Editor's Note The Joint Commission on April 13 unveiled its Top 10 Challenging Standards for Ambulatory Health Care and Office-Based Surgery accredited organizations in 2016. Leading the top 10 are: IC.02.02.01: The organization reduces the risk of infections associated with medical equipment, devices, and supplies. HR.02.01.03: The organization grants initial,…

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Editor's Note Conscious sedation is a safe and viable option for anesthesia in patients having transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR), finds this study. The use of conscious sedation rather than general anesthesia was associated with: similar rates of adverse events (1.5% in both groups) shortened ICU (30 vs 96 hours)…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on April 6 announced the recall of all lots of sterile products compounded and packaged by Isomeric Pharmacy Solutions (Salt Lake City, Utah). The recall was issued because of FDA concerns of a lack of sterility assurance, which were brought to Isomeric’s…

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Editor's Note A home-based preoperative training program decreased hospital length of stay (LOS), reduced costs, and was well accepted by patients, this study finds. Elements of the Michigan Surgical Home and Optimization Program include improving the patient’s diet, reducing stress, breathing exercises, smoking cessation, and an emphasis on light physical…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on April 8 announced the recall of all StrataMR adjustable valves and shunts manufactured by Medtronic (Dublin, Ireland). The recall was issued because of a postimplantation problem that can lead to under-drainage of cerebrospinal fluid, which can lead to headaches, nausea, vomiting,…

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Editor's Note This study finds that the American College of Surgeons (ACS) National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) Surgical Risk Calculator serves its intended purpose of providing a general purpose risk calculator, which is applicable across many surgical domains, using easily understood and generally available predictive information. The Surgical Risk…

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Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on March 31 labeled Merit Medical Systems' (South Jordan, Utah) recall of the Prelude Short Sheath Introducer as Class I, the most serious. The recall was issued because of a manufacturing defect that may cause the tip to separate from the sheath…

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Editor's Note On April 5, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced that Medtronic (Minneapolis) has notified its customers of a field corrective action for all Newport HT70 and Newport HT70 Plus ventilators manufactured since 2010. The field corrective action is being conducted after reports that the ventilator may reset…

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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 A new outbreak of infections outside the US have been tied to a duodenoscope Olympus modified last year to reduce the risk of transmitting bacteria between patients, the March 22 Los Angeles Times reports. The outbreak of Klebsiella pneumoniae in five patients occurred at the end of December…

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