In Global News: Multimodal Analgesia, Opioids and COPD, and MI Mondays

Patient Care
A boy’s growth had fallen well behind that of his twin brother, leading doctors in Abu Dhabi, UAE, to discover and surgically treat a congenital heart condition.
A woman in the UK fell ill with a tear in her aorta late during her pregnancy, requiring a diverse team of health professionals to deliver a healthy baby and a replacement aorta.
A nurse practitioner discusses the benefits of perioperative multimodal analgesia over opioid monotherapy following her own experience as a surgical patient.
A US News & World Report analysis of publicly reported outcomes data from the STS highlights the safety of congenital heart surgery at high-volume centers.
 
Drugs and Devices
The US Food and Drug Administration approved the INSPIRIS RESILIA aortic valve from Edwards Lifesciences Corp., supported by data from the COMMENCE trial and the European RESILIA feasibility study.
Implanted cardiac devices might help determine time and cause of death when autopsy results are unclear.
The CardioMEMS HF System for monitoring cardiovascular status in heart failure was implanted for the first time in Canada at the Peter Munk Cardiac Centre in Toronto, Canada.
 
Research, Trials, and Funding
Researchers in Toronto, Canada, find that new opioid use among older COPD patients is associated with an increased risk of cardiac-related death.
Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine received funding to study ex vivo lung perfusion among other approaches for improving lung transplantation and evaluating donor lungs.
An observational study of the SWEDEHEART database shows an increased incidence of myocardial infarction on Mondays and during the winter holidays, and lower incidence during the July summer holiday.