OBJECTIVE: It is uncertain whether mitral valve replacement is really inferior to mitral valve
repair for the treatment of chronic ischemic mitral regurgitation. This multicenter study aimed …

OPG (osteoprotegerin) has been suggested to have an important role in atherogenesis and
vascular calcification. In the present study, we have investigated serum OPG and RANKL (…

Background We compared short-term results of a hybrid versus a standard surgical bilateral
thoracoscopic approach employing radiofrequency (RF) sources in the surgical treatment of …

Pathology studies demonstrated that coronary fatty streaks develop early in life and that even
more advanced fibrous plaques are present in a proportion of adolescents. The presence …

Background— The present study was aimed at determining the impact of type 2 diabetes
mellitus (DM) on postoperative bioprosthetic structural valve degeneration. Methods and …

Background We evaluated the safety and effectiveness of the hybrid thoracoscopic endocardial
epicardial technique for the treatment of lone atrial fibrillation. Methods Between 2009 …

Aims Despite its proven efficacy, the Cox-Maze III procedure did not gain widespread acceptance
for the treatment of stand-alone atrial fibrillation (SA-AF) because of its complexity and …

Cardiovascular diseases (CVD) have a lower prevalence in women than men; although, a
higher mortality rate and a poorer prognosis are more common in women. However, there is a …

BACKGROUND: Limited information exists about the real impact of the etiology of shock on
early and late outcome after emergency surgery in acute native mitral valve endocarditis (…

Background The hybrid technique combines a mono or bilateral epicardial approach with a
percutaneous endocardial ablation in a single-step procedure. We present our early results …