Cardiac Surgery News and Research

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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

What we know and don’t know about memory loss after surgery

Two years ago, Dr. Daniel Cole's 85-year-old father had heart bypass surgery. He hasn't been quite the same since.

12 Apr 2018

Minimally invasive surgical device may one day provide lasting heart repair

A minimally invasive surgical device to be commercialized by a newly launched startup could fundamentally transform the way doctors correct organ defects.

15 Mar 2018

Blood-thinning drug mitigates risk of complications, death after non-cardiac surgery

Researchers in Hamilton have discovered that a blood-thinning drug, dabigatran, significantly reduces the risk of death, heart attack, stroke, and other heart or blood-vessel complications in patients who have a heart injury following major, non-cardiac surgery.

12 Mar 2018

Study unravels novel cellular and molecular pathway that regulates innate, adaptive immunity

Researchers at Brigham and Women's Hospital have discovered a new cellular and molecular pathway that regulates CD4+ T cell response--a finding that may lead to new ways to treat diseases that result from alterations in these cells.

24 Feb 2018

Children from low-income areas have poor outcomes after heart surgery, study finds

Children from low-income neighborhoods had a higher mortality rate and higher hospital costs after heart surgery compared with those from higher-income neighborhoods, found a national study of more than 86,000 kids with congenital heart disease.

24 Feb 2018

VUMC reaches new record in performing heart transplants

Vanderbilt University Medical Center performed a record number of heart transplants in 2017, surpassing the 2016 milestone and securing its place as the second-busiest heart transplant program in the country.

5 Feb 2018

New clinical practice guideline provides recommendations for use of anticoagulants during heart surgery

The Society of Thoracic Surgeons, the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists, and the American Society of ExtraCorporeal Technology released a new clinical practice guideline that includes major recommendations for the use of blood thinning medication (anticoagulants) during heart surgery.

22 Jan 2018

LivaNova enrolls first patient in RESTORE-LIFE study for treatment-resistant depression

LivaNova PLC, a market-leading medical technology company, today announced the launch and enrollment of the first patient in the Global Prospective, Multi-center, Observational Post-market Study to Assess Short-, Mid- and Long-term Effectiveness and Efficiency of Vagus Nerve Stimulation Therapy® as Adjunctive Therapy in Real-world Patients with Difficult to Treat Depression.

4 Jan 2018