Journal and News Scan

Mariette and colleagues randomly assigned 207 patients with resectable esophageal cancer to undergo either transthoracic open esophagectomy or hybrid minimally invasive esophagectomy. The hybrid procedure resulted in a lower incidence of major intraoperative or postoperative complications (odds ratio, 0.31; 95% confidence interval, 0.18 – 0.55; p<0.001). Both groups had similar survival over three years.

A summary of the article is available on MedPage Today.

A succinct handy comment on a small series of left ventricular assist devices (LVAD) that is quite useful for a fast read on LVAD for surgeons and nonsurgeons.

Ibezim and colleagues examined outcomes for patients undergoing their first mechanical mitral valve replacement (M-MVR) before 21 years of age. Using information from the Pediatric Cardiac Care Consortium database, the authors performed a retrospective analysis of 441 children from 36 centers in the United States. Nearly 60% of patients were less than 6 years old when they underwent their first M-MVR, and the most common diagnoses were complete and partial atrioventricular canal defects. Mortality within 90 days was 11.1%, and 76% of patients who survived more than 90 days were still alive and transplant-free after 20 years. Early risk factors were age younger than 2 years and concurrent mechanical valve replacement of another valve.

Patient Care and General Interest

Ireland’s Cabinet is expected to consider opt-out organ donation legislation this spring.

A veterinarian in Colorado, USA, discusses the potential for learning about novel interventional cardiology devices by studying their use in veterinary medicine.

The US Congenital Heart Futures Reauthorization Act, which increases the federal funding available for studying congenital heart disease, was signed into law at the end of 2018.

Drugs and Devices

Pembrolizumab, an anti-PD-1 therapy from Merck, received three new approvals for use in advanced non-small cell lung cancer from the Japan Pharmaceuticals and Medical Devices Agency.

Boston Scientific has acquired the company Millipede, adding the investigational IRIS Transcatheter Annuloplasty Ring System for mitral regurgitation to its line of products.

Research, Trials, and Funding

Researchers from California, USA, found that cardiac surgery and cardiac catheterization are associated with similar levels of cognitive decline.

Researchers from Switzerland reported encouraging midterm outcomes from the TriValve Registry of transcatheter interventions for tricuspid regurgitation.

An inhalable formulation of messenger RNA was developed by researchers from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the USA, who postulate that it could contribute to new therapies for diseases like cystic fibrosis.