Cardiac Surgery

Cardiothoracic surgery includes coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG), heart valve repair or replacement, left ventricular assist device (LVAD) placement, heart transplant, assisting in minimally invasive transcatheter valve structural heart procedures such as TAVR, left atrial appendage (LAA) occlusion, septal myectomy, surgical ablation for arrhythmias, and reconstruction of the heart in congenial heart disease cases.

New hypertrophic cardiomyopathy guidelines highlight importance of exercise, new drug class
HCM is widely underdiagnosed, but the American College of Cardiology and American Heart Association hope their new guidelines can help cardiologists learn more about the potentially fatal condition and improve patient care.
FDA warns against use of troubled heart devices, citing ‘continued concerns’ after multiple recalls
The agency is urging healthcare providers to transition away from these devices and seek out alternatives. It is even working with other manufacturers to try and get similar products on the market as quickly as possible.
Moderate aortic stenosis linked to heightened risk of death—should TAVR, surgery be considered?
Researchers tracked data from more than 400,000 patients for a new meta-analysis, presenting their findings in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
TAVR linked to lower stroke risk than SAVR in patients with AS and cardiogenic shock
TAVR is also associated with a lower risk of acute kidney injury in this patient population. In-hospital mortality rates, however, are similar between the two treatment options.
Cardiologists and surgeons perform world’s first robot-assisted TEER
A 62-year-old women presented with severe MR and recurrent heart failure episodes. Initial data suggest the procedure was a success.

How to improve shared decision-making among vascular surgeons and their patients

Researchers introduced decision support tools to 13 different hospitals, tracking the overall impact on shared-decision making and patient knowledge.

April 27, 2022

Tiny fragments of plastic are commonly found deep inside the human body. Heart surgery, it seems, is one of many ways these microplastics are reaching their destination. Surgeons Operating On Patient

COVID-19 vaccines improve outcomes for heart transplant patients

“In light of more infectious COVID-19 variants and ongoing high rates of transmission, COVID-19 vaccination for all orthotopic heart transplant recipients is of paramount importance,” the authors concluded.

April 27, 2022

Researchers awarded $1.4M to study heart transplants in children

The American Heart Association and Enduring Hearts awarded the grants to two research teams studying ways to improve heart transplant outcomes in children.

April 26, 2022

Machinist Patrick Leibich of Penn State College of Medicine’s division of Applied Biomedical Engineering works to create artificial heart parts. Image courtesy of Penn State.

Penn State researchers receive more than $3 million to develop new-look artificial heart

The group will be working to develop a wireless artificial heart that can last at least 10 years.

April 25, 2022

In a late-breaking long-term analysis presented at ACC 2022, the Medtronic CoreValve TAVR valve outperformed the surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) in terms of durability.

VIDEO: TAVR durability outperforms surgical valves

Michael J. Reardon, MD, professor of cardiothoracic surgery and Allison Family Distinguished chair of cardiovascular research at Houston Methodist DeBakey Heart and Vascular Center, presented pooled data at ACC.22 from the CoreValve SURTAVI trials that found transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) was more durable than surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) devices.

April 13, 2022

How the continued rise of TAVR has impacted SAVR outcomes

Did SAVR outcomes suffer due to the rapid rise of TAVR? A team of researchers aimed to find out with a brand new analysis.

April 12, 2022

Several ACC 2022 late-breaking trials may have impacts on clinical practice for interventional cardiology and structural heart. One trial compared FFR vs. IVUS guided PCI for intermediate coronary lesions. Photos by Dave Fornell

Key interventional cardiology takeaways from ACC.22

Several late-breaking clinical trials at ACC.22 will likely impact clinical practice. Below are summaries of a few key trials and their takeaways for interventional cardiology and structural heart interventions.

April 11, 2022

MitraClip vs mitral valve edge to edge repair (TEER).

VIDEO: MitraClip vs. surgical mitral valve replacement

Joanna Chikwe, MD, founding chair of the department of cardiac surgery at Cedars-Sinai Hospital, compares transcatheter edge-to-edge repair (TEER) to mitral valve surgery for primary mitral regurgitation.

April 7, 2022

Cardiac Surgery

New hypertrophic cardiomyopathy guidelines highlight importance of exercise, new drug class

FDA warns against use of troubled heart devices, citing ‘continued concerns’ after multiple recalls

Moderate aortic stenosis linked to heightened risk of death—should TAVR, surgery be considered?

TAVR linked to lower stroke risk than SAVR in patients with AS and cardiogenic shock

Cardiologists and surgeons perform world’s first robot-assisted TEER