MISCELLANEOUS
Infective complications of central venous catheters in cardiac surgical patients.
Dhawan B, Chaudhry R, Hote M, Bhan A, Venugopal P.
Department of Microbiology & Cardiothoracic Centre, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.
Prospective randomised study was conducted over a 24 months period in a cardiac surgical intensive care unit to determine the incidence of infection associated with multilumen venous catheters. The influence of various factors including fever, peripheral blood culture, catheter site, catheter usage for monitoring central venous pressure and/inotrope therapy on infection rates were statistically evaluated. A total of 100 catheters submitted to the Microbiology laboratory were bacteriologically examined. Forty-nine of these were inserted into upper body sites, and 51 were inserted into the femoral vein. Twenty-one were triple-lumen catheters. Catheters were removed when a central line was no longer necessary. Catheter tips were cultured by semiquantitative technique for aerobic and anaerobic bacteria. Bacteremia occurred in 3% of catheter insertions; (Enterococcus faecalis, one; Enterobacter spp. One; Acinetobacter spp., one); and catheter colonisation developed in 24%. Neither catheter colonisation nor catheter related infection were associated with any of the risk factors evaluated. Our data indicates that central venous catheters are safe to use in our patients. The inability to identify "risk factors" for catheter infection emphasise the need to maintain a high index of suspicion.
Indian Heart J. 2001 Jul-Aug;53(4):519-20.
Cardiovascular images. Right atrioventricular metastasis of hypernephroma.
Duggal B, Seth S, Kumar PK, Bhan A, Aggarwal S, Kumar S.
Department of Cardiology, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.
Indian Heart J. 2000 May-Jun;52(3):319-23.
Non-myxomatous cardiac tumours: twenty-year experience.
Mathur A, Airan B, Bhan A, Sharma R, Sampath Kumar A, Talwar KK, Chopra P, Venugopal P.
Department of Cardiothoracic & Vascular Surgery, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.
Eighty-eight patients underwent surgery for various cardiac tumours from January 1978 to June 1998 at our Institute. Seventy-seven tumours were myxomas, 10 were non-myxomatous and one was secondary cardiac tumour. Case records of the patients with non-myxomatous primary cardiac tumours and one secondary tumour were reviewed. Six of these primary tumours were benign and four, malignant. Age of the patients ranged from 26 days to 47 years. Among patients (3 children, 8 adults) with non-myxomatous primary cardiac tumours, dyspnoea on exertion was the commonest symptom and was the cause of presentation in seven out of 11 patients. Of the eight adults, six were in New York Heart Association functional class II/III and two in class IV. Echocardiographic diagnosis was possible in all the patients. Complete excision of the tumour was possible in all benign and two of the four malignant tumours. Incomplete resection was done in the secondary tumour. Of the six benign tumours, three were rhabdomyomas and one each of fibroma, haemangioma and lipoma. The malignant tumours were one each of fibrosarcoma, angiosarcoma, unclassified sarcoma and malignant mesothelioma. The secondary tumour was a malignant thymoma. Follow-up ranged from 1 to 10 years (mean 7.2 years). Of the patients with benign tumours, four out of six are alive; one patient died on the first post-operative day and one lost to follow-up. Two of the four patients with malignant cardiac tumours died, one was lost to follow-up and one is alive two years after surgery. The patient with secondary malignant thymoma to the superior vena cava was lost to follow-up three months after an uneventful recovery from surgery.
Ann Thorac Surg. 1998 Sep;66(3):810-3.
Surgical experience with intracardiac myxomas: long-term follow-up.
Bhan A, Mehrotra R, Choudhary SK, Sharma R, Prabhakar D, Airan B, Kumar AS, Venugopal P.
Cardiothoracic Centre, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi.
BACKGROUND: Myxomas are the most common benign intracardiac tumors. This report summarizes our 20-year experience with these tumors. METHODS: Sixty-six patients (25 male) with a median age of 39 years (range, 6 to 70 years) underwent surgical excision of primary or recurrent intracardiac myxomas during the years 1976 to 1996. Symptom duration ranged from 2 to 8 months. There were 55 left atrial myxomas, 10 right atrial myxomas, and 1 biatrial myxoma. Three of the patients were in one family. The surgical approach comprised complete wide excision. RESULTS: There were two early deaths. Late follow-up is 89% (57/64) complete. There was one late death, which was not due to a cardiac cause. Echocardiography at a mean follow-up of 66.9 months (range, 7 to 241 months) showed no recurrence of sporadic myxomas. However, 2 of the 3 patients with familial myxomas had recurrence. CONCLUSIONS: Surgical excision of atrial myxoma gives excellent short-term and long-term results leading to eventual cure of nonfamilial myxomas. However, familial myxomas retain a strong tendency to recur even 20 years after excision.
Indian J Gastroenterol. 1989 Oct;8(4):293-4.
Choledocho-duodenal fistula due to tuberculosis.
Chaudhary A, Bhan A, Malik N, Dilawari JB, Khanna SK.
An unusual case of caseating nodal tuberculosis causing a choledocho-duodenal fistula is reported. Anti-tubercular treatment led to closure of the fistula.