Development of an Open-source Low-cost Pressure Myography and Cardiac Flow Simulator, HemoLens, for Mechanical Characterization of Native and Engineered Blood Vessels.

Pressure myography, the standard for assessing vascular mechanics and vasoreactivity, is costly ($40,000+), has low throughput, and is limited to static fluid flow. Here, we developed HemoLens, an open-source 3D-printed pressure myography system for ~$700. HemoLens features compact micromanipulators, incremental in-line pressure control, physiological temperature regulation, and modular pulse pressure control between normotensive and hypertensive levels.

Small cuts, big questions: the impact of incision length in minimally invasive robotic cardiac surgery.

Introduction: Evidence on incision lengths for ports and cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) cannulation in robotic cardiac surgery is limited. This study aimed to assess these metrics and influencing factors.

Methods: 204 patients underwent robotic mitral valve repair (MVR) (54.

Advancing extrusion-based embedded 3D bioprinting via scientific, engineering, and process innovations.

Extrusion-based embedded 3D bioprinting, where bioinks and biomaterials are extruded within a support bath, has greatly expanded the achievable tissue architectures and complexity of biologic constructs that can be fabricated. However, significant scientific, engineering, and process-related challenges remain to recreate the full anatomic structure and physiologic function required for many therapeutic applications. This perspective explores the future advances in extrusion-based embedded 3D bioprinting that could address these challenges, paving the way for clinical translation of bioprinted tissues.

Development and Validation of a Low-Cost, High-Fidelity Simulation Model for Robotic Internal Mammary Artery Harvest Using the da Vinci Xi Robot.

Objective: We created and validated a low-cost simulation model for robotic internal mammary artery (IMA) takedown.

Methods: The simulation model utilized a calf fetus thorax cavity stented open internally and secured to a table. The simulation model was validated at a 2-day robotic cardiac surgery workshop.

The cone repair allows right ventricle rehabilitation with excellent tricuspid valve function following the Starnes procedure.

Background: We present a case series of right ventricle (RV) rehabilitation after the Starnes procedure in patients with Ebstein anomaly (EA), applying the Cone repair of the tricuspid valve (TV) to achieve 2-ventricle or 1.5-ventricle physiology.

Methods: This is a retrospective database analysis from 2 institutions in North America.

Impact of the 2018 change in US allocation policy on adults with congenital heart disease.

Background: The US adult heart allocation policy was changed on October 18, 2018. This study aims to evaluate its impact on orthotopic heart transplantation (OHT) for adults with congenital heart disease (ACHD).

Methods: The United Network for Organ Sharing database was used to perform 2 comparisons: waitlist outcomes among listed ACHD candidates, and post-transplant outcomes in those transplanted.

Predicting benign, preinvasive, and invasive lung nodules on computed tomography scans using machine learning.

Objective: The study objective was to investigate if machine learning algorithms can predict whether a lung nodule is benign, adenocarcinoma, or its preinvasive subtype from computed tomography images alone.

Methods: A dataset of chest computed tomography scans containing lung nodules was collected with their pathologic diagnosis from several sources. The dataset was split randomly into training (70%), internal validation (15%), and independent test sets (15%) at the patient level.

Navigation bronchoscopy: A new tool for pulmonary infections.

Infections remain a common cause of lung nodules, masses, and cavities. Safe tissue sampling is required to establish a diagnosis, differentiate between malignant and infectious causes, and provide microbiological material for characterization and sensitivity analysis. Tissue samples could be obtained bronchoscopically, percutaneously, or through surgical biopsy.