This week on The Beat, CTSNet Editor-in-Chief Joel Dunning speaks with Drs. Michael Mack and Tom Nguyen about the proposed US Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services changes to how cardiologists and cardiac surgeons interact during transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) procedures. Dr. Mack explained the current heart team system, established in 2011 through collaboration…
This case presents an exceptionally rare and previously unreported combination of intrinsic carotid stenosis and chronic external compression due to a retained ballistic injury. A retained stray bullet injury from 1995 remained untreated for nearly 30 years. In 2025, the patient presented with chest pain. Evaluation revealed 85 percent carotid artery stenosis. The retained bullet…
This interview highlights the history and evolution of robotic cardiac surgery. At the 2026 American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) Annual Meeting, CTSNet JANS Editor Dr. Mateo Marin-Cuartas, a cardiac surgeon at Leipzig Heart Center, Germany, spoke with Dr. Volkmar Falk, Medical Director and Director of the Department of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Surgery of the…
This session features the presidential address delivered by Dr. Gry Dahle at the International Society for Minimally Invasive Cardiothoracic Surgery Annual Scientific Meeting 2026. As the society’s first female president, Dr. Dahle—who holds positions at the Emergency Department of Akerhus University Hospital in Nordbyhagen and the Lørenskog Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at Oslo University Hospital,…
This week on The Beat, CTSNet Editor-in-Chief Joel Dunning spoke with Dr. Chris Malaisrie, a Professor of Surgery in the Division of Cardiac Surgery at Northwestern University and an Attending Cardiac Surgeon at Northwestern Medicine, about valve-sparing aortic root replacement techniques. The conversation covers a wide range of procedures, including the Bentall, Yacoub, and David…
This video demonstrates central cannulation for surgical closure of a secundum atrial septal defect via a right transaxillary approach. The patient was positioned in a left lateral decubitus position with the right arm elevated to optimize exposure of the axillary region. A limited incision was made in the fourth intercostal space along the midaxillary line,…
This video demonstrates a robotic-assisted resection of the left fifth rib for oligometastatic melanoma involving the chest wall. An 83-year-old man with a history of cutaneous melanoma presented with progressive left posterior chest wall pain that required escalating analgesia. Preoperative computed tomography (CT) demonstrated two areas of lytic disease involving the left fifth rib, with…
This clinical video demonstrates the preservation of a replaced left hepatic artery during the creation of a gastric conduit in a robotic-assisted minimally invasive esophagectomy (RAMIE) for post-neoadjuvant esophageal adenocarcinoma. The patient was a 61-year-old male with cT3N0M0 (Stage IIA) lower-esophageal adenocarcinoma. He completed neoadjuvant therapy with four cycles of fluorouracil, leucovorin, oxaliplatin, and docetaxel.…
This interview centers around improving and evaluating surgical programs. At the 2026 American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) Annual Meeting, CTSNet Senior Editor—Congenital, Dr. Sameh Said, Chief of the Division of Pediatric and Adult Congenital Cardiac Surgery at Maria Fareri Children’s Hospital in Valhalla, NY, USA, engaged in a scholarly discussion with Dr. Christopher Caldarone,…
This week on The Beat, CTSNet Editor-in-Chief Joel Dunning discusses the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services proposed decision memo regarding the national coverage analysis for transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). He outlines crucial deadlines, actionable steps for surgeons, the importance of submitting public comments, and the necessity of data collection. Additionally, he spoke with…
Minimally invasive cardiac surgery (MICS) frequently requires peripheral cannulation strategies. Femoral cannulation remains the standard approach; however, it is associated with potential complications such as lymphorrhea, hematoma, infection, and an increased risk of embolic stroke in patients with significant atherosclerotic burden due to retrograde perfusion during cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) (1, 2). Axillary artery cannulation represents…
This session features leading surgeons discussing various aspects of the aortic valve at the Transcatheter Heart Valves Greece (THVGreece) 2026 conference. Please note that all presentations are delivered in Greek. The first presentation, “Failed TAVI Referred for SAVR” was delivered by Dr. Apostolos Roubelakis, Director of the 3rd Department of Cardiac Surgery at the Athens…
A 45-year-old man presented with a self-inflicted stab wound to the chest, near the left lower parasternal area. He was evaluated at an outside facility, where the knife was removed carefully and the laceration wound was closed with a nylon suture. A computed tomography (CT) scan of the chest revealed hemopericardium and a mild to…
Mixed reality–guided anatomical segmentectomy represents an emerging strategy to improve intraoperative spatial understanding during sublobar lung resection. Accurate identification of segmental anatomy is critical in segmentectomy, particularly for ground-glass nodules, where lesion localization and margin assessment can be challenging. Conventional imaging review and intraoperative visualization may be insufficient to fully translate complex three-dimensional anatomy into…
The clinical case presented in this video concerns a 67-year-old female patient who came to the authors’ attention in 2021 after undergoing a computed tomography (CT) scan that revealed the incidental finding of a 16 mm ground-glass opacity (GGO) located in the left lower lobe. As the lesion was well localized and adequate surgical margins…
This week on The Beat, CTSNet Editor-in-Chief Joel Dunning discusses the transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) heart team potentially losing a member. He explores the current composition of the TAVR heart team, proposed changes, the thoughts of cardiothoracic societies, and future actions regarding this issue. Additionally, he spoke with Dr. Thoralf Sundt, Chief of the…
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