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Journal and News Scan

Source: Journal of Thoracic Oncology
Author(s): Mikell, John L.; Gillespie, Theresa W.; Hall, William A.; Nickleach, Dana C.; Liu, Yuan; Lipscomb, Joseph; Ramalingam, Suresh S.; Rajpara, Raj S.; Force, Seth D.; Fernandez, Felix G.; Owonikoko, Taofeek K.; Pillai, Rathi N.; Khuri, Fadlo R.; Curran, Walter J.; Higgins, Kristin A.

Indications for postoperative radiation therapy (PORT) for resected lung cancer are unclear.  This study evaluated outcomes from the National Cancer Data Base 2004-2006, including 2115 patients resected with pathologic N2 NSCLC, of whom  918 (43%) received PORT.  PORT was associated with better median survival (42 vs 38 mos, p=0.048) and was associated with improved survival on multivariable analysis.

Source: Journal of Thoracic Oncology
Author(s): Steuer, Conor E.; Behera, Madhusmita; Kim, Sungjin; Chen, Zhengjia; Saba, Nabil F.; Pillai, Rathi N.; Owonikoko, Taofeek K.; Khuri, Fadlo R.; Ramalingam, Suresh S.

SEER outcomes from 1973-2010 were evaluated, including a total of over 947,000 pts, of whom only 441 had atypical carcinoid tumors of the lung.  69% were women and 87% were white.  20% had stage IV disease at diagnosis.  78% of the patients underwent resection.  3-year survival was 85% for N0, 69% for N1-2, and 26% for stage IV.

Source: Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery
Author(s): Mariusz Kowalewski, Wojciech Pawliszak, Katarzyna Zaborowska, Eliano Pio Navarese, Krzysztof Aleksander Szwed, Magdalena Ewa Kowalkowska, Janusz Kowalewski, Alina Borkowska, Lech Anisimowicz

The meta-analysis by Kowalewski et al found that implantable gentamicin collagen sponges significantly reduced the incidence of sternal wound infections by nearly 40%. 

Source: Mediwikis
Author(s): Mediwikis

Beautiful video.  The background music is also beautiful, but I think something with more of a beat would have been appropriate.

Source: Journal of the National Cancer Institute
Author(s): Andrew L. Laccetti, Sandi L. Pruitt, Lei Xuan, Ethan A. Halm and David E. Gerber

Usually patients with prior cancer are excluded in lung cancer trials, but the impact on survival in lung cancer is not known. In a cohort of 102929 patients older than 65 with stage IV lung cancer, a propensity score analysis were performed and found that patients with prior cancer had better survival (all-cause and lung cancer-specific). Therefore these patients with prior cancer should be considered candidates for clinical trials for advanced lung cancer.

Source: Thorax
Author(s): E Edvardsen, OH Skjønsberg, I Holme, L Nordsletten, F Borchsenius, SA Anderssen

This trial randomized 61 pts to a program of endurance and strength training or no training beginning 5-7 weeks after lung resection for cancer and lasting 20 weeks.  Compared to controls, treatment group patients demonstrated significant improvements in peak O2 uptake, DLCO, leg and arm strength, muscle mass, and QOL.

Source: MedPage Today
Author(s): Keith Ayoob

The author presents credible (and enticing) evidence for eating dark chocolate for health reasons, including managing hypertension and cardiovascular disease.

Source: JAMA Surgery
Author(s): Cornwell LD, Omer S, Rosengart T, Holman WL, Bakaeen FG

The authors evaluated the change in risk profile of 65097 patients who underwent CABG between 1997 and 2011 in the Veterans Affairs Surgical Quality Improvement Program (VASQIP). They found that there was a marked increase in the prevalence of obesity, diabetes, left main coronary artery disease and NYHA class. Prevalences of previous myocardial infarction, low ejection fraction and advanced angina decreased. Importantly, operative mortality decreased over time. The trends confirm the general perception of ongoing improvement in outcomes, despite a sicker and older population.

 

Source: Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery
Author(s): Abby J. Isaacs, Jeffrey Shuhaiber, Arash Salemi, O. Wayne Isom, Art Sedrakyan

The authors analyzed all patients greater than age 18 in the National Inpatient Sample from 1998-2011 to evaluate trends and outcomes of tissue vs. mechanical aortic valve replacements. Implantation of tissue valves increased overall from 38% to 64% when comparing the earlier era to the later one.  The patients undergoing tissue AVR had a greater presence of comorbidites and concomitant operations.  Whereas the complication rate was higher in the tissue valve population, the mortality rate was lower.  Interestingly, lower volume facilities tended to favor mechanical AVR and higher volume facilities tended to favor tissue AVR.

Source: Clinical Cardiology
Author(s): Grant W. Reed, Amit Kumar, Jianping Guo, Sary Aranki, Prem Shekar, Arvind Agnihotri, Andrew O. Maree, Dalton S. McLean, Kenneth Rosenfield and Christopher P. Cannon

Dr. Reed et al from the Cleveland Clinic conducted this prospective study to assess whether VerifyNow point-of-care platelet testing could predict bleeding in 39 patients receiving Plavix and undergoing CABG.  Patients in higher PRU quartiles experienced smaller decreases in hematocrit and less bleeding.  By ROC analysis, a PRU threshold of ≤207 was the optimal threshold for discrimination of major bleeding during surgery, with 85% sensitivity and an 89% NPV.

Question:  Should VerifyNow platelet testing be used as a discriminator for timing of CABG rather than waiting the guideline-recommended 5 days for patients who have received Plavix?

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