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Journal and News Scan

Source: NBC News
Author(s): Kaitlin Sullivan and Kate Snow

A surgical team at Northwestern Medicine has successfully performed two double lung transplants in patients with stage 4 lung cancer. Their method evolved from treatment of COVID-19 patients who needed double lung transplants. This technique allows both lungs to be replaced at once to avoid the spread of cancer from the diseased lung to the donor lung.

Source: Interactive Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery
Author(s): Hugo Issa, Mimi Deng, Kenza Rahmouni, Vincent Chan

Surgical mitral valve repair is the gold standard treatment for mitral regurgitation due to degenerative disease. Repair is performed on the arrested heart, meaning that assessments of success can only be made after removal of cardiopulmonary bypass. The saline test remains an integral part of repair, however, its hemodynamics have not been evaluated. The authors present a simple technique to quantify the saline test. The authors note that the saline test may be less informative in cases where the maximum left ventricle diastolic pressure is low.

Source: Medical Device News Magazine
Author(s): Medical Device News Magazine Staff
After pioneering the development of minimally invasive lung transplant surgery, a team at Cedars-Sinai hospital has now performed a groundbreaking robotic-assisted lung transplant. This technique allows for a shorter recovery time for the patient and better visualization and precision for the surgeons.
Source: European Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery
Author(s): Max Shin, Amit Iyengar, Mark R Helmers, John J Kelly, Cindy Song, David Rekhtman, Marisa Cevasco
In 2018, the United States network for organ sharing modified its heart allocation policy. Against a background of declining heart-lung transplantation, the authors investigated the effect of the new policy on outcomes for combined heart-lung transplant patients. A total of 511 adult patients were included between 2012 and 2021. Procedures at high-volume centers were associated with decreased mortality. The authors concluded that the policy change has improved waitlist outcomes. Despite increases in both ischemic times and ECMO use, early survival post-transplant was unchanged.
Source: The Annals of Thoracic Surgery
Author(s): Samuel J. Macalister, MD, Edward Buratto, MBBS, PhD, Phillip S. Naimo, MD, Xin Tao Ye, MD, Nicholas Fulkoski, Robert G. Weintraub, MBBS Christian P. Brizard, MD, and Igor E. Konstantinov, MD, PhD
This study reviewed records to establish how primary complete repair of pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect (PA-VSD) compares with staged repair. It was found that the survival rates of both methods are high, although the use of smaller shunts has resulted in earlier complete repair and is associated with increased risk of morbidity.
Source: Medpage Today
Author(s): Sophie Putka

A retrospective study found that women continue to have a higher mortality and morbidity rate after CABG compared with men. This has historically been the case, as women are often referred to surgery later than men and have more cardiovascular risk factors. Researchers emphasize that since this trend has not changed, there needs to be greater action to increase the quality of care for women who require CABG surgery. Read the original study, published in JAMA Surgery.

Source: The Annals of Thoracic Surgery
Author(s): Nathan M. Mollberg, DO, Chang He, MS, Melissa J. Clark, MSN, RN, Kiran Lagisatty, MD, Robert Welsh, MD, and Andrew C. Chang, MD, for the Michigan Society of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgeons Quality Collaborative

This study aimed to determine risk factors that lead to hospital readmission after lobectomy. Researchers found that patients experiencing postoperative complications are at increased risk for readmission, while a shorter time between discharge and follow-up is associated with a decreased risk of readmission.

Source: European Journal of Cardiothoracic Surgery
Author(s): Philip Kottmann, Julie Cleuziou, Julia Lemmer, Katja Eildermann, Keti Vitanova, Maria von-Stumm, Luisa Lehmann, Jurgen Horer, Peter Ewert, Matthias Sigler, Cordula M Wolf

Neointimal hyperplasia may affect systemic-to-pulmonary shunt failure in this group of infants. The histopathology of removed shunts was analyzed. Neointimal hyperplasia and shunt stenosis were correlated and significantly greater in the group with early interventions and shunt revision. Smaller shunt sizes and lower aspirin dosage were associated with increased neointimal proliferation.

Source: World Journal for Pediatric and Congenital Heart Surgery
Author(s): Fox JC, Carvajal HG, Wan F, Canter MW, Merritt TC, Eghtesady P.

Transcatheter pulmonary valve replacement (TPVR) carries an increased risk of infective endocarditis. This study used data from the Pediatric Health Information System for the period 2010–2020. Ninety-eight hospital admissions for infective endocarditis were identified for sixty-eight patients. For index admissions, 78 percent were treated medically and 22 percent surgically. The need for surgical intervention increased with increasing need for readmission. Mortality was 4.3 percent overall. Concern was expressed that reliance on medical therapy may delay surgery, which in this cohort was more successful overall.

Source: Healio
Author(s): Regina Schaffer

A new study found that patients who undergo TAVR with concomitant chronic total occlusion lesions are more likely to experience complications from the procedure, but they do not have a higher risk of mortality. The results suggest that if a patient is otherwise a candidate for TAVR, their CTO status should not exclude them from the surgery.

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