An On-line TextBOOK IN Cardiothoracic Surgery- IN Progress!

This is a link to a project under construction.  We are trying to create a textbook articulating simple, reproducible technique in cardiac surgery.  The project will harness the power of "linked thinking" and digital publishing.

This project, while exciting, is very much in its infancy.  Please submit feedback through the contact form of this website.

The textbook can be found at Outlines of Technique in Cardiac Surgery

The welcome page of the Textbook website is reproduced below.

Welcome

The focus of this textbook is on technique in the execution of cardiac surgery.

Technique, when it is explicitly taught, is often taught dogmatically, but represents unseen evolution. To have persisted, it must have had an advantage.  If that advantage can be understood, it can be communicated, and can be compared to alternatives.

The operation is a sequence of techniques performed in the proper order.  The sequence is a technique in and of itself.  Different circumstances will make it advantageous to alter that sequence.

Understanding the sequence favored by one surgeon facilitates learning the entirely different sequence preferred by another.  It gives a framework for comparison.

As much of what is contained herein is a matter of personal preference, I would like to keep things personal.[^c]

My intention is to build out the components of outlines I have created for some common index procedures in cardiac surgery.  The modularity of this approach will facilitate the construction of these outlines.  Sternotomy, for example, does not typically vary all that much from the traditional bypass grafting to the traditional mitral (leaving aside, for the moment, the minimally invasive approaches).  The modularity will hopefully permit exploration of alternative approaches:  the aortic valve replacement performed by one surgeon may have a portion done differently, and therefore, more than one module will exist for that portion.  The modularity will permit evolution.  The routines of cardioplegia will be different for traditional blood cardioplegia to Del Nido.  Readers may wish to provide criticism or describe alternative methods.  Where appropriate, their editorial comments can be incorporated.  Readers may request clarification verbally, or in the form of additional diagrams, and the modules will be improved.  As time goes by, I may have the opportunity to supplement descriptions and diagrams with movies or pictures of procedures.

As time goes by, "preference cards" and descriptions of preferred equipment and tools will be incorporated into the website.

This platform uses the Obsidian note environment, which harnesses the power of "linked thinking" and digital publication.  Readers are encouraged to explore this new paradigm of knowledge management.  It will reward their attention.

R. Anthony Perez-Tamayo, MD, PhD
Editor, Author
Technical Outlines in Cardiac Surgery
Professor
Department of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery
Loyola University Health System
Section Chief
Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery
Hines Veterans Administration Hospital

Table of Contents

Contents
-  A Coronary Anastomosis Primer
    - This is an informal exploration of a variety of concepts related to technique in bypass grafting.  It is a good place to start exploring the website.
Outlines
    - The following are under construction at very preliminary stages
    - Technical Outline of Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting
    - Technical Outline of Aortic Valve Replacement
    - Technical Outline of Transcatheter Aortic Valve Replacement
    - Technical Outline of Mitral Valve Replacement
    - Technical Outline of Mitral Valve Repair
    - Technical Outline of Repair of Aortic Dissection
List of Contributors