Browsing by Author "Brown, John W."

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    Commentary: Scimitar syndrome: Cutting through the details
    (Elsevier, 2020-01-11) Herrmann, Jeremy L.; Brown, John W.; Surgery, School of Medicine
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    Converting Fontan-Björk to 1.5- or 2-ventricle circulation
    (Elsevier, 2018) Hopkins, Kali A.; Brown, John W.; Darragh, Robert K.; Kay, W. Aaron; Graduate Medical Education
    Patients with tricuspid atresia and ventricular septal defect have in the past occasionally undergone a Fontan with “Björk” modification to create a connection between the right atrium and the right ventricular outflow tract. While rarely performed now, patients with this physiology often face severe complications requiring re-intervention. We hypothesize that surgical conversion to a 2-ventricle or 1.5-ventricle circulation can improve hemodynamics, clinical status, and thus increase time to transplant. We present two successful cases to illustrate this idea.
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    An Emergent Nexus between Striae and Thoracic Aortic Dissection
    (MDPI, 2021) Landis, Benjamin J.; Vujakovich, Courtney E.; Elmore, Lindsey R.; Pillai, Saila T.; Lee, Lawrence S.; Everett, Jeffrey E.; Markham, Larry W.; Brown, John W.; Hess, Phillip J.; Corvera, Joel S.; Pediatrics, School of Medicine
    Current approaches to stratify the risk for disease progression in thoracic aortic aneurysm (TAA) lack precision, which hinders clinical decision making. Connective tissue phenotyping of children with TAA previously identified the association between skin striae and increased rate of aortic dilation. The objective of this study was to analyze associations between connective tissue abnormalities and clinical endpoints in adults with aortopathy. Participants with TAA or aortic dissection (TAD) and trileaflet aortic valve were enrolled from 2016 to 2019 in the setting of cardiothoracic surgical care. Data were ascertained by structured interviews with participants. The mean age among 241 cases was 61 ± 13 years. Eighty (33%) had history of TAD. While most participants lacked a formal syndromic diagnosis clinically, connective tissue abnormalities were identified in 113 (47%). This included 20% with abdominal hernia and 13% with skin striae in atypical location. In multivariate analysis, striae and hypertension were significantly associated with TAD. Striae were associated with younger age of TAD or prophylactic aortic surgery. Striae were more frequent in TAD cases than age- and sex-matched controls. Thus, systemic features of connective tissue dysfunction were prevalent in adults with aortopathy. The emerging nexus between striae and aortopathy severity creates opportunities for clinical stratification and basic research.
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    Liposomal Bupivacaine Reduces Opioid Requirements Following Ravitch Repair of Pectus Excavatum
    (2021-09-18) Tanner, Brandon M.; Abbasi, Rania K.; Cossu, Anne E.; Castelluccio, Peter F.; Hamilton, Matthew C.; Brown, John W.; Herrmann, Jeremy L.
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    Outcomes following surgery for primary mediastinal nonseminomatous germ cell tumors in the cisplatin era
    (Elsevier, 2021-06) Kesler, Kenneth A.; Stram, Amanda R.; Timsina, Lava R.; Turrentine, Mark W.; Brown, John W.; Einhorn, Lawrence H.; Surgery, School of Medicine
    Objective Treatment of primary mediastinal nonseminomatous germ cell tumors involves cisplatin-based chemotherapy followed by surgery to remove residual disease. We undertook a study to determine short and long-term outcomes. Methods A retrospective analysis of patients with primary mediastinal nonseminomatous germ cell tumors who underwent surgery at our institution from 1982 to 2017 was performed. Results A total of 255 patients (mean age, 29.2 years) were identified. Acute respiratory distress syndrome occurred postoperatively in 27 patients (10.9%), which was responsible for all 11 (4.3%) postoperative deaths. Of patients who developed acute respiratory distress syndrome, more patients received bleomycin-containing chemotherapy (25 out of 169; 14.8%) than non-bleomycin regimens (2 out of 77; 2.6%) (P = .004). With respect to variables independently predictive of long-term survival, evidence of choriocarcinoma before chemotherapy (n = 12) was determined to be an adverse factor (P = .006). In contrast, biopsy-proven elements of seminoma (n = 34) were predictive of improved survival (P = .04). The worst pathology identified in the residual mediastinal mass after chemotherapy was necrosis in 61 patients (25.0%), teratoma in 84 patients (34.4%), and malignant (persistent germ cell or non–germ cell cancer) in 97 patients (39.8%), which influenced overall survival (P < .001). Additionally, teratoma with stromal atypia (n = 18) demonstrated decreased survival compared with teratoma without atypia (n = 66; P = .031). Patients with malignancy involving >50% of the residual mass (n = 47) had a 2.3-fold increased risk of death compared with ≤50% malignancy (n = 45; P = .008). Finally, elevated postoperative serum tumor markers (n = 40) was significantly predictive of adverse survival (P < .001). Conclusions In the treatment of primary mediastinal nonseminomatous germ cell tumors, avoiding bleomycin-containing chemotherapy is important. Pre- and postchemotherapy pathology and postoperative serum tumor markers are independent predictors of long-term survival.
