In Global News: To Operate or Not To Operate, Lung Cancer Trial Eligibility, and Hemodynamic Valve Deterioration

Patient Care and General Interest
Cardiac surgical and cardiology societies weigh in as an advisory committee revisits the US Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services procedure volume requirements for transcatheter aortic valve replacement programs.
As the Houston Methodist Hospital in Texas, USA, moves to new facility, it is closing historic operating rooms where renowned heart surgeon Dr Michael DeBakey developed the Dacron graft.
The LUNGevity Foundation has published recommendations to expand eligibility for lung cancer trial participation to more patients.
 
Drugs and Devices
Polares Medical has received venture capital funding to continue developing a transcatheter hemireplacement device that would replace only the posterior leaflet of the mitral valve.
 
Research, Trials, and Funding
Researchers from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, explored surgeon decision-making and the factors that influence a surgeon’s decision to operate or not in a scenario where a patient has a likely nonsurvivable medical problem.
Palliative care support offered to families of infants with single-ventricle heart disease by health care teams at the University of Michigan may help them cope with and navigate their child’s medical care.
Researchers in Canada studied factors that influence hemodynamic valve deterioration after surgical aortic valve replacement.