Surgery/Specialties Editor's Note Adding oral antibiotics to mechanical bowel preparation for left colorectal cancer surgery significantly lowered the rate of surgical site infections (SSIs), but the effect was marginal in right-colon resections, this study finds. For 89 patients having left colorectal resections, the rate of SSIs was 27% with mechanical bowel…
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on October 19 issued an updated Safety Alert for implantable cardioverter defibrillators and cardiac resynchronization therapy defibrillators by St Jude Medical. Because batteries for the devices may fail earlier than expected, St Jude has made available a new battery performance management tool,…
Editor's Note A new app developed by students at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee’s (UWM’s) App Brewery and a neuropsychologist at the Medical College of Wisconsin (MCW) monitors critical brain functions during neurosurgical procedures in which patients are awake. The app, called “NeruoMapper,” assists neurosurgeons who are removing tumors by helping…
Editor's Note Risk assessments of postoperative complications and death in surgically complex patients were not significantly different between internal medicine and general surgery residents in this study. However, both groups overestimated the risks compared with the American College of Surgeons’ National Surgical Quality Improvement Project (ACS NSQIP) risk adjusted model.…
Editor's Note Surgical patients who received antibiotic prophylaxis before low-risk procedures did not have an increased risk for postoperative antibiotic-resistant infections, this study finds. Of 22,138 patients included in the analysis, 689 developed an infection within 30 days after surgery. Of these, 550 (80%) had received antibiotic prophylaxis, and 338…
Editor's Note Acute care surgery (ie, an organized system of trauma, general surgery, and critical care) implementation has occurred unevenly across the US, with rural communities and regions the slowest, this study finds. Of 1,690 hospitals surveyed, 272 had implemented acute care surgery by 2015−an increase from 34 in 2001…
Editor's Note All-cause readmission is the only metric in widespread use, but it overlooks important information that enables readmission risk to be understood, this study finds. Of 514,455 patients in the UK analyzed over a 10-year period, there were 30,489 all-cause readmissions, 16,499 readmissions related to the surgical site, and…
Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on October 3 issued a Safety Alert saying the agency had received an adverse event report on a patient who was diagnosed with bilateral hemorrhagic occlusive retinal vasculitis after being administered injections of a compounded triamcinolone, moxifloxacin, vancomycin (TMV) formulation in each…
Editor's Note A lack of awareness of the financial burden of physician burnout and uncertainty about what can be done to reduce or prevent it have been barriers to organizations taking action to address the problem, finds this study. Reviewing available evidence and analyzing the financial costs of physician burnout…
Editor's Note Physical activity in total joint patients did not change at 6 months after surgery and small-moderate improvement was found at 12 months, despite large improvements in pain and quality of life, this meta-analysis finds. A total of seven studies (336 patients) were analyzed. Reasons for the lack of…
