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Journal and News Scan
Does Surgical Ablation Energy Source Affect Long-Term Success of the Concomitant Cox Maze Procedure?
June 29, 2017
Submitted by: Claire Vernon
Ad and colleagues compared outcomes in patients receiving a Cox Maze (CM) procedure with cryothermal energy only or with cryothermal and bipolar radiofrequency, with 298 patients in each group. CM performed with either energy source proved safe and effective, with the authors evaluating perioperative outcomes, rhythm status, survival, and clinical events. Cryothermal ablation alone was associated with reduced perioperative stroke incidence and higher rates of sinus rhythm out to 60 months follow-up, findings that the authors highlight as important for future study.
June 28, 2017
Submitted by: Claire Vernon
The authors report on 38 patients who underwent bilateral lung transplantation for severe pulmonary hypertension with routine application of prophylactic postoperative veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO). These patients’ survival up to 5 years was not different from patients who received lung transplants for other causes, and cardiac parameters were improved 12 months after transplantation. In consequence, the authors recommend regular postoperative use of ECMO in this patient population.
June 27, 2017
Submitted by: Claire Vernon
Mehaffey and colleagues evaluated major adverse events in 118 cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) patients who had received methylene blue (MB) within 72 hours of CPB. Although these patients had high incidence of comorbidities and postoperative complications, MB administration in the operating room was associated with reduced operative mortality rate and incidence of adverse events compared to MB administration in the intensive care unit.
June 27, 2017
Submitted by: Claire Vernon
Balsam and colleagues present two cases of Mycobacterium chimaera infection following implantation of left ventricular assist devices, likely linked to bioaerosols from heater-cooler units used during surgery. Both cases were milder than has been reported following valvular and aortic graft surgery, but long-term sterilization of the internal hardware is unlikely. The authors also discuss their local practice changes that aim to prevent future cases.
June 26, 2017
Submitted by: Claire Vernon
Patient Care
A cardiac surgeon in Mumbai, India, is raising money to fund bypass surgeries, angioplasties, and angiographies for people who cannot afford them.
A boy in Hong Kong receives heart transplant after 282 days on a mechanical pump.
TAVI is now an option for patients in Saskatchewan, Canada, and the first transcatheter pulmonary valve replacement in West Virginia, USA, is performed at WVU.
Doctors in Al Ain, UAE, call for more facilities to offer cardiac surgery.
Drugs and Devices
The US FDA used data from the STS/ACC Transcatheter Valve Therapy Registry to expand the approved use of a Edwards Lifesciences’ Sapien 3 TAVR to valve-in-valve procedures. The US FDA also cleared FlowGlide Technology, the latest generation of technology for chest drainage after CT surgery from company ClearFlow, Inc.
MedReleaf Corp. in Canada is now the first ICH-GMP certified medical cannabis producer.
Stryker Corporation is expanding into surgical imaging technologies with its purchase of Novadaq Technologies.
Research Trials and Funding
Tilray will support a Phase II trial on the efficacy of vaporized cannabis in COPD at McGill University in Montreal, Canada.
June 26, 2017
Submitted by: Claire Vernon
The authors analyzed long-term recurrent aortic regurgitation (AR) in 249 patients with aortic insufficiency and reimplantation procedure. Of the cusp repair techniques evaluated in the analysis, only free margin reinforcement and patch repair influenced valve durability, the former positively and the latter negatively. Proportional hazard analysis also identified preoperative cusp prolapse as a significant risk factor for recurrent AR.
June 24, 2017
Submitted by: Joel Dunning
Quite simply AMAZING !
I had no idea there were so many robotic companies out there.
This doesn't even include Titan - www.titanmedicalinc.com, or Medicaroid www.medicaroid.com
Innovation is in overdrive at the moment !! I liked robotic company 5,8, and 11 best in this link. How about you ?
June 24, 2017
Submitted by: Joel Dunning
Please make sure that you are aware of this recall for testing of System CS100, CS100i and CS300 Intra-aortic Balloon Pumps for electrical testing.
Overall Action for User
Patients receiving IABP therapy are in critical condition and sudden interruption of therapy could result in unsafe, hemodynamic instability. Maquet/Getinge indicates that the risk-benefit of using an affected CS100i, CS100 or CS300 IABP should be assessed by the medical team for each patient when no alternative IABP or alternative therapy is available. Please adhere to the following instructions when using affected devices as mentioned in the link provided
June 22, 2017
Submitted by: Claire Vernon
Hiraoka and colleagues compared outcomes of 337 patients receiving conventional total aortic arch repair to 58 patients receiving hybrid aortic arch repair at a single cardiovascular institution. The authors observed no differences in operative or 30-day death. Five-year survival rate was similar between the groups despite stroke occurring more frequently in the hybrid repair group.
Accompanying commentaries from Atkins and Szeto, and De Santo discuss the comparison of a standard technique to a one performed on a higher-risk population of patients:
Hybrid aortic arch surgery: Have we reached clinical equipoise? Marvin D. Atkins, Wilson Y. Szeto.
Hybrid aortic arch repair: Facts and hints beyond the statistical truth. Luca Salvatore De Santo.
June 22, 2017
Submitted by: Aristotle Protopapas
The Amsterdam Investigator-initiated Absorb Strategy All-comers Trial report safety concerns identified in early results for the bioresorbable scaffold drug eluting stent. The scaffold group experienced significantly higher rates of device thrombosis than the stent group (3.5% vs 0.9%; p<0.001). It seems that no stent, no matter how sophisticated and costly it may be, will ever match arterial coronary bypass in long term outcomes.