Guidelines and Expert Consensus documents aim to present all the relevant evidence on a particular issue in order to help physicians to weigh the benefits and risks of a particular diagnostic or therapeutic procedure. They should be helpful in everyday clinical decision-making.

A great number of Guidelines and Expert Consensus Documents have been issued in recent years by different organisations, the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) and by other related societies. By means of links to web sites of National Societies several hundred guidelines are available. This profusion can put at stake the authority and validity of guidelines, which can only be guaranteed if they have been developed by an unquestionable decision-making process. This is one of the reasons why the ESC and others have issued recommendations for formulating and issuing Guidelines and Expert Consensus Documents.

In spite of the fact that standards for issuing good quality Guidelines and Expert Consensus Documents are well defined, recent surveys of Guidelines and Expert Consensus Documents published in peer-reviewed journals between 1985 and 1998 have shown that methodological standards were not complied within the vast majority of cases. It is therefore of great importance that guidelines and recommendations are presented in formats that are easily interpreted. Subsequently, their implementation programmes must also be well conducted. Attempts have been made to determine whether guidelines improve the quality of clinical practice and the utilisation of health resources.

The ESC Committee for Practice Guidelines ( CPG ) supervises and coordinates the preparation of new Guidelines and Expert Consensus Documents produced by Task Forces, expert groups or consensus panels. The Committee is also responsible for the endorsement of these Guidelines and Expert Consensus Documents or statements.

The strength of evidence related to a particular diagnostic or treatment option depends on the available data: (1) level of evidence A: multiple …

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Guidelines on the diagnosis and management of pericardial diseases executive summary; The Task force on the diagnosis and management of pericardial diseases of the European society of cardiology.

2017 Comprehensive Update of the Canadian Cardiovascular Society Guidelines for the Management of Heart Failure.

BackgroundSupracondylar humerus fractures that present with a perfused, viable hand yet no pulse continue to be a source of controversy. The purpose of this study was to conduct a systematic review of the literature and perform a Pediatric Orthopaedic Society of North America (POSNA) opinion poll re

Perfused, pulseless, and puzzling: a systematic review of vascular injuries in pediatric supracondylar humerus fractures and results of a POSNA questionnaire.

Constrictive pericarditis can result from a stiff pericardium that prevents satisfactory diastolic filling. The distinction between constrictive pericarditis and other causes of heart failure, such as restrictive cardiomyopathy, is important because pericardiectomy can cure constrictive pericarditis. Diagnosis of constrictive pericarditis is based on characteristic haemodynamic and anatomical features determined using echocardiography, cardiac catheterization, cardiac MRI, and CT. The Mayo Clinic echocardiography and cardiac catheterization haemodynamic diagnostic criteria for constrictive pericarditis are based on the unique features of ventricular interdependence and dissociation of intrathoracic and intracardiac pressures seen when the pericardium is constricted. A complete pericardiectomy can restore satisfactory diastolic filling by removing the constrictive pericardium in patients with constrictive pericarditis. However, if inflammation of the pericardium is the predominant constrictive mechanism, anti-inflammatory therapy might alleviate this transient condition without a need for surgery. Early diagnosis of constrictive pericarditis is, therefore, of paramount clinical importance. An improved understanding of how constrictive pericarditis develops after an initiating event is critical to prevent this diastolic heart failure. In this Review, we discuss the aetiology, pathophysiology, and diagnosis of constrictive pericarditis, with a specific emphasis on how to differentiate this disease from conditions with similar clinical presentations.