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    Outcomes in patients with interrupted aortic arch and associated anomalies: a 20-year experience
    (Elsevier, 2006-05-01) Brown, John W.; Ruzmetov, Mark; Okada, Yuji; Vijay, Palaniswamy; Rodefeld, Mark D.; Turrentine, Mark W.; Surgery, School of Medicine
    Objective: The surgical results for the repair of interrupted aortic arch (IAA) have evolved in recent years. We report our results for staged repair of this complex congenital malformation. Methods: Sixty-five patients (mean age, 16.9 ± 41.7 days) were diagnosed with IAA and referred for surgical therapy. The surgical management strategy at our institution between 1982 and 2005 has been one-stage complete repair (n = 13) or staged repair (n = 52) in selected patients. Non-complex patients (group I, n = 51) had a ventricular septal defect (87%), aortopulmonary window (8%), and left ventricular outflow tract obstruction (27%). Group II (n = 14) were patients with Taussig–Bing double outlet right ventricle (n = 6) or truncus arteriosus (n = 8). Method of staged repair of IAA was to transect and turn down the left carotid artery and anastomosis it to the descending aorta (n = 41) or graft interposition (n = 2) combined with a pulmonary artery (PA) banding followed in a few months by delayed ventricular septal defect (VSD) closure and PA de-banding. Results: There were 5 early and 10 late deaths. The actuarial survival including early mortality was 92% at 1 year, 81% at 5 years, and 76% at 10 and 15 years. There was an 81% 15-year survival for children in group I compared with a 54% for children in group II (p ≪ 0.001). Risk factors for increased mortality by univariate analysis were as follows: (1) primary aortic anastomosis (p = 0.03), (2) presence of complex anomalies (p = 0.05), and (3) initial IAA repair performed before 1994 (p = 0.05). Actuarial freedom from any type of aortic reoperation or intervention was 86% at 1 year, 69% at 5 years, and 60% at 10 and 15 years. Univariate and multivariate analyses identified no tested variables as risk factors for reoperation. The majority (86%) was in New York Heart Association (NYHA) class I, and 14% remained in NYHA class II. During the postoperative course there were no neurologic deficits, seizures, and growth disturbances in any patient. Conclusion: Staged repair of IAA using a left carotid artery turn down can be safely applied in IAA patients with and without other intracardiac anomalies with good results. Use of the left carotid artery for arch reconstruction did not result in any detectable neurological events or growth disturbances later in life. Associated anomalies played an important role in outcomes. The long-term probability for reoperation and/or reintervention remains high regardless of operative technique.
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    Performance of SynerGraft Decellularized Pulmonary Allografts Compared With Standard Cryopreserved Allografts: Results From Multiinstitutional Data
    (Elsevier, 2017-03) Bibevski, Steve; Ruzmetov, Mark; Fortuna, Randall S.; Turrentine, Mark W.; Brown, John W.; Ohye, Richard G.; Surgery, School of Medicine
    Background Structural deterioration of allografts over time is believed to be at least partly related to an immune response mounted against human leukocyte antigen specific to the transplanted tissue. SynerGraft (SG) processing (CryoLife, Kennesaw, GA) is a technology that decellularizes an allograft leaving only connective tissue, therefore, reducing immunogenicity and potentially increasing durability of the implant. Methods We performed a retrospective review of 163 SG patients and 124 standard allograft controls from 3 medical centers. Patient demographics were tabulated, and conduit stenosis and insufficiency were measured by echocardiography. Results There were 28 deaths (15 of 163 [9%] SG patients vs 13 of 124 [11%] standard patients; p = 0.72), but no deaths were attributed to structural failure of the conduit. The actuarial survival for SG vs standard cohorts was not different at 5 and 10 years. Among the 274 hospital survivors, 17% SG vs 42% standard had evidence for significant conduit dysfunction at the most recent follow-up or before conduit replacement. Freedom from conduit dysfunction was significantly worse at 10 years in the standard group (58%) than in the SG group (83%, p < 0.001). Conclusions This study represents a multiinstitutional retrospective comparison of SG and standard cryopreserved allografts used in right ventricular outflow tract reconstruction in a broad range of patient ages. Our results demonstrate that at an intermediate-term to long-term follow-up, conduit dysfunction and pulmonary insufficiency and stenosis are higher among patients receiving standard allografts. We postulate that the improved durability of SG is related to decreased immunogenicity of the SG technology.
