Eyal Nachum

Sheba Medical Center | sheba · Cardiac Surgery

Introduction Limited availability of suitable donor hearts remains a challenge to pediatric heart transplantation, contributing to waitlist mortality. Controlled donation after circulatory death (DCD) has demonstrated success in adults. Early series of pediatric DCD heart transplantation using cold storage alone reported significant early mortality...

Background Ethnicity may affect graft longevity and recipient mortality after heart transplantation (HTx). We hypothesized that differences in ethnic origin between Arabs and Jews undergoing HTx in Israel may contribute to differences in long-term outcomes. Methods The study population comprised all 254 patients who underwent HTx between 1991 and...

Aim: We aimed to study the implications of pre-transplantation time intervals on HT outcomes. Methods: Brain injury time (BIT) was defined as the period from the donor brain injury to brain death declaration. Brain death interval (BDI) was defined as the period from brain death to application of an aortic cross-clamp during donor heart procureme...

Purpose Heart transplantation (HT) is uniquely associated with potential hormonal thyroid therapy implications, viz.: (1) Cardiac surgery is associated with a reduction in T3 levels (2) Administration of T3/T4 to the brain-dead organ donor is associated with increased recovery of transplantable hearts (3) Thyroid hormones directly influence myocard...

Purpose Obesity and overweight have become a global epidemic and are associated with an increased risk for cardiovascular disease. Immunosuppressive medications carry the risk of weight gain and further challenge heart transplantation (HT) patients. Since both fat mass (FM) and fat-free mass (FFM), each with its discrete features, contribute to tot...

Background: Heart transplantation (HT) is the treatment of choice for patients with end-stage heart failure. The HT unit at the Sheba Medical Center is the largest of its kind in Israel. Objectives: To evaluate the experience of HT at a single center, assess trends over 3 decades, and correlate with worldwide data. Methods: Between 1990 and 20...

Background The impact of donor‐recipient ethnic matching on heart transplantation (HT) has been poorly studied with inconclusive results. We aimed to investigate the impact of ethnic matching on HT outcomes in Israeli multi‐ethnic patients. Methods The study comprised 168 patients who underwent HT from 1990‐2017. Patients and their donors were eth...

Background Although surgery is the sole therapeutic option for patients with constrictive pericarditis (CP), reports on high postoperative mortality rates have led to hesitant surgery referral. The aim of this study was to report the short- and long-term outcomes of surgical pericardiectomy (SP) from a large tertiary center. Methods Between January...

Background: Postpericardiotomy syndrome (PPS) is characterized by pleuro-pericardial inflammation, which occurs in patients undergoing surgical procedures involving the pleura, pericardium, or both. The syndrome is considered to be immune mediated. However, its pathogenesis is not fully understood. It has previously been demonstrated that the Medi...

Background: Prolonged life expectancy has increased the number of elderly high risk patients referred for surgical aortic valve replacement (AVR). These referred high risk patients may benefit from sutureless bioprosthesis procedures which reduce mortality and morbidity. Objectives: To present our initial experience with sutureless aortic bioprothe...

Patients with Marfan syndrome are referred for cardiac surgery due to root aneurysm with or without aortic valve regurgitation. Because these patients are young and frequently present with normal-appearing aortic cusps, valve sparing is often recommended. However, due to the genetic nature of the disease, the durability of such surgery remains unce...