Surgery/Specialties
Study: Postoperative potassium risk overstated for cardiac bypass patients
Editor's Note The common practice of administering potassium after bypass surgery can be safely abandoned in patients with normal blood levels, according to results of the randomized TIGHT-K trial. According to a September 3 report in Medscape, potassium supplementation is a widely accepted means of reducing the risk of postoperative…
World’s first whole-eye, partial-face transplant patient returns to daily life
Editor's Note Aaron James says he’s “pretty much back to being a normal guy, doing normal things” a year after undergoing the world’s first whole-eye and partial-face transplant at NYU Langone Health, according to a September 9 report from the academic medical center. The transplant restored essential facial functions, and…
Study: bariatric surgery beats medication for hypertension control
Editor's Note Findings to be presented at the American Heart Association's Hypertension Scientific Sessions 2024 suggest bariatric surgery may offer more effective long-term control of high blood pressure for people with obesity compared to medications and lifestyle changes, according to a September 5 report in News Medical. According to the…
Perioperative mortality for living kidney donors drops significantly
Editor's Note A recent study analyzing 30 years of national registry data shows a significant decline in perioperative mortality among living kidney donors, MedPage Today August 28 reports. From 2013 to 2022, the mortality rate within 90 days post-donation was 0.9 per 10,000 donations, compared to 2.9 per 10,000 in…
Flexibility for clinicians in managing RAS inhibitors in noncardiac surgery
Editor's Note A new study, the Stop-or-Not Trial, has found no significant difference in outcomes for patients undergoing noncardiac surgery who either continued or discontinued their renin-angiotensin system (RAS) inhibitor therapy, MedPage Today August 31 reports. The randomized clinical trial, which included over 2,200 patients, reported the rate of death…
Study: Women face higher mortality risk than men for postop atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery
Editor's Note A recent study from two tertiary care centers highlighted significant sex differences in long-term outcomes after cardiac surgery, especially concerning postoperative atrial fibrillation (postopAF), MedPage August 21 reports. The study, published in JAMA Network, found that while women were less likely than men to develop postopAF following a…
Brain implant leverages AI, neural sensors to restore speech for ALS patient
Editor's Note Researchers at UC Davis have developed a brain-computer interface (BCI) implant that has successfully restored speech in a patient with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), whose ability to speak had deteriorated, Fierce Biotech reported August 15. The breakthrough was achieved using neural sensors from Blackrock Neurotech and AI-driven text-to-speech…
Origami-inspired brain implants hold promise for Epilepsy surgery
Editor's Note Human trials may begin soon on patients in the UK using tiny, folding brain implants that could improve epilepsy surgery, according to an article published August 12 in The Telegraph. Developed by scientists at Oxford and Cambridge, who published their research in the journal Nature Communications, the implants…
Offsite sterilization fuels onsite efficiency for lean ASCs
For many in the healthcare industry, imagining surgery without onsite sterile processing seems unthinkable. Then again, performing total joints in an ambulatory surgery center (ASC) was unthinkable 10 years ago. ASC sterile processing departments (SPDs) are generally not designed to handle the high volumes of instrument trays, vendor trays, and…
Bleeding risk should dictate strategy for managing patients on direct oral anticoagulants
Editor's Note Clinicians managing surgical patients on direct oral anticoagulants (DOACs) should adopt a different approach depending on the procedure, according to research published August 12 in JAMA Network. Used to treat patients with atrial fibrillation and venous thromboembolism, DOACs must be managed effectively to minimize risks of bleeding, researchers…
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- HHS report highlights cost, access, quality concerns with private equity in healthcare
- Study: Racial, gender disparities persist in bariatric surgery
- Study: Dry eye risks complicate cataract surgery recovery
- Study: Observational learning ineffective in ensuring nursing student infection control compliance
- Students innovate to reduce OR plastic waste
- OR Business Management Conference 2025 features fresh perspectives, new tracks
- Survey: Bariatric surgery’s fertility benefits not widely understood
- Study highlights nurse staffing disparity in hospitals serving black populations
- Joint Commission issues new workplace violence prevention standards
- AI outperforms experts in ovarian cancer ultrasound detection