Journal and News Scan

Nelson and colleagues analyzed data from The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Congenital Heart Surgery Database on 3446 aortic valve replacement procedures performed between 2000 and 2016. The authors found that practice patterns varied widely, though autograft usage was higher at high-volume centers. Additionally, homografts were found to have higher rates of mortality and major complications than other valve types.

Regionalization of care for complex problems remains an open question in most countries. This review demonstrated that, for high risk cancer operations in the US, the Leapfrog group's volume standards did not differentiate between surgical mortality outcomes for lung and esophageal cancer surgery. However, differences were evident comparing lowest and highest volume quintiles for operative mortality associated with these procedures. The percentage of hospitals meeting Leapfrog volume criteria increased for lung cancer surgery but recently decreased for esophageal cancer surgery; the latter finding is a reversal of an organic trend towards regionalization of esophageal cancer care over the prior decade and is of concern.

The translational value for cardiac transplantation of this prospective multi-centre clinical study of vasodilation in amyloidosis remains to be evaluated.

Colleagues from Italy and Germany compared the short- and mid-term outcomes of the straight tube graft (David-I) and the Valsalva graft in 232 patients undergoing an isolated David procedure. The two groups did not differ significantly in 30-day mortality (1% vs 2%), late survival (p = 0.799), or valve-related reoperation (p = 0.241). Although with more cusp repairs (22% vs 4%), patients with Valsalva graft showed a higher incidence of aortic insufficiency ≥ II° after surgery (17% vs 0%) and at follow-up (39% vs 22%). This study also identified bicuspid aortic valve (OR = 3.435, p = 0.005) and postoperative aortic insufficiency ≥ II° (OR = 5.988, p < 0.001) as risk factors for reoperation on the aortic valve.