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Journal and News Scan
July 20, 2022
Submitted by: Mary Hammon
A year ago, a twelve-year-old girl became the youngest person in Canada undergo surgery to receive a total artificial heart. The device, which can essentially replace an entire human heart for a limited period of time, has only been used fifty-eight times in Canada to date. After receiving the device and a subsequent heart transplant a few months later, the patient has ongoing challenges but is now able to do many of the activities most kids her age do, including swimming four times a week.
July 15, 2022
Submitted by: Jessica Luc
In this article, the authors provide an expert opinion on the developments, current landscape, and direction in which ex vivo lung perfusion will undertake.
July 15, 2022
Submitted by: Jessica Luc
In this article, Sinha et al performed a cross-sectional survey evaluating gender-related differences in congenital heart surgeon practice. They found that there were significant differences in the rate of discouragement for women to pursue a career in congenital heart surgery, as well as lower starting salaries and ranks.
July 15, 2022
Submitted by: Jessica Luc
In this article, the authors provide a step-by-step illustrated guide to performing transcatheter edge-to-edge mitral valve repair (MitraClip). This is a key article that will be of benefit to all learning to perform MitraClip.
July 15, 2022
Submitted by: Jessica Luc
In this article from Innovations, the authors highlight 7 pillars of key advice in performing the frozen elephant trunk separated by the following key areas:
1. Treatment of complex aortic pathologies with frozen elephant trunk
2. Frozen elephant trunk in acute aortic dissections
3. Frozen elephant trunk in chronic aortic dissection
4. Surgical technique
5. Sizing
6. Frozen elephant trunk graft choice
7. Managing in-stent thrombosis complications
July 15, 2022
Submitted by: Mary Hammon
The modified Blalock-Taussig-Thomas shunt is an important palliation for patients with insufficient pulmonary blood flow associated with congenital heart disease. This study found increased morbidity and mortality tied to smaller shunt size, smaller shunted pulmonary artery size, surgical approach, and site of proximal shunt anastomosis.
July 15, 2022
Submitted by: Mary Hammon
A group of cardiac surgeons and general cardiologists critical of what they believe is biased data in coronary and structural heart disease has founded a group called the International Evidence Grading Research Initiative Targeting Transparency and Data Quality (INTEGRITTY). The group aims to shed light on how certain clinical trials are conducted, including the recent ACC/AHA/SCAI guidelines for coronary revascularization and clinical trial on the treatment of left main disease, and how conflicts of interest can skew the data and negatively impact patient care.
July 13, 2022
Submitted by: Tom C. Nguyen
This video provides a short glimpse of the Day in the Life of a cardiothoracic surgeon.
July 11, 2022
Submitted by: Aristotle Protopapas
There could be some translational value for cardiovascular surgical practice from this prospective cardiovascular health study. The mechanistic link warrants further investigation and interpretation.
July 8, 2022
Submitted by: Mary Hammon
Adequate postoperative pain management after thoracic surgery is crucial to prevent of respiratory complications, but use of morphine can be problematic for some patients. This study evaluated the impact of opioid-free anesthesia (OFA) in decreasing morphine consumption and postoperative pain after video-assisted thoracic surgery or robotic-assisted thoracic surgery. Findings showed use of OFA to be safe and effective when used for this purpose.