The STS Adult Cardiac Surgery database data that had been submitted to a regional quality initiative were compared to a hospital claims database to assess what effect, if any, would supplying missing data provided by the latter affect the reported STS 30-day mortality rates. The STS database currently counts as "alive" any patient that has unknown s
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Ethics
September 9, 2017
August 17, 2017
In this study of low volume surgeons (defined as performing fewer than 1 index operation annually) the authors studied outcomes in New York state for open AAA repair (OAR) and carotid endarterectomy (CEA). About 50% of surgeons performing these operations were low volume surgeons. Low volume surgeons had higher rates of operative mortality for OAR
August 17, 2017
This editorial outlines the changing legal landscape for device manufacturers. The authors discuss a recent legal judgment against Intuitive (da Vinci robot) that found the company failed to notify a hospital regarding a new robot user, indicating that Intuitive held responsibility for ensuring safe implementation of their systems in clinical settin
May 11, 2017
I was moved by this editorial on global health matters in a daily British newspaper by an academic medical colleague, written in response to anticipated changes in the leadership of the World Health Organisation. It is perhaps time for us surgeons to augment our administrative participation in global healthcare.
December 30, 2016
A most easily read brief editorial explaining in simple terms the power of a study, bootstrapping and the CLINICAL significance of risk factors in multivariate analysis. The author explains that the number of events defines the effective desirable sample size, not the number of individuals included in studies.
August 18, 2016
In a discussion filmed at the 2016 STS Annual Meeting in Phoenix, Arizona, a group of experts discuss the ethics of testing new medical devices in developing countries.
April 28, 2016
A hospital has agreed to pay a $2.2 million penalty for permitting the video-taping of two patients who did not consent to the filming.
March 4, 2016
Surgical intervention in older people is increasing in prevalance but is associated with higher rates of adverse postoperative outcomes as compared to younger people. Current models of preoperative risk assessment and optimisation may be indequate for this complex surgical population.
September 17, 2015
Arthur Caplan of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU Langone Medical center poses a difficult ethical question: how many hearts should one child receive? Dr. Caplan presents the case of a young patient who recently received a third heart transplant.
September 5, 2015
The consequences of the flawed process of investigation of scientific misconduct and premature conclusions of the outcomes are discussed.