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Thoracic

November 6, 2014
Jess Thompson, Assistant Professor of Surgery at the University of Arizona, discusses medical policy advocacy in the United States with an emphasis on cardiothoracic surgery.
November 6, 2014
The authors performed a single center review to assess outcomes of thoracentesis for inpatients.  For 9,320 thoracenteses in 4,618 patients the incidence of adverse outcomes was quite low: pneumothorax 0.6%, reexpansion pulmonary edema 0.01%, and bleeding 0.2%.  Current guidelines may not be aligned with outcomes of expert clinical practice.
November 5, 2014
The authors examined cost-effectiveness in the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST), examining incremental cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) and quality-adjusted life years (QALYs) associated with low dose CT screening.  The ICER was $52,000 per life-year gained and the $81,000 per QALY gained.  These values were very sensitive to variations in the scr
November 5, 2014
Long-term QOL outcomes were assessed in a single institution cohort of 63 patients undergoing colon interposition after esophagectomy.  48% of pts had a vagal sparing operation, and resection was performed for cancer in the majority of the pts.  Followup median was 13 yrs.  Mean SF36 scores were above the published average and GI QOL was 3 out of 4. 
November 5, 2014
The potential benefit of wedge resection vs anatomic resection for stage I and II lung cancer was examined using propensity score matching for pts from the STS Database.  Over 3700 pts were matched in each group.  Wedge resection was associated with fewer major complications (4.5% vs 9.0%) and lower mortality (1.2% vs 1.9%).  Wedge resection reduced
November 4, 2014
Gilbert Massard of the Centre Hospitalier, France discusses the surgical treatment of thoracic infections, including: empyema, aspergillosis, and tuberculosis.
November 2, 2014
  Ex-vivo lung reperfusion was employed to recondition marginal or rejected lung grafts. Eight out of 11 lungs were deemed suitable for transplantation after treatment. Results with regard to primary graft dysfunction were comparable to those of 28 regular transplantations. 
October 29, 2014
Philippe Dartevelle of Marie Lannelongue Hospital, France, discusses the en bloc resection of NSCLC tumors invading the thoracic inlet and spine.
October 28, 2014
This video demonstrates a rib resection with a Gigli saw on a 20-year-old female patient.
October 25, 2014
The authors of this piece summarize how surgery has changed over the past decades. They do this using the mnemonic: TWO POEMS:

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