Summer 2016 SURE Research Symposium
Andy Dong Paravalvular Leak Closure: Percutaneous vs. Surgical Intervention John A. Wells IV, BS, Jose F. Condado, MD, MS, Andy Dong, Norihiko Kamioka, MD, Andrew Ritter, BS, Stamatios Lerakis, MD, James Stewart, MD, Bradley Leshnower, MD, Kreton Mavromatis, MD, Robert Guyton, MD, Chandan Devireddy, MD, Jessica Forcillo, MD, Ateet Patel, MD, Vinod Thourani, MD, Peter Block, MD, Vasilis Babaliaros, MD Data comparing the treatment of paravalvular leak (PVL) with percutaneous (PI) and surgical (SI) interventions are limited. We conducted a retrospective cohort study comparing baseline characteristics, procedural details, and 1-year survival in consecutive patients at our center who had PI or SI for ≼moderate PVL from 2007-16. The primary outcome was a composite of death, reintervention for PVL, or re-admission for CHF-related symptoms at 1 year. Of 119 patients, 57 had PI and 62 had SI. Differences in baseline characteristics were limited in that SI patients were younger, had more active endocarditis, and fewer urgent procedures than PI patients. There were no differences in the primary end-point or 1-year survival between groups. The PI group had shorter postoperative stay, shorter ICU stay, and fewer readmissions at 30 days. After adjusting for age, active endocarditis, and procedure urgency, there was still a similar risk of death at 1 year between groups and a trend toward reduced 30-day readmission in the PI group. To conclude, PI for PVL closure results in comparable 1-year survival to SI, but with less resource utilization and 30-day re-hospitalization, even after adjusting for differences in baseline characteristics. Newer percutaneous techniques for PVL closure are resulting in improved outcomes for these patients. These findings support the increased implementation of PI for PVL closure at US institutions.
Yijun Dong Quantifying biofilm formation of Sinorhizobia meliloti by measuring the diffusion coefficients of polystyrene beads in the microfluidic platforms Yijun Dong and Effrosyni Seitaridou, Ph.D., Department of Physics and Astronomy, Oxford College of Emory University, Oxford, Georgia A biofilm is a highly structured community of microbes that adheres to a surface and immerses in a self-produced polymeric matrix. Biofilms, such as dental plaques and catheter infections, interact extensively with human beings. In this study, the diffusion coefficient (D) of microspheres in bacterial communities was used as a parameter to quantify bacteria growth and biofilm development of five Sinorhizobia meliloti strains (the biofilm-forming strains Rm8530expR+, Rm8530exoY, Rm9034expG, and the non-biofilm forming strains Rm1021 and Rm9030-2expA1). The experiments were conducted in microfluidic platforms. As the bacterial colonies grew over a 4day period, the motion of the microspheres was recorded via fluorescence microscopy, and the diffusion coefficients were measured every 24 hours. It was found that each S. meliloti strain displayed a unique pattern of change in diffusion coefficient over time. For a given biofilm-forming strain, the diffusion coefficients depended on the environmental or morphological states of the bacterial community. Thus, the diffusion coefficient can be used to identify different S. meliloti strains, and for the biofilm-forming strains, the diffusion coefficient is also an indicator of the stage of biofilm formation.