Iribarne and colleagues analyzed US Medicare claims from 2009 to 2014 to characterize bilateral internal mammary artery (BIMA) usage in coronary artery bypass surgery. They found that regional usage of BIMA differed significantly, and that BIMA usage was related to the intensity of cardiovascular care but only somewhat to surgical volume.
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Coronary disease
December 8, 2017
December 6, 2017
Research published recently in the European Journal of Cardio-Thoracic Surgery analyzed the outcomes of elderly cardiac surgery patients to evaluate whether minimally invasive extracorporeal circuits conferred a benefit over conventional cardiopulmonary bypass.
December 5, 2017
Patrick Myers, David Taggart, and Michael Mack discuss the recently published ORBITA trial.
December 1, 2017
Patient Care
November 27, 2017
Newspaper and prime time TV advertisements are beginning in the US today that detail the medical toll that smoking exacts on its victims. The ads are paid for by big tobacco based on a court order from 2006 that has finally survived the appeal process. A spokesperson for one of the companies stated that they hope to "develop less risky tobacco prod
November 21, 2017
In this interview, O. P. Yadava of the National Heart Institute in New Delhi, India, and Massimo Lemma of the Jilin Heart Hospital in Changchun, China, discuss their thoughts on surgical myocardial revascularization.
November 20, 2017
This is the kind of video that patients are going to in large numbers. It is a nice description of a CABG case performed at MedStar Union Memorial Hospital in Maryland, USA. Nearly a million hits makes these guys YouTube stars!
November 19, 2017
Del Nido cardioplegia has been used in congenital heart surgery but the data for adult cardiac surgery has been lacking. This randomized trial compares del Nido to whole blood cardioplegia for patients undergoing either a CABG, valve, or CABG/valve. The results suggest that the use of del Nido is safe and may streamline the workflow.
November 16, 2017
Dr. John Warner, President of the AHA, suffered a minor heart attack during the AHA congress in California. The day prior he had delivered an address describing the impact that coronary artery disease has had on his extended family. He was treated with stent placement and is recovering well.
November 15, 2017
With the impressive average of 150 mitral repairs annually for the last 16 years (possibly a world record, even more impressive given the population of Portugal), the Coimbra team led by Antunes reflects on six cases of circumflex artery injury, mostly in non-right dominant anatomy as expected.