Cardiac Surgery News and Research

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Sleeping six to eight hours a night is most beneficial for heart health, suggests study

Researchers have found a sweet spot of six to eight hours sleep a night is most beneficial for heart health. More or less is detrimental. Their findings are presented today at ESC Congress 2018.

27 Aug 2018

Researchers explore use of antipsychotic medications in older adults following heart surgery

Delirium is the medical term for an abrupt, rapid change in mental function that goes well beyond the typical forgetfulness of aging.

21 Aug 2018

A form of vitamin B3 shows potential to prevent acute kidney injury

Acute kidney injury, an often fatal condition without a specific treatment, affects up to 10 percent of all hospitalized adults in the United States and 30-40 percent in low-income countries.

21 Aug 2018

Blood management program associated with fewer transfusions in orthopedic patients

A patient blood management program designed to limit the amount of transfused blood orthopedic patients undergoing common surgeries such as hip and knee replacement receive was associated with fewer transfusions, reduced blood use and improved outcomes, reports a study published in the Online First edition of Anesthesiology, the peer-reviewed journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists.

20 Aug 2018

Hospitals battle for control over fast-growing heart-valve procedure

When Medicare in 2011 agreed to pay for a revolutionary procedure to replace leaky heart valves by snaking a synthetic replacement up through blood vessels, the goal was to offer relief to the tens of thousands of patients too frail to endure open-heart surgery, the gold standard.

17 Aug 2018

Johns Hopkins expert panel develops first set of operation-specific opioid prescribing guidelines

A Johns Hopkins expert panel of health care providers and patients have announced what is, to their knowledge, the nation's first set of operation-specific opioid prescribing guidelines.

14 Aug 2018

World's major heart surgery organizations call for effective strategies to treat rheumatic heart disease

Experts from the world's major heart surgery organizations-including The Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the American Association for Thoracic Surgery, the Asian Society for Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery, and the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery-are calling for urgent action to develop and implement effective strategies for treating rheumatic heart disease, which affects 33 million people and kills 320,000 annually.

3 Aug 2018

Newly FDA-approved procedure for implanting heart pump helps reduce length of hospital stay

Artel Thorpe Sr. of Jackson, Tennessee, recently became the first person in the United States to undergo a new, less invasive surgical technique for implanting a left ventricular assist device (LVAD) heart pump since it was granted Federal Drug Administration approval on July 11.

3 Aug 2018

Study highlights the importance of routine screening of relatives of aortic disease patients

A research team led by the University of Leicester has published a new study in the Journal of the American Heart Association which shows that over 30% of relatives of patients suffering from thoracic aortic diseases have an underlying genetic predisposition to developing an aortic disease themselves.

2 Aug 2018

Surgeons call for shared decision making when patient's risks of surgery outweigh benefits

In an essay published July 26 in The New England Journal of Medicine, Ira Leeds, M.D., research fellow, and David Efron, M.D., professor of surgery, both of the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, along with their collaborator, Lisa Lehmann, M.D., Ph.D., M.Sc., from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, call for shared decision making when a patient's risks for surgical complications may outweigh the potential benefits of an operation.

27 Jul 2018

Simplified, standardized approaches may help open heart surgery patients live longer

Patients who undergo coronary artery bypass grafting; the most common heart surgery performed-;may live longer and experience fewer complications when under the care of a highly focused surgical team that uses simplified and standardized approaches, according to research published today in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.

26 Jul 2018

Frailty associated with poor survival rates in young heart patients

Traditionally, frailty is thought to be a syndrome of the elderly - one which comes as a natural and inevitable side-effect of aging, gradually transforming strong, healthy bodies into weaker, more delicate frames over time.

20 Jul 2018

Early surgical intervention may improve outcomes for patients with mitral valve disease

The number of patients undergoing mitral valve operations are at an all-time high, and new research posted online today in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery suggests that many patients don't undergo surgical intervention until it's too late to completely reverse damage caused by mitral valve disease.

19 Jul 2018

Cardiac specialists review benefits of 'prehabilitation' before heart surgery for older, frail patients

High risk, frail heart patients might derive benefits from "prehabilitation," a strategy designed to enhance the recovery process after heart surgery by maintaining or improving the patient's overall physical and mental status before surgery, according to a group of eminent cardiac specialists writing in the Canadian Journal of Cardiology.

27 Jun 2018

Administering nitric oxide gas after heart surgery may decrease risk of kidney problems

Administration of nitric oxide gas during and for 24 hours following heart surgery decreased the risk of patients developing acute and chronic kidney problems, a randomized, controlled trial conducted in China found.

22 Jun 2018

Collaborative research team seeks to collapse a tiny pocket between cardiac cells

A collaborative research team is on a quest to collapse a tiny pocket between cardiac cells that can cause big problems. Called the perinexus, the structure spans only tenths of a millimeter -- all the space it needs to disrupt a person's heartbeat.

7 Jun 2018

Patients taking aspirin before and after CABG surgery show reduced mortality risk

New research presented at this year's Euroanaesthesia congress in Copenhagen, Denmark shows that in patients undergoing a coronary artery bypass graft surgery, taking aspirin before and after surgery is associated with an 18% to 34% reduced mortality risk after 4 years.

4 Jun 2018

Impaired maternal-fetal environment associated with lower survival after surgery in newborns with CHD

Children who undergo surgery for congenital heart disease have lower survival rates by three years of age if there are specific problems during fetal development, such as hypertension in the mother or the newborn being born preterm or small for gestational age.

30 May 2018

Acetaminophen use helps reduce acute kidney injury risk in pediatric heart surgery patients

Children who underwent cardiac surgery were less likely to develop acute kidney injury if they had been treated with acetaminophen in the first 48 hours after their procedures, according to a Vanderbilt study just published in JAMA Pediatrics.

15 May 2018

Simple walking test helps identify patients at high risk for postoperative cognitive dysfunction

The distance a patient can walk in 6-minutes before a heart operation may be a clue to whether that patient will develop problems with memory, concentration, and attention after the procedure, according to a study published online today in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery.

10 May 2018