Author: Maria Fabrizio KHN Medicare cut payments to 2,583 hospitals continuing the Affordable Care Act’s eight-year campaign to financially pressure hospitals into reducing the number of patients who return for a second stay within a month. The severity and broad application of the penalties, which Medicare estimates will cost hospitals $563 million over a year, […]
Read MoreAuthors: Emily J. MacKay, DO et al Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia January 2019 Volume 33, Issue 1, Pages 118–133 Objective The authors sought to assess for the presence of practice variation in the use of intraoperative transesophageal echocardiography (TEE) for open cardiac valve surgery. Design This study was a retrospective cohort analysis. Setting The […]
Read MoreAuthors: Jean-Sébastien Lebon, BPharm, MD, FRCPC et al Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia Vol 32 Issue 2 pages 656-663 Objective To compare antegrade and retrograde cardioplegia administration in minimally invasive mitral valve surgery (MIMS) and open mitral valve surgery (OMS) for myocardial protection. Participants The study comprised 118 patients undergoing MIMS and 118 patients […]
Read MoreAuthors: Essam Abd Allah, MD et al Journal of Cardiothoracic and Vascular Anesthesia Objectives To evaluate the role of prophylactic high-dose atorvastatin for prevention of postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF), inflammatory response attenuation, and myocardial protection after valve replacement cardiac surgery. Participants Sixty-four adult patients undergoing cardiac valve replacement surgery. Interventions The participants were equally divided […]
Read MoreAuthor: RK MD With the number of patients receiving permanent pacemakers (PPMs) and implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICDs) increasing each year, we’ll see more of these devices in our respective clinical settings. With this post, I’ll try to simplify pacemaker nomenclature (ie, DDDR or AOO) and the implications of placing the magnet. All ICDs have a pacemaker function but […]
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