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Journal and News Scan
June 24, 2017
Submitted by: Joel Dunning
Quite simply AMAZING !
I had no idea there were so many robotic companies out there.
This doesn't even include Titan - www.titanmedicalinc.com, or Medicaroid www.medicaroid.com
Innovation is in overdrive at the moment !! I liked robotic company 5,8, and 11 best in this link. How about you ?
June 24, 2017
Submitted by: Joel Dunning
Please make sure that you are aware of this recall for testing of System CS100, CS100i and CS300 Intra-aortic Balloon Pumps for electrical testing.
Overall Action for User
Patients receiving IABP therapy are in critical condition and sudden interruption of therapy could result in unsafe, hemodynamic instability. Maquet/Getinge indicates that the risk-benefit of using an affected CS100i, CS100 or CS300 IABP should be assessed by the medical team for each patient when no alternative IABP or alternative therapy is available. Please adhere to the following instructions when using affected devices as mentioned in the link provided
June 22, 2017
Submitted by: Claire Vernon
Hiraoka and colleagues compared outcomes of 337 patients receiving conventional total aortic arch repair to 58 patients receiving hybrid aortic arch repair at a single cardiovascular institution. The authors observed no differences in operative or 30-day death. Five-year survival rate was similar between the groups despite stroke occurring more frequently in the hybrid repair group.
Accompanying commentaries from Atkins and Szeto, and De Santo discuss the comparison of a standard technique to a one performed on a higher-risk population of patients:
Hybrid aortic arch surgery: Have we reached clinical equipoise? Marvin D. Atkins, Wilson Y. Szeto.
Hybrid aortic arch repair: Facts and hints beyond the statistical truth. Luca Salvatore De Santo.
June 22, 2017
Submitted by: Aristotle Protopapas
The Amsterdam Investigator-initiated Absorb Strategy All-comers Trial report safety concerns identified in early results for the bioresorbable scaffold drug eluting stent. The scaffold group experienced significantly higher rates of device thrombosis than the stent group (3.5% vs 0.9%; p<0.001). It seems that no stent, no matter how sophisticated and costly it may be, will ever match arterial coronary bypass in long term outcomes.
June 20, 2017
Submitted by: Claire Vernon
David and colleagues investigate tricuspid regurgitation (TR) before and after mitral valve (MV) repair in a retrospective analysis of over 1000 patients. TR was present prior to surgery in 11.8% of cases and new postoperative TR was not common. The authors suggest that their findings support repairing the MV before TR develops.
Commentary from Gillinov and collegues, Dreyfus, and Chikwe and Adams adds to the discussion on tricuspid annuloplasty during degenerative mitral repair:
The tricuspid valve: If it's not broken, don't fix it. Marc Gillinov, Stephanie Mick, Kenneth McCurry, Jose Navia.
Functional tricuspid pathology: To treat or not to treat? That is the question. Gilles D. Dreyfus.
The donkey's shadow. Joanna Chikwe, David H. Adams.
June 19, 2017
Submitted by: Joel Dunning
This is a MUST read article on how predatory journals who only make money by charging authors are sidelining ethics and the usual standards of peer review in order to make a profit.
With the author as their only source of income this neccessarily influences their editorial policies. But many of these journals have been heralded as a new era of open-access in contrast to the subscription publications, painting companies as Elsevier as 'greedy' companies whose subscription fees constantly rise over time.
This article casts very interesting light on these open-access journals. It does state that not every open-access journal is neccessarily predatory, but the 'author-pays', online-only, model does inherently influence editorial policy in the opposite direction to that of a limited page, impact factor driven standard journal.
Let us know your views -
Have you ever paid significant amounts of money to get your paper published ?
Or are these journals the future and it is right that open-access means all papers are free to readers around the world ?
June 19, 2017
Submitted by: Claire Vernon
Chudgar and colleagues evaluated clinicopathologic variables and characteristics of treatment for 539 patients who had undergone pulmonary metastasectomy for soft-tissue sarcoma at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. They report several factors associated with improved survival, including minimally invasive approaches and histological subtype.
Commentaries from Berry and from Hoang consider the application of these findings to patient selection for metastasectomy:
Evidence for resection of sarcoma pulmonary metastases: More, but better? Mark F. Berry.
Resection of pulmonary sarcomatous metastases: Cut to cure? Chuong D. Hoang.
June 19, 2017
Submitted by: Claire Vernon
Gaudino and colleagues report a retrospective analysis of short-term outcomes following aortic valve-sparing operations (VSO) with and without reconstruction of the sinuses of Valsalva (SV). Despite the importance of the SV for aortic valve function, data evaluating SV reconstruction with VSO are limited. Clinical outcomes and aortic valve status were not affected by SV recreation, however adverse events were rare in both groups.
June 15, 2017
Submitted by: Lisa Brown
Prospective observational cohort study of 106 patients undergoing repair of giant paraesphageal hernia (GPEH) with near complete follow-up at 1 year. Outcomes measured at the first postoperative visit and at one year were radiographic recurrence, patient satisfaction and GERD-HRQL score. Importantly, this study compared patients with small radiographic recurrence (<2cm) to those with a commonly used definition of radiographic recurrence (classified as large recurrence for this cohort): >2cm or 10% of the stomach above the diaphragm. Most patients underwent laparoscopic repair (80.2%) and 66% had an esophageal lengthening procedure. The overall recurrence rate at one year was 32.7% versus 18.8% using the commonly used definition (>2cm or 10% of the stomach above the diaphragm). Patient satisfaction increased from 2.9% preoperatively to 85% at 1 month and 71.4% at one year. There was no difference in patient satisfaction between those with small and large recurrences (57.1% versus 52.6%). The median GERD-HRQL score was 22.5 preoperative, 3.0 at one month, and 7.0 at one year. There was no difference in GERD-HRQL scores between patients with small and large recurrences (12.0 versus 14.0). The authors concluded that any recurrence, whether small or large, has a negative effect on patient satisfaction and control of symptoms and that there is a need for further investigation of patients with small recurrences to determine their clinical importance.
June 14, 2017
Submitted by: Benjamin Bidstrup
The authors have examined impedance aggregometry on patients undergoing CABG on DAPT. They examined the impact of cessation on beeding and transfusion and showed a higher level of platelet function led to lower transfusions.