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Journal and News Scan
May 18, 2018
Submitted by: Claire Vernon
Patient Care
Three-dimensional heart models help patients and families understand congenital heart defects at a hospital in Seattle, Washington, USA.
A man received his master’s diploma from Indiana University Northwest in his hospital room, as graduation day occurred while he was receiving care to avoid rejection of his heart transplant.
Drugs and Devices
Venus Medtech, a Chinese heart valve producer, announced an equity investment from DCP Capital, which is expected to support the upgrading and internationalization of Venus Medtech’s valves.
Research, Trials, and Funding
Botulinum toxin injected into epicardial fat pads during coronary artery bypass surgery might provide long-term suppression of atrial fibrillation, say researchers from Russia who presented the results from their pilot study at the 2018 Heart Rhythm Society Meeting.
Acetaminophen taken immediately following heart surgery was associated with lower rates of acute kidney injury in infants and children, say researchers from Tennessee, USA, in a retrospective study published in JAMA Pediatrics.
Researchers in Boston, Massachusetts, report that chemotherapy may help deter recurrence of pulmonary vein stenosis after children undergo catheterization or surgery for the condition.
Findings that will be presented at the upcoming American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting suggest that low-dose computed tomography scan screening for lung cancer in high-risk smokers remains very limited around the USA.
May 16, 2018
Submitted by: Claire Vernon
Sachdeva and Lanuti discuss the present status of cervical exenteration, a radical procedure utilized in the management of locally invasive cancers of the trachea, esophagus, and thyroid, as well as in recurrent tumors at the site of a tracheal stoma. Both a written review and video presentation are provided. Given the extensiveness of the dissection, resection, and subsequent reconstruction in this procedure, great care must be employed to select candidates who are the most likely to benefit. Long term outcomes of cervical exenteration have been reported to be equivalent to total laryngectomy. Anastomotic leak, tracheal stoma dehiscence, erosion of the innominate artery, and flap necrosis are all established risks, and long term survival is ultimately dependent upon the extensiveness of the underlying disease process.
May 16, 2018
Submitted by: Aristotle Protopapas
The authors present a case vignette. Particularly interesting is the statement on reliability of sonography to assess the oval fossa, especially for placing confidence in echocardiographic screening of cardiac donors.
May 15, 2018
Submitted by: Aristotle Protopapas
A sober editorial on a murine model of induced cardiac failure, which highlights the challenges of translating animal omics to humans
May 14, 2018
Submitted by: Claire Vernon
Thomas and colleagues performed a retrospective analysis of patient information from the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program database to identify risk factors for postdischarge venous thromboembolism (VTE) following lung resection. Although VTE events occurred in only 1.6% of patients (234 of 14,308), the authors found that 44% of all VTE events occurred after discharge, and older age, obesity, pneumonectomy, and prolonged operative time were all independent predictors of postdischarge VTE. They conclude that prophylactic management of postdischarge VTE, particularly for patients with high risk, should be included in guidelines for postoperative VTE management.
May 13, 2018
Submitted by: Joel Dunning
When she was four months old, doctors determined that Bryce would need heart surgery as soon as possible. Though she was in the 50th percentile for weight when she was born, Bryce had sunk to below zero.
Her cardiologist brought in Khanh H. Nguyen of Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital who performs a unique form of open-heart surgery, where the incision is made under the armpit, rather than the traditional method of sternotomy. Dr Nguyen started using this different approach 14 years ago.
May 13, 2018
Submitted by: Joel Dunning
This is a fabulous video of a miniAVR with a right thoracotomy that is only 3 cm in size and hardly could fit the valve through it!
Professor Yan used a series of specialised instruments, a corknot, and an endoscope to achieve this fantastic result.
Well done.
May 11, 2018
Submitted by: Claire Vernon
Patient Care
The Doodle Factory, an Egyptian brand that combines art and charity, has launched a new collection to fund heart surgeries for two children.
Premium cigar makers in the US are launching a second bid to convince the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to exempt their products from a previous expansion of tobacco regulations.
The cardiac surgery program at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences has been suspended while the program recruits a replacement for its lead surgeon, who retired.
Drugs and Devices
The US FDA has approved Andexxa from Portola, an antidote for factor Xa inhibiting blood thinners, and the company expects to launch the drug in June.
The US FDA is seeking permanent injunctions against two stem cell clinics for deviations from good manufacturing practices and for marketing stem cell products to patients without FDA approval. The clinics were said to have been administering stem cells for the experimental treatment of cancers, heart disease, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, among other conditions.
Research, Trials, and Funding
Researchers in the US find that women are proportionately represented in clinical trials for hypertension and atrial fibrillation but underrepresented in trials for coronary artery disease and acute coronary syndrome.
Researchers in Sweden published research suggesting that lung cancer surgery outcomes are not affected by the day of the week that the surgery is performed.
An international group of researchers from Italy, the US, and the UK described disparities in lung cancer care between England and the US, finding that fewer patients in England present with early stage lung cancer and fewer English patients with stage I disease undergo surgery.
Optimal Use of Z-Scores to Preserve the Pulmonary Valve Annulus During Repair of Tetralogy of Fallot
May 11, 2018
Submitted by: Claire Vernon
Awori and colleagues reviewed 19 published studies on repair of tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), representing 2,500 patients of which 54.8% had a transannular patch (TAP) inserted to relieve right ventricular outflow tract obstruction. The measured pulmonary annulus size, expressed as a z-score, is often used to determine when to insert a TAP, however similar z-scores derived via different methods can represent different annulus sizes and flow rates. Multiple suggested z-score “cut-offs” are quoted in the literature, and the authors wanted to know whether differences in z-score calculation methods were related to these different cut-off values. Surprisingly few studies (26.3%) mention what pulmonary annulus size “cut-off” was used, but the authors conclude that derivation of z-scores from different data sets may contribute to different cut-off values.
May 9, 2018
Submitted by: Benjamin Bidstrup
The authors have used a number of novel kidney related biomarkers to improve the identification of patients with acute kidney injury (AKI) and its likely progression. This is an important issue in cardiac surgery, as the outcomes after significant kidney injury can be quite devastating. If we can improve on watching creatinine changes, we can then look at interventions which may reduce the incidence or severity of AKI.