Editor's Note Hospitals with high volumes of surgical aortic valve replacements (SAVRs) are more likely to be fast adopters of transcatheter aortic valve replacement procedures (TAVRs), and accumulating SAVR and TAVR caseloads is associated with better survival after TAVR, this study finds. Using Medicare data on 60,538 TAVR procedures performed…

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Editor's Note In this study, minimally invasive radical hysterectomy was associated with worse overall survival and higher recurrence rates than open abdominal radical hysterectomy for women with early-stage IA or IB cervical cancer. Of 631 patients analyzed: Minimally invasive surgery was associated with a three-fold increase in disease progression. The…

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Editor's Note The American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) on October 31 recognized 83 hospitals for achieving “Meritorious” outcomes for surgical patient care in 2017; 568 hospitals were eligible. ACS NSQIP-participating hospitals are required to track outcomes of inpatient and outpatient surgical outcomes and analyze…

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Editor's Note In this study, researchers developed an algorithm model that accurately identified surgical site infections (SSIs) using independent variables from electronic health record data and outcomes from the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP). Researchers fit 3 models to data from patients having surgery at the…

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Editor's Note Most complications of colorectal resection steadily decreased and early hospital discharges increased over 10 years of participation in the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP), finds this study presented October 24 at the American College of Surgeons 2018 Clinical Congress in Boston. Of…

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Editor's Note Mastectomy patients treated with a new long-acting pain medication were able to be discharged the same day of surgery with a reduced need for opioids in this study presented October 23 at the American College of Surgeons 2018 Clinical Congress in Boston. A total of 100 mastectomy patients…

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Editor's Note The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) announced October 23 that free informational webinars will start October 29 for hospitals interested in implementing the AHRQ Safety Program for Improving Surgical Care and Recovery for gynecology, colorectal, hip fracture, or joint replacement procedures. The Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute…

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Editor's Note A treatment protocol that sends patients home after colorectal surgery without any opioids, resulted in shorter hospital length of stay (LOS) in this study presented October 22 at the American College of Surgeons 2018 Clinical Congress in Boston. The Enhanced Recovery After Surgery protocol included: patient education about…

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Editor's Note States with poor access to trauma centers have more deaths before injured patients arrive at the hospital than states with better access, finds this study presented October 22 at the American College of Surgeons 2018 Clinical Congress in Boston. Overall, the largest percentage of trauma deaths occurred before…

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Editor's Note Physical activity may attenuate the risk of mortality associated with frailty in old age, this study finds. In this analysis of data on 3,896 adults aged 60 and older during a median of 14 years of follow-up, physical activity was associated with lower mortality in prefrail and frail…

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