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Journal and News Scan
May 11, 2017
Submitted by: Ruben Osnabrugge
With the 50th birthday of CABG, the New England Journal of Medicine published this nice article on the history and development of CABG.
May 11, 2017
Submitted by: Aristotle Protopapas
I was moved by this editorial on global health matters in a daily British newspaper by an academic medical colleague, written in response to anticipated changes in the leadership of the World Health Organisation. It is perhaps time for us surgeons to augment our administrative participation in global healthcare.
May 8, 2017
Submitted by: Joel Dunning
Researchers conducted a study, published in Nature, to investigate whether this genetic diversity could be tracked clinically. Using blood samples from 96 of the 100 patients, they demonstrated that the patchwork of genetic faults present in non-small cell lung cancer, could be monitored using bits of DNA in the blood that have broken off from a tumour (circulating tumour DNA).
They then analysed blood taken from 24 patients after surgery, and accurately identified more than 90 per cent of those destined to relapse – up to a year before clinical imaging could confirm the disease’s return. This finding opens up numerous opportunities for new drug trials to try to prevent lung cancer relapse. Monitoring benefit from chemotherapy after surgery is not currently possible as there are often no clinical signs of disease.
see original article here https://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaap/ncurrent/full/nature22364.html
May 6, 2017
Submitted by: Joel Dunning
He went to Stanford University and got the surgery. Shortly after, Coleman said he wanted to play football again.
“Right after surgery, I put two and two together,” Coleman said. “If I’m fixed, I can play football again, right?”
He talked to his surgeon and cardiologist, who both gave him their blessing. Then he talked to the coach at his high school, who welcomed him. Just a few months after surgery, Coleman was on the football field. He played the final two regular-season games and four playoff games. He returned an interception 26 yards for a touchdown in his first game.
May 6, 2017
Submitted by: Joel Dunning
Two European physicians attempting to attend the American Association for Thoracic Surgery meeting in Boston last weekend -- the organization's Centennial -- were turned away by U.S. Customs agents because of their recent travel to certain Middle Eastern countries.
Rock-star thoracic surgeon Pieter Kappetein, MD, PhD, of Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam in the Netherlands, and Bernard Eisenmann, MD, former chief of cardiovascular surgery at University Hospital Strasbourg in France, were stopped at U.S. Customs in Dublin and Montreal, respectively, and had to book new flights back to Europe.
May 1, 2017
Submitted by: Joel Dunning
Intuitive have announced the availability of a new robotic called the Da Vinci X. This will have all the technology of the Latest Xi but at lower cost.
Interesting development as Medtronic and Ethicon both prepare to bring their robotic platforms to the market in the coming months.
Also very interstingly although the Da Vinci X has a CE mark, it is not 510(k) cleared so not for sale in the USA, to it looks like this is specifically targetted to the Non-US market which is much more cost conscious.
April 29, 2017
Submitted by: Aristotle Protopapas
A succinct update relevant to all arrhythmia and heart failure surgeons. The concept of atrial cardiomyopathy is particularly stimulating.
April 28, 2017
Submitted by: Joel Dunning
Stephen Westaby speaks out on the BBC about the state of cardiac surgery in the NHS in the UK in 2017
April 23, 2017
Submitted by: Marco Nardini
Check out this focused issue by JOVS with partecipation of major experts from the globe. Is subxiphoid approach the future for lung resections?
In the last few years there is a rediscovered and enthusiastic interest for subxiphoid incisions to get access to the pleural cavities. In this focused issue edited by Giuseppe Aresu we learn about the state of the art and future perspectives.
April 18, 2017
Submitted by: Mark Ferguson
The authors examined characteristics of patients undergoing initial palliation for hypoplastic left heart syndrome (HLHS) who remained hospitalized and who required superior cavopulmonary anastomosis (SCPA) during the same hospitalization. 6% of nearly 5400 infants required SCPA during the same admission. A number of conditions/complications were identified as being associated with the need for SCPA. Patients who underwent an initial RV to PA shunt were less likely to require hospitalization until stage 2.