Editor's Note Fish oil did not increase perioperative bleeding and reduced the number of blood transfusions in cardiac surgery patients, in this study. A total of 1,516 cardiac surgery patients were randomized to perioperative fish oil or placebo−from 2 to 5 days before surgery until discharge. The primary outcome of…

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Editor's Note In patients having coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) surgery, no significant difference was found in the risk of major adverse cardiac events between open and endoscopic vein-graft harvesting procedures, this study finds. In this analysis of 1,150 patients at 16 Veterans Affairs centers over a median follow-up of…

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Editor's Note Hospitals with high volumes of surgical aortic valve replacements (SAVRs) are more likely to be fast adopters of transcatheter aortic valve replacement procedures (TAVRs), and accumulating SAVR and TAVR caseloads is associated with better survival after TAVR, this study finds. Using Medicare data on 60,538 TAVR procedures performed…

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Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration on November 2 identified the recall by Maquet Datascope Corp/Getinge Group’s Cardiosave Hybrid and Cardiosave Rescue Intra-aortic Balloon Pumps (IABPs) as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated because of the potential for the autofill process to malfunction or fail during…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on October 24 announced that beginning January 1, 2019, any hospital wanting to pursue the Advanced Certification in Heart Failure or Comprehensive Cardiac Center Certification will no longer have to be accredited by the Joint Commission. The Joint Commission says it is making this change…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission and the American Heart Association (AHA) will offer a single cardiovascular (CV) certification program for hospitals beginning January 1, 2019, the Joint Commission announced on October 10. The single certification is designed to enhance CV patient care and improve outcomes and quality of life. It…

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Editor's Note The Perioperative Surgical Home (PSH) model of care was successful in improving quality of care and outcomes in elderly hip fracture patients and children having cardiac surgery in two studies presented October 14 at the Anesthesiology 2018 annual meeting in San Francisco. One study compared 308 hip fracture…

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Editor's Note In cardiac surgery patients at moderate-to-high risk for death, a restrictive strategy for red blood cell (RBC) transfusion was equivalent to a liberal strategy, with respect to death from any cause, myocardial infarction, stroke, or renal failure, at 6-months follow-up, this study finds. There also were no significant…

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Editor' Note The Joint Commission in partnership with the American Heart Association recently approved a new certification program that will provide an independent evaluation of an organization's eligibility to qualify as a comprehensive cardiac center. After reviewing program requirements, the Joint Commission identified the following areas for revision: Collaborative model…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on September 30 posted an announcement by Getinge that it is voluntarily initiating a worldwide recall involving a field correction of some 5,223 Maquet/Getinge Cardiosave Intra-Aortic Balloon Pumps (IABP) sold by Datascope Corp. The recall is because of the potential for interruption…

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