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Journal and News Scan
September 16, 2018
Submitted by: Joel Dunning
Results of a clinical trial using transcatheter aortic valve replacement provided a "strong signal" that it is safe for patients with low surgical risk, potentially helping to open the way for broader use of the minimally invasive procedure, also known as TAVR.
The Low-Risk TAVR trial results, presented this week at the European Society of Cardiology Congress 2018 showed no deaths or disabling strokes within 30 days of undergoing the procedure for 200 patients with low surgical risk who participated in the study, led by MedStar Heart & Vascular Institute at MedStar Washington Hospital Center.
The results of the trial, the first of its kind, approved by the Food and Drug Administration, were published online in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
September 16, 2018
Submitted by: Joel Dunning
The highly respected Cochrane Collaboration is in crisis today at its 25th annual meeting in Edinburgh as one board member is expelled and six more resign. There are more links below but it seems to have been over a dispute regarding the independence of authors and members with regards to links to industry and pharmaceutical companies. Here is a statement from the rump governing board, released yesterday:
https://www.cochrane.org/news/message-governing-board
Peter Gøtzsche's statement: "I regret to inform you that I have been expelled from membership in the Cochrane Collaboration by the favourable vote of six of the 13 members of the governing board."
https://nordic.cochrane.org/sites/nordic.cochrane.org/files/public/uploads/moral_crisis_in_cochrane.pdf
Four other members of the board have resigned: Gerald Gartlehner, David Hammerstein, Joerg Meerpohl, and Nancy Santesso.
https://austria.cochrane.org/news/why-we-resigned
Two other members of the governing bord (Rae Lamb and Catherine Marshall) resigned because of governance issues.
https://www.cochrane.org/news/message-governing-board
This dispute has been going on for some time but the trigger may have been the critique of the Cochrane reivew of HPV vaccines (not of the vaccines themselves, but of the methods used):
https://ebm.bmj.com/content/early/2018/07/27/bmjebm-2018-111012
Here is the Cochrane editor in chief's response to the critique:
https://www.cochrane.org/news/cochranes-editor-chief-responds-bmj-ebm-article-criticizing-hpv-review
Responses to this will be published in BMJ-EBM. Earlier coverage is published in BMJ and The Lancet. There is a lot more but these are all the public facts up to now.
Cochrane HPV vaccine review: BMJ journal defends "inconvenient criticisms."
https://www.bmj.com/content/362/bmj.k3927.full
Details provided by professor Tom Jefferson, senior associate tutor.
September 14, 2018
Submitted by: Emily Robinson
Patient Care and General Interest
3D personalized simulations of patient hearts reportedly allow physicians to better locate and treat arrhythmias.
A six-year-old girl became the first patient to receive congenital open heart surgery in Mali.
Star LA Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen will need to undergo a second ablation procedure at the end of the baseball season to correct an irregular heartbeat.
A study published in CHEST suggests the prevalence of racial disparities in the United States regarding the surgical treatment of lung cancer, even in relation to participants in the National Lung Screening Trial.
Jonathan Chen has joined the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia as its new Chief of the Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery.
Research, Trials, and Funding
A new meta-analysis indicates that TAVR patients who are discharged early do not fare worse than patients with longer hospital stays.
Data from the IMPULSE registry suggests that many patients in European countries with aortic stenosis who have no related symptoms are being sent for aortic valve replacement, despite the absence of guideline-recommended indications.
A study from the Tianjin Medical University Cancer Institute in China suggests that patients with primary left lung cancer who undergo 4L lymph node dissection have more favorable outcomes than those who do not receive 4L dissection.
September 13, 2018
Submitted by: Emily Robinson
This illustrated, instructional article details a reproducible, total-arterial surgical revascularization technique which does not require cardiopulmonary bypass or any manipulation of the ascending aorta. This guide aims to improve outcomes for surgeons new to off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting (OPCABG) and goes some way to addressing concerns raised by critics of OPCABG.
September 13, 2018
Submitted by: Aristotle Protopapas
Exciting debate on the EOLIA trial!
https://www.ctsnet.org/jans/extracorporeal-membrane-oxygenation-severe-a...
September 11, 2018
Submitted by: Emily Farkas
In this Men's Journal feature, Dr. William Novick describes his beginnings in international congenital heart surgery and how the personal credo: "Screw politics, screw religion; I'm here to help" has landed him inside the operating rooms of some of the world's most hostile regions. His experiences in Iraq are guaranteed to make everyday stressors of surgery amidst suboptimal turnover time or administrative oversight seem trivial in comparison to surgery amidst mounting insurgency or ISIS.
September 11, 2018
Submitted by: Emily Robinson
In this review article, the authors focus on epigenetic regulation of gene expression, including the role of histone methylation and acetylation, deoxyribonucleic acid methylation, and noncoding ribonucleic acids in the pathogenesis of thoracic aortic aneurysms (TAA) and ascending aortic dissection (AAD). They provide a translational perspective, presenting recent data that motivate the evaluation of the potential of epigenetics to diagnose TAA and prevent ascending aortic dissection AAD.
September 11, 2018
Submitted by: Aristotle Protopapas
The Editorial Group is grateful to Dr Manos Kapetanakis for bringing to our attention their small case series on a ' lifestyle' late complication of pneumonectomy for malignancy. It will be challenging to guide the swimmer with curable central pulmonary cancer in making an informed decision on the strength of the sporadic Keeling Syndrome. The biomechanic discussion holds translational value.
September 7, 2018
Submitted by: Emily Robinson
Patient Care and General Interest
The heart rate tracker in a man’s smartwatch reportedly warned him of a major heart attack, which may have saved his life.
A surgical team in Nepal performed a rare open heart surgery on a pregnant patient with type A aortic dissection.
Drugs and Devices
A new study suggests that the HDAC inhibitor, which is currently in clinical trials for the treatment of patients with other cancers, may also be useful in treating small-cell lung cancer.
Lung cancer patients have gained access to a potentially life-extending drug in Ireland, following its approval by Ireland’s Health Services.
Research, Trials, and Funding
A recent study published in the British Medical Journal suggests that diclofenac, a commonly used painkiller, is associated with an increased risk of serious cardiovascular problems.
Research from The Francis Crick Institute indicates that a model developed via artificial intelligence is superior at predicting risk of death in patients with heart disease than models designed by medical experts.
September 7, 2018
Submitted by: Emily Robinson
Radakovic and colleagues evaluated the effectiveness of the model for end-stage liver disease (MELD) score in predicting long-term survival after pericardiectomy for constrictive pericarditis, using outcomes for 79 patients from their center. The MELD score, an established measure of liver function, was an independent predictor of 1-year mortality after pericardiectomy, and overall survival decreased as the MELD score increased. The authors conclude that assessment of liver dysfunction using the MELD score provides an additional tool to evaluate the risk of pericardiectomy for constrictive pericarditis.