Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration on February 29 announced a safety notice issued by Abbott (Abbott Park, Illinois) to reinforce the proper procedures used to operate and deploy its MitraClip Delivery System. The company has received nine reports of device malfunction where the user was unable to separate…

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Editor's Note New clinical practice guidelines from the Society of Thoracic Surgeons recommend the use of arteries from the chest and forearm rather than using veins from the leg for coronary artery bypass grafting. The left internal thoracic artery is considered the gold standard conduit for coronary bypass and has…

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Editor's Note Boston Scientific Corporation is recalling RotaWire Elite core wires because they may crack and separate from the rest of the Rotablator Rotational Atherectomy System and cause serious injury such as tamponade, myocardial infarction, and migration of wire fragments, the Food and Drug Administration reported November 27. Boston Scientific…

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Editor's Note In patients requiring long coronary stents, the use of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS)-guided vs angiography-guided drug-eluting stent implantation resulted in a significantly lower rate (2.9% absolute reduction, 48% relative reduction) of major adverse cardiac events at 1 year, finds this study. These differences were mainly driven by the reduction…

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Editor's Note Since publication of the Appropriate Use Criteria for Coronary Revascularization in 2009, the number of nonacute percutaneous coronary interventions (PCIs) has declined significantly (89,704 vs 59,375). The proportion of nonacute PCIs classified as inappropriate has also declined (26.2% vs 13.3%), although hospital-level variation persists. These findings indicate that…

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Editor's Note Quest Medical, Inc (Allen, Texas), on October 28 initiated a nationwide recall of its Myocardial Protection System delivery sets, Models 5001102, 5001102-AS, and 7001102 of specified lots. The sets have shown possible seal failure along the blood source channel of the main pump cassette, resulting in blood loss…

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Editor's Note Compared to married patients, those who were divorced, separated, or widowed had a 40% greater chance of dying or developing a functional disability in the first 2 years after cardiac surgery, in this study. Characterizing the association between marital status and postoperative function may be useful for counseling…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration on October 15 issued a safety alert that heater-cooler devices have been associated with Nontuberculous Mycobacteria infections, primarily in patients undergoing cardiothoracic surgical procedures. Devices include: oxygenator heat exchangers cardioplegia heat exchangers warming/cooling blankets. Between January 2010 and August 2015, the FDA received…

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A highlight of this year’s OR Manager Conference in Nashville, Tennessee, was an interactive hybrid OR exhibit with products from 15 companies. During a special Town Hall on Thursday, October 8, members of the Hybrid OR Steering Committee answered questions from conference attendees seeking information about what’s involved in planning…

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Editor's Note Patients age 90 years and older with aortic stenosis can benefit from transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), this study finds. TAVR patients had a comparable risk of mortality as those who did not have the procedure, and quality of life improved within 6 months.  

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