Constrictive pericarditis—a curable diastolic heart failure

http://www.gbhn.ca/ebc/documents/CanadianCardioSocietyConsensusguidelineupdate2009_001.pdf

Canadian Cardiovascular Society Consensus Conference guidelines on heart failure, update 2009: Diagnosis and management of right-sided heart failure, myocarditis, device therapy and recent important clinical trials

We reviewed the cases of 42 consecutive patients who underwent surgery for chronic constrictive pericarditis between January 1994 and January 2002, to determine causes, surgical techniques, mortality and morbidity rates, and improvement of functional capacity. Thirty-one of our patients were men (73.8%) and 11 were women (26.2%); their average age was 39.3 years. The pericarditis was tuberculous in 24 patients (57.1%), idiopathic in 10 (23.8%), rheumatic in 4 (9.5%), uremic in 2 (4.8%), and neoplastic in 2 (4.8%). In all cases, our approach was via median sternotomy. All anterior pericardium was resected from phrenic nerve to phrenic nerve. In 4 of 18 patients with calcific pericardial plaques, we could not develop a cleavage plane, so we left the plaques in place, reducing their size and relieving constriction by means of wedge incisions that reached the epicardium. No patient required cardiopulmonary bypass due to severe calcification or adhesion, but we did perform bypass with no difficulty in 5 patients who required additional cardiac surgery The early postoperative mortality rate was 11.9% (5 patients). In the 1st postoperative month, functional capacity improved dramatically: the number of patients in New York Heart Association functional class IV moved from 18 (preoperatively) to 1; in class III, from 20 to 6; in class II, from 4 to 13; and in class I, from 0 to 22. We recommend the median sternotomy approach for chronic constrictive pericarditis and consider cardiopulmonary bypass safe to use in indicated cases.

Recent surgical experience in chronic constrictive pericarditis.

We performed this retrospective study to analyze our strategies for managing and surgically treating brachial artery injuries.

Fifty-seven patients with a total of 58 traumatic brachial artery injuries underwent surgery at our institution, from August 1996 through November 2004.

Fifty-four patients were male and 3 were female (age range, 7 to 75 years; mean, 29.4 years). Forty-four of the patients had penetrating injuries (18 had stab wounds; 16, window glass injuries; and 10, industrial accidents), 10 had blunt trauma injuries (traffic accidents), and 3 had gunshot injuries. Fourteen patients (24.6%) had peripheral nerve injury. All patients underwent Doppler ultrasonographic examination.

The repair of the 58 arterial injuries involved end-to-end anastomosis for 32 injuries (55.2%), reverse saphenous vein graft interpositional grafts for 18 (31%), and primary repair for 8 (13.8%). Venous continuity was achieved in 11 (84.6%) of 13 patients who had major venous injuries. Nine of the 57 patients (15.8%) required primary fasciotomy. Follow-up showed that 5 of the 14 patients with peripheral nerve injury had apparent disabilities due to nerve injury. One patient underwent amputation. There were no deaths.

We believe that good results can be achieved in patients with brachial artery injuries by use of careful physical examination, Doppler ultrasonography, and restoration of viability with vascular repair and dbridement of nonviable tissues. Traumatic neurologic injury frequently leads to disability of the extremities.

Traumatic brachial artery injuries.

Protective Effects of Levosimendan and Iloprost on Lung Injury Induced by Limb Ischemia-Reperfusion: A Rabbit Model

Axillary artery transection after shoulder dislocation

Iliac vein aneurysm is a rare vascular abnormality. It has been reported as a primary aneurysm of unknown cause, or, when a cause could be identified, as a secondary iliac vein aneurysm. Occasionally, iliac vein aneurysm develops in association with distal arteriovenous fistula. Although venous aneurysms occur most commonly in the neck and central thoracic veins, they also have been reported in the visceral veins and the extremities.

Herein, we present the case of a 34-year-old man in whom a giant external-iliac-vein aneurysm was incidentally found during the investigation of a post-traumatic femoral arteriovenous fistula. The aneurysm was surgically resected, the iliac vein was reconstructed by means of lateral venorrhaphy, and the patient had an uneventful, complete recovery. We discuss the origin of the aneurysm and our choice of surgical techniques.

Kazim Ergunes

Papers

Recent surgical experience in chronic constrictive pericarditis.

Traumatic brachial artery injuries.

Protective Effects of Levosimendan and Iloprost on Lung Injury Induced by Limb Ischemia-Reperfusion: A Rabbit Model

Axillary artery transection after shoulder dislocation

Surgical treatment of a giant external-iliac-vein aneurysm in a patient with a post-traumatic femoral arteriovenous fistula.