Editor's Note For women with stage I endometrial cancer, the use of total abdominal hysterectomy compared with total laparoscopic hysterectomy resulted in equivalent disease-free survival at 4.5 years and no difference in overall survival in this study. Of 760 women included in the analysis, disease-free survival at 4.5 years was…

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Editor's Note Total hip replacement patients experience meaningful and lasting improvement in quality of life (QOL) through at least 5-years after the procedure, this study finds. The analysis included 188 total hip replacement patients at seven hospitals who were evaluated with a standard quality-of-life assessment, called the “Short Form 36,”…

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Editor's Note A position paper from the American College of Physicians (ACP) makes recommendations on administrative tasks to mitigate or eliminate their adverse effects on physicians, their patients, and the whole healthcare system. Among the recommendations: Stakeholders external to physician practices (ie, payers, government and other oversight organizations, vendors, and…

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Editor's Note A proposed international standard, “WK33006, Guide for Impingement Testing of Total Disc Prostheses,” being developed by ASTM’s committee on medical and surgical materials and devices could help manufacturers improve designs for total disc replacements. The proposed standard will guide manufacturers through the process of characterizing “impingement behavior” of…

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Editor's Note Hospital surgical readmissions are primarily explained by patient- and procedure-specific factors and less by broader specialty and hospital effects, this study finds. There was no correlation between specialty-specific readmissions for general and orthopedic, general and vascular, and vascular and orthopedic procedures. Within specialties, there were modest correlations between…

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Editor's Note In a March 21 Safety Alert, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) updated its data on breast implant-associated anaplastic large cell lymphoma (BIA-ALCL) to reflect the World Health Organization designation of BIA-ALCL as a rare T-cell lymphoma that can develop following breast implants. At this time the data…

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Editor's Note Differences in perception of hospital care exist between men and women after total hip replacement (THR), finds this study presented March 14 at the 2017 Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons in San Diego. Using patient satisfaction data from Press Ganey, researchers found that staff…

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Editor's Note A Transparency Market Research analysis predicts the global market for hip replacement implants will reach $9.1 billion by 2024, with a 3.9% compound annual growth rate, the March 17 Becker’s Spine Review reports. Fueling the growth are an expanding geriatric population, an increasing incidence of osteoarthritis, and technological…

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Editor's Note In an interim final rule, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has delayed expansion of the Comprehensive Care for Joint Replacement (CJR) bundled payment program and  implementation of its bundled payment programs for cardiac care from July 1 to October 1, 2017, the March 20 Modern…

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Editor's Note Managing appendicitis with antibiotics on an outpatient basis shows promise as a safe, effective, lower-cost alternative to surgery, this study finds. Of 30 patients involved in the trial, 15 were randomized to antibiotics and 14 to appendectomy. A total of 14 patients in the antibiotic group were discharged from…

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