Careers in cardiothoracic surgery may affect home life in numerous ways, including relationships and interactions with family members of all ages. We aimed to gather the perspectives of partners, spouses, coparents, and adult children of women cardiothoracic surgeons to characterize the impact on family dynamics and household relationships. A survey was disseminated electronically to partners or spouses, coparents, and adult children of women cardiothoracic surgeons. Participants answered questions regarding the impacts on daily life, distribution of responsibilities, and shared long-term goals. A total of 71 participants completed the survey, including 43 (60.6%) spouses, 12 (16.9%) partners, 4 (5.6%) other coparents, and 12 (16.9%) adult children. Although more than one-half believed that having a surgeon parent positively contributed to life skills development, 71% (15 of 21) expressed concerns about the negative impact of demanding work hours on children’s emotional well-being. Partners shouldered a significant portion of responsibilities, with 55% (11 of 20) handling the majority of tasks, including child care, school activities, and medical appointments. Financial stability was a noted benefit, acknowledged by 85% (23 of 27) of partners. Analyses revealed a significant association between irregular working hours and job-related stressors on relationship tension and inadequate quality time together (P < .001). Importantly, more than one-half (58.3%; 7 of 12) of adult children recognized their cardiothoracic surgeon mothers as role models and credited these woman with teaching them important life skills. These findings highlight the need for support mechanisms for women surgeons and their families and emphasize the importance of recognizing both challenges and positive effects arising from a woman CT surgeon’s career.

Objectives: Pericardial effusion is the accumulation of excess fluid in the pericardial sac. The etiology is multi-factorial and different techniques are used for management, including subxiphoid approaches, anterior and lateral thoracotomies, video-assisted thoracic surgery (VATS), and percutaneous pericardiocentesis. We evaluate the surgical management strategies for pericardial effusion and their outcomes in this systematic review. Methods: A systematic literature review was performed to identify studies on the surgical management of pericardial effusion from inception to February 2024 using PubMed, Cochrane, and Scopus. Articles were independently assessed by two reviewers, with discrepancies resolved by the senior author. Articles were considered for inclusion if they described different pericardial effusion surgical management techniques. Baseline patient characteristics and procedural and outcome variables were extracted. Results: A total of 27 studies comprising 2773 patients were evaluated. The median age was 56.2 years (interquartile range 47–62.2). The most common etiologies of pericardial effusion were malignancy (31.0%), post-cardiac surgery (18.7%), and idiopathic (15.4%). Other causes included uremia (9.6%), infection (9.6%), and autoimmune disease (4.2%). The subxiphoid pericardial window was the most common approach (82.6%), followed by anterior and lateral thoracotomy (12.0%), and median sternotomy (0.6%). At median follow-up of 24 months, the most frequent post-procedural complications were recurrence of effusion (10.5%), arrhythmias (2.7%), and pneumonia (0.7%). Conclusions: Subxiphoid pericardial window is the most common approach for draining pericardial effusions. Prognosis depends on both the underlying etiology and the chosen drainage strategy. Treatment should be tailored to individual patients, considering patient comorbidities and the specific etiology.

The crista terminalis is a structure found in the right atrium, traversing along the posterolateral wall between the superior vena cava and the inferior vena cava. In some cases, the physiologic activity of F-18 FDG in crista terminalis can be mistakenly identified as a malignant mass, as was the situation in our case. Therefore, it is essential to have a thorough understanding of benign/physiologic uptake in normal anatomical structures and their variants when interpreting cardiac imaging. In this report, we present the case of a 79-year-old female patient who had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer. An 18F-FDG (fluorodeoxyglucose) PET/CT scan imaging assessment as part of staging revealed intense metabolic activity in the right atrium corresponding to prominent soft tissue. Subsequent assessment using transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) ultimately confirmed the diagnosis of a prominent crista terminalis, which is a normal anatomical variant.

Aim: The cardiac surgery-related ischemia-reperfusion-related oxidative stress triggers the release of cytotoxic reactive oxygen and nitrogen species, contributing to organ failure and ultimately influencing patients' short- and long-term outcomes. Selenium is an essential co-factor for various antioxidant enzymes, thereby contributing to the patients' endogenous antioxidant and anti-inflammatory defense mechanisms. Given these selenium's pleiotropic functions, we investigated the effect of a high-dose selenium-based anti-inflammatory perioperative strategy on functional recovery after cardiac surgery. Materials and methods This prospective study constituted a nested sub-study of the SUSTAIN CSX trial, a double-blinded, randomized, placebo-controlled multicenter trial to investigate the impact of high-dose selenium supplementation on high-risk cardiac surgery patients' postoperative recovery. Functional recovery was assessed by 6-min walk distance, Short Form-36 (SF-36) and Barthel Index questionnaires. Key findings: 174 patients were included in this sub-study. The mean age (SD) was 67.3 (8.9) years, and 78.7 % of the patients were male. The mean (SD) predicted 30-day mortality by the European System for Cardiac Operative Risk Evaluation II score was 12.6 % (9.4 %). There was no difference at hospital discharge and after three months in the 6-min walk distance between the selenium and placebo groups (131 m [IQR: not performed – 269] vs. 160 m [IQR: not performed – 252], p = 0.80 and 400 m [IQR: 299–461] vs. 375 m [IQR: 65–441], p = 0.48). The SF-36 and Barthel Index assessments also revealed no clinically meaningful differences between the selenium and placebo groups. Significance: A perioperative anti-inflammatory strategy with high-dose selenium supplementation did not improve functional recovery in high-risk cardiac surgery patients.