Editor's Note This study from the University of California San Francisco finds that pediatric patients with risk factors for respiratory complications had a greater incidence of adverse events under general anesthesia during periods of unhealthy air quality caused by wildfire smoke. A total of 625 pediatric patients were included in…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on October 31 issued a Medical Device Safety Communication on tracheostomy tube shortages. Included in the shortages are Bivona tracheostomy tubes manufactured by ICU Medical, which are more likely to affect pediatric patients. Also on the shortage list are JOH Tube Tracheostomy…

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Editor's Note This experimental study, led by researchers at the University of Washington, Seattle, finds that chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) is the most effective irrigation solution for use as part of the surgical treatment of bone tumors. Cultures of two types of bone tumors (giant cell and chondrosarcoma) were treated with…

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Editor's Note Reducing noise in the OR positively affects children’s postoperative behavior, according to research presented October 24 at the Anesthesiology 2022 annual meeting in New Orleans. The study, led by researchers at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, included 64 preschool children (ages 4 to 5 years old) having general…

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Editor's Note This study by researchers at Kaiser Permanente and the University of California, San Francisco-East Bay, Oakland, finds that having a surgical procedure shortly after COVID-19 infection was not associated with higher risks in fully vaccinated patients or those who did not have general anesthesia. The analysis included 228,913…

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Editor's Note This Swiss study finds that better OR ventilation properties, as assessed with a new ventilation index, are associated with lower rates of surgical site infections (SSIs) in orthopedic, spine, and cardiac procedures. Researchers calculated a ventilation index with higher values reflecting less turbulent air displacement instead of comparing…

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Editor's Note In this study from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, researchers find that nearly a fifth of cases canceled on the day of surgery are never rescheduled, and, if they are rescheduled, the delay can be substantial. During the 2-year study period, 4,472 cases were canceled on the day…

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Editor's Note The Joint Commission on October 5 announced that refreshed Accelerate PI Dashboard Reports are available for primary and comprehensive stroke centers to provide performance measurement data on the quality measures selected for advanced certification. The reports contain data through the first quarter of 2022 and are intended to…

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Editor's Note The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has released new statistics on inpatient stays with OR procedures by patient race and ethnicity from the 2019 National Inpatient Sample. Among the findings: Nonmaternal (ie, men and women of any age) hospitalizations with OR procedures in Black and White…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on September 30 identified the recall by LivaNova (TandemLife) of its LifeSPARC System, Model LS-1000, as Class I, the most serious. The recall was initiated because of the risk of unintentional extended pump stop during Controller Critical Failure mode, caused by a…

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