Surgery/Specialties Editor's Note Ambient intraoperative OR temperature had a negligible effect on core temperature when patients were warmed with forced air in this study. The effect was larger when patients were passively insulated, but the magnitude remained small. A total of 292 adult patients were randomized to ambient temperatures 19º, 21º,…
Editor's Note Opioid abuse or dependence after major surgical procedures was associated with increased readmission rates and healthcare utilization. Of 16,016,842 patients in the National Readmission Database analyzed, 94,903 (0.6%) had diagnoses of opioid abuse or dependence. Comparing patients with and without opioid abuse or dependence, researchers found that patients…
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on May 8 sent a letter to healthcare providers that included recommendations on the use of neurovascular stents for stent-assisted coiling in the treatment of unruptured brain aneurysms. The FDA has received reports associated with these devices that suggest events of peri-procedural…
Editor's Note The American College of Surgeons (ACS), Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, AORN, Joint Commission, and three other organizations have developed consensus recommendations on OR attire. The recommendations focus on ear and hair covering and include: Evidence-based recommendations on surgical attire are best created collaboratively, with…
Editor's Note Surgeon preference for bouffant versus skull caps does not have a significant effect on surgical site infection (SSI) rates, after accounting for procedure type, this study finds. Of 1,543 procedures analyzed, surgeons wore bouffant caps in 39% and skull caps in 61% of cases. Overall, SSIs occurred in…
Editor's Note A change of policy to allow the practice of overlapping surgery for urgent neurosurgical procedures in a tertiary care, safety-net hospital significantly reduced length of stay, in this study presented May 1 at the American Association of Neurological Surgeons in New Orleans. Of 452 cases analyzed (201 in…
Editor's Note In this study, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) had a greater risk of transmission in the OR than methicillin-sensitive S aureus. Researchers collected 173 S aureus isolates from 274 randomly selected ORs (first and second cases of the day in each OR) at three hospitals. The isolates underwent systematic-phenotypic…
Editor's Note A statistically significant association was found between type 2 diabetes and the risk of hip fracture in this study. Researchers analyzed 158,984 patients with and without diabetes. The incidence of hip fracture in diabetics was 2.3% using the competing risk with death methodology (Fine-Gray models) and 2.6% using…
Editor's Note Surgeons at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, completed the first successful penis transplantation in the US in a patient who had a subtotal penectomy for penile cancer. Operative reinterventions were needed on postoperative days 2 and 3 for hematoma evacuation and skin eschar debridement. At 3 weeks, no…
Editor's Note In this study, non-elective surgical procedures performed by older surgeons (aged 50 and up) had lower mortality rates than those performed by younger surgeons, and mortality rates did not differ significantly by surgeon gender. A total of 892,187 Medicare patients who had one of 20 common types of…
