recognized although uncommon. In the First World War no survivors with thoracic vascular injury were recorded among soldiers treated with penetrating injuries to the chest as recorded by Makins. The first record of successful repair of a penetrating thoracic aortic injury was in 1922 by Dshanelidze in Russia. Similar to Makins' experience, De Bakey and Simeone in the Second World War recorded no surviving patients with involvem_ent of the thoracic aorta and its branches among American soldiers. Furthermore, no injuries to the thoracic aorta and its branches were recorded in Korean war soldiers undergoing vascular surgery by both Jahnke and Hughes. Rich reported 3 survivors of aortic injuries in the Vietnam war among 1000 patients with vascular injuries. By 1969 only 43 successfully treated cases had been reported but increasing numbers of patients sustaining injuries to the great arteries at the level of the thoracic inlet have been reported subsequently in civilian practice. Experience has grown over the years but patient numbers remain small and individual surgeons may only manage 2 or 3 of these patients in his life time. The largest single reported series consists of 93 patients in Memphis over a 13 year period. All victims were rapidly transported to hospital and were resuscitated en route. As a consequence, a large number critically ill patients reached hospital who may have died in earlier years. However some of these patients inevitably died in hospital contributing to the high mortality of 16, 7% reported. Our experience is different in that most of our victims who reach hospital will survive as poor community triage facilities prevent more than 95% of penetrating thoracic vascular trauma victims reaching hospital alive, hence we have a selection of less severely injured patients who eventually reach our hospital alive producing our mortality rate of 5%. Another important difference is that most of our patients suffered stab wounds as compared to gunshot wounds noted in the Memphis. Buchan and Robbs in Durban reported on 52 patients who had penetrating cervicomediastinal vascular injury with a remarkably similar experience to our own in Cape Town with the exception of a larger number of aortic injuries (21 out of 52 patients) recorded and a higher mortality rate of 17% as a result of these aortic injuries.