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    Perioperative and long-term outcomes of Ross versus mechanical aortic valve replacement
    (Wiley, 2022) Wenos, Chelsea D.; Herrmann, Jeremy L.; Timsina, Lava R.; Patel, Parth M.; Fehrenbacher, John W.; Brown, John W.; Medicine, School of Medicine
    Background: The ideal aortic valve replacement strategy in young- and middle-aged adults remains up for debate. Clinical practice guidelines recommend mechanical prostheses for most patients less than 50 years of age undergoing aortic valve replacement. However, risks of major hemorrhage and thromboembolism associated with long-term anticoagulation may make the pulmonary autograft technique, or Ross procedure, a preferred approach in select patients. Methods: Data were retrospectively collected for patients 18-50 years of age who underwent either the Ross procedure or mechanical aortic valve replacement (mAVR) between January 2000 and December 2016 at a single institution. Propensity score matching was performed and yielded 32 well-matched pairs from a total of 216 eligible patients. Results: Demographic and preoperative characteristics were similar between the two groups. Median follow-up was 7.3 and 6.9 years for Ross and mAVR, respectively. There were no early mortalities in either group and no statistically significant differences were observed with respect to perioperative outcomes or complications. Major hemorrhage and stroke events were significantly more frequent in the mAVR population (p < .01). Overall survival (p = .93), freedom from reintervention and valve dysfunction free survival (p = .91) were equivalent. Conclusions: In this mid-term propensity score-matched analysis, the Ross procedure offers similar perioperative outcomes, freedom from reintervention or valve dysfunction as well as overall survival compared to traditional mAVR but without the morbidity associated with long-term anticoagulation. At specialized centers with sufficient expertize, the Ross procedure should be strongly considered in select patients requiring aortic valve replacement.
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    PTFE Valved Conduits for RVPA Reconstruction: Do They Outperform Xenografts and Allografts?
    (Elsevier, 2018) Brown, John W.; Surgery, School of Medicine
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    Right Ventricular Outflow Tract Reconstruction in Infant Truncus Arteriosus: A 37-year Experience
    (Elsevier, 2020-01) Herrmann, Jeremy L.; Larson, Emilee E.; Mastropietro, Christopher W.; Rodefeld, Mark D.; Turrentine, Mark W.; Nozaki, Ryoko; Brown, John W.; Surgery, School of Medicine
    Background Multiple conduits for right ventricular outflow tract reconstruction exist, although the ideal conduit that maximizes outcomes remains controversial. We evaluated long-term outcomes and compared conduits for right ventricular outflow tract reconstruction in children with truncus arteriosus. Methods Records of patients who underwent truncus arteriosus repair at our institution between 1981 and 2018 were retrospectively reviewed. Primary outcomes included survival and freedom from catheter reintervention or reoperation. Secondary analyses evaluated the effect of comorbidity, operation era, conduit type, and conduit size. Results One hundred patients met inclusion criteria. Median follow-up time was 15.6 years (interquartile range, 5.3-22.2). Actuarial survival at 30 days, 5 years, 10 years, and 15 years was 85%, 72%, 72%, and 68%, respectively. Early mortality was associated with concomitant interrupted aortic arch (hazard ratio, 5.4; 95% confidence interval, 1.7-17.4; P = .005). Median time to surgical reoperation was 4.6 years (interquartile range, 2.9-6.8; n = 58). Right ventricle to pulmonary artery continuity was established with an aortic homograft (n = 14), pulmonary homograft (n = 41), or bovine jugular vein conduit (n = 36) in most cases. Multivariate analysis revealed longer freedom from reoperation with the bovine jugular vein conduit compared with the aortic homograft (hazard ratio, 3.1; 95% confidence interval, 1.3-7.7; P = .02) with no difference compared with the pulmonary homograft. Larger conduit size was associated with longer freedom from reoperation (hazard ratio, 0.7; 95% confidence interval, 0.6-0.9; P < .001). Conclusions The bovine jugular vein conduit is a favorable conduit for right ventricular outflow tract reconstruction in patients with truncus arteriosus. Concomitant interrupted aortic arch is a risk factor for early mortality.