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Journal and News Scan
May 26, 2015
Submitted by: CTSNet Staff
The paper reviews the anatomy of spinal cord perfusion, strategies to shorten the intraoperative duration of ischemia of the spinal cord, to increase its ischemic tolerance, to detect ischemia and to improve its perfusion.
May 26, 2015
Submitted by: CTSNet Staff
The procedure of transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) was analyzed in 2287 patients. About 11% needed surgical interventions, about 2% were converted to full sternotomy and about 1% required use of the heart lung machine. The authors advocate the presence of a cardiac surgeon at each TAVI and building experienced teams within specialized centres.
May 26, 2015
Submitted by: CTSNet Staff
This post hoc analysis of the Arterial Revascularization Trial (ART) on 3102 patients compares intraoperative parameters and 1-year outcome for on-pump and off-pump surgery. Both techniques show excellent results with differences only in a small number of secondary endpoints.
May 22, 2015
Submitted by: Mark Ferguson
In this retrospective review of 336 patients treated surgically for early stage NSCLC, the prognostic value of PET SUV was evaluated. Risks of recurrence and death increased steadily as SUV increased.
May 22, 2015
Submitted by: Mark Ferguson
This interesting article summarizes the potential benefits of exercise in patients with lung cancer, including improved exercise capacity and quality of life, and reduced postoperative complications and length of postoperative stay. This modality is safe, and is likely underutilized in this patient population.
May 21, 2015
Submitted by: Mark Ferguson
This prospective observational study followed 111 patients for 3 years after laparoscopic repair of a type III paraesophageal hernia. QOL improved at all postoperative time intervals from 28.5 preop to about 10. The radiographic recurrence rate was 27% at 1 year. Hernias involving most of the stomach were more likely to recur than smaller hernias.
May 20, 2015
Submitted by: Mark Ferguson
A pooled analysis of outcomes from two randomized trials involving SBRT or surgery for operable patients with clinical early stage NSCLC was performed. The number of patients was small (58 total) and the follow-up was a median of 35-40 mos. Overall 3-year survival was better in the SBRT group (95% vs 79%; p=0.037) whereas recurrence free survival did not differ between the groups. Grade 4 complications or death occurred in 48% of surgical patients (1 mortality) and in none of the SBRT patients.
May 20, 2015
Submitted by: Philip McElnay
This retrospective review compared outcomes for re-do minimally invasive mitral valve operations vs re-do sternotomy in mitral valve operations. The authors demonstrate a similar MV-repair rate in the two groups but a significantly lower bypass and cross-clamp time in the minimally invasive group. Working within the confines of a retrospective study the authors have produced a very interesting paper.
May 19, 2015
Submitted by: Mark Ferguson
Pts with suspected lung cancer underwent sampling of normal-appearingbronchial epithelial cells in the main bronchi, unrelated to the suspected tumor. Gene expression was analyzed and classified. Classification for cancer was about 75% accurate.
May 19, 2015
Submitted by: Mark Ferguson
The question in this review was whether patients who experience tension pneumothorax differ in presentation depending on whether they are breathing spontaneously or are on positive pressure ventilation. Assisted ventilation was more often associated with hypoxia, hypotension, and cardiac arrest. These adverse clinical signs frequently arose within minutes of initial clinical presentation in the assisted ventilation cohort.