Feb 06, 2014

In 2003, the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) released its first regulations on work hours and supervision for residents. However, with these first regulations came much de...

Jan 28, 2014

The Particulars: Surgical site infections (SSIs) can increase mortality, readmission rates, lengths of stay, and costs when compared with no SSIs. Investigators report that there is a need to reduce t...

Jan 28, 2014

The Particulars: Recently, transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) became a commercially available treatment for aortic stenosis in the United States. Little is known about the impact that TAVR ...

Jan 28, 2014

The Particulars: Research indicates that the average survival rate for adult heart transplant recipients is currently 10 years. Little is known about survival rates among pediatric heart transplant re...

Jan 27, 2014

According to a study in the Mayo Clinic Proceedings, 146 papers appearing in the New England Journal of Medicine over the first decade of this century contradicted medical practices previously thought...

Jan 22, 2014

At hospitals throughout the country, surgery department chairmen have an important leadership role with regard to faculty and student affairs, budgetary requirements, research, and alumni and communit...

Jan 22, 2014

The Particulars: Drug-eluting bioresorbable vascular scaffolds (BVS)—which naturally dissolve into the blood stream within 18 to 24 months—have been found to effectively treat coronary artery dise...

Jan 22, 2014

Emergency and trauma surgeries are increasingly being performed by the same providers, often using the same resources. It has been implied that improvements in care for one of these populations could ...

Jan 21, 2014

The Particulars: The EkoSonic Endovascular System is a device that uses ultrasound to accelerate the action of anticoagulants. Studies have yet to compare the technology to standard intravenous antico...

Jan 21, 2014

The Particulars: Research indicates that approximately one-third of patients with untreated peripheral arterial disease (PAD)-induced intermittent claudication develop critical limb ischemia. Stent th...

Jan 21, 2014

New research is being presented at STS 2014, the 50th Annual Meeting of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons, from January 25 to 29 in Orlando.   STS leaders describe some of the mus...

Jan 20, 2014

A couple of months ago, a post called "Everything's my fault: How a surgeon says I'm sorry" appeared on KevinMD. It was by a plastic surgeon who feels that no matter what goes wrong with a patient, su...

Jan 16, 2014

New research is being presented at ISET 2014, the annual  International Symposium on Endovascular Therapy, from January 18 to 22 in Miami Beach. Meeting Highlights Nitinol Stents Maintain QOL ...

Jan 08, 2014

About 16% of all colorectal surgical patients on Medicare are readmitted to the hospital within 30 days. These readmissions last more than 1 week, on average, and cost the healthcare system $300 milli...

Dec 19, 2013

A doctor takes his patients to great new heights—by breaking their legs. National Geographic presents a video on the taboo procedure of limb lengthening. Source: National Geographic...

Dec 16, 2013

I just found out about an article that appeared in Forbes online 7 months ago. It said that a certain hospital system's postoperative infection rate was 5% and then said, "For US hospitals, this is no...

Dec 06, 2013

According to the CDC, the mortality rate associated with Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) increased by 400% between 2000 and 2007, due in part to a stronger germ strain. CDI accounts for approxim...

Dec 02, 2013

About a decade ago, the Joint Section on Disorders of the Spine and Peripheral Nerves of the Congress of Neurological Surgeons (CNS) and the American Association of Neurological Surgeons (AANS) releas...

Dec 02, 2013

Deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery is a procedure in which electrodes are implanted into specific brain structures and connected to a pacemaker. DBS has been used effectively to treat several neurol...

Dec 02, 2013

Media outlets (Wall Street Journal, Gizmodo) are again reporting that automation is degrading pilots' skills, although this has been known for over 2 years. I blogged about the subject back then as pa...