Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, Chemotherapy, JAMA, MD Anderson, Surgical Research / 20.04.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Audree Tadros, MD, MPH Chief Administrative Fellow, Breast Surgical Oncology Training Program Department of Breast Surgical Oncology MD Anderson Cancer Center and Henry M. Kuerer, MD, PhD, FACS Executive Director, Breast Programs MD Anderson Cancer Network PH and Fay Etta Robinson Distinguished Professor in Cancer Research Dept of Breast Surgical Oncology Director, Breast Surgical Oncology Training Program MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NCT) has the ability to confer a pCR (pathologic complete response-when no residual cancer is found) in both the breast and axillary lymph nodes. We know that this is most likely to occur in women with HER2 positive and triple negative disease. The high rate of pCR among these patients raises the question of whether surgery is still required, particularly among those who will receive adjuvant radiation therapy. Until recently, we lacked the ability to pre-operatively predict patients who achieved a breast pCR. Recently, we completed a clinical feasibility trial examining the ability of image-guided biopsy to predict a pCR after neoadjuvant chemotherapy. Our biopsy technique was able to accurately predict a pCR in 98% of patients with only a 5% false negative rate. Based upon these findings, we believe we can accurately determine which patients achieve a breast pCR. This led us to develop a clinical trial to see if breast surgery is redundant in patients who achieve a pCR. An important question that remained was if we are going to omit breast surgery in these exceptional responders, can we also omit axillary surgery? (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Opiods, Surgical Research, University of Michigan / 18.04.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Chad M. Brummett, MD Division of Pain Medicine, Department of Anesthesiology University of Michigan Medical School Ann Arbor, MI 48109  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The opioid epidemic has received considerable attention, but most of the focus has been on chronic pain and primary care. However, surgeons prescribe ~40% of the opioids in the US, and little attention has been given to the importance of prescribing after surgery. In this study, we found that among patients not using opioids in the year prior to surgery, ~6% of patients continued to use opioids long after what would be considered normal surgical recovery. Furthermore, there was no difference between patients undergoing minor and major surgeries, thereby suggesting that some patients continue to use opioids for reasons other than pain related to surgery. (more…)
AACR, Author Interviews, Lung Cancer, Surgical Research / 06.04.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Emanuela Taioli MD PhD Professor, Population Health Science and Policy, and Thoracic Surgery Director, Institute for Translational Epidemiology Director, Center for the Study of Thoracic Diseases Outcome Director, Division of Social Epidemiology Icahn Medical Institute, New York, NY 10029  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Extensive literature documenting the relationship between hospital volume and clinical outcomes has resulted in the centralization of cancer care advocating patients to seek cancer surgical procedures at high-volume (HV) hospitals. Lung resection and cystectomy have been specifically recommended for centralization, but improvements in outcomes are not shared equally among racial groups. It has also been reported that black patients more commonly undergo surgery at low-volume and lower-quality hospitals, despite living in close proximity to higher quality hospitals. We investigated the effects of centralization on HV hospital utilization and surgical outcomes for lung (n = 28,047 White; n = 2,638 Black) and bladder (n = 7,593 White; n = 567 Black) cancer patients over a 15 year time span (1997-2011) in New York State. We hypothesized that centralization has improved utilization of HV hospitals and outcomes for both black and white patients, but significant disparities remain between black and white patients. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cost of Health Care, JAMA, Surgical Research, Thyroid / 05.04.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Benjamin James, MD MS Assistant Professor of Surgery Adjunct Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology Section of Endocrine Surgery IU Division of General Surgery Indiana University Hospital Indianapolis, IN 46202 MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Over the few decades, there has been a substantial increase in the incidence of thyroid cancer. It is the fastest growing cancer and a recent study in JAMA found that the mortality rate has been rising. In 2006, Massachusetts passed healthcare reform, which expanded Medicaid, created new subsidized insurance programs for those ineligible for Medicaid and extended young adults eligibility on parental plans until the age of 26. The aim of our study was to evaluate the impact this has had on the treatment of thyroid cancer. To address this question, we used the Hospital Cost and Utilization Project State Inpatient Databases for Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, and Florida, which included a cohort of 56,581 inpatient admissions from 2001 to 2011. We then compared these states before and after the healthcare reform in Massachusetts to evaluate the effect the healthcare reform had on the treatment of thyroid cancer. (more…)
Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, Cancer Research, JAMA, Surgical Research / 31.03.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Rebecca Nash, MPH Rollins School of Public Health Emory University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Contralateral prophylactic mastectomy (CPM) in women with invasive early-stage unilateral breast cancer has significantly increased in the U.S. over the past decade, despite the lack of evidence for a survival benefit. This procedure is particularly common among patients younger than 45 years old. It is also more common in whites compared to blacks, and in privately insured patients compared to uninsured or Medicaid insured patients. However, the extent of regional variation across the United States was unknown. (more…)
Author Interviews, NYU, Smoking, Surgical Research, Tobacco Research / 17.03.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Amy Wasterlain, MD Fourth-year orthopaedic surgery resident NYU Langone Medical Center who led the study with Dr. Richard Iorio  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response:  We looked at smoking habits and outcomes for 539 smokers undergoing primary total hip or knee arthroplasty, 73 of whom participated in a pre-operative smoking cessation program. Patients who participated in program were 4.3 times more likely to quit than smokers who tried to quit on their own. Program participants also reduced their tobacco intake dramatically (10.6 fewer cigarettes/day) compared to smokers who didn’t participate (2.3 fewer cigarettes/day), even if they weren’t able to quit completely. Patients who completed the program before undergoing total knee arthroplasty had about 24% fewer adverse events (readmission, venous thromboembolism, stroke, urinary tract infection, pneumonia, and surgical site infection) than smokers who didn’t participate in the program. (more…)
Author Interviews, Gastrointestinal Disease, Surgical Research / 11.03.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Ronnie Fass, MD Professor, School of Medicine Case Western Reserve University MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: The endoscopic radiofrequency procedure (Stretta) has been used for more than a decade to treat patients with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). Over time, there were several Meta-analyses with variable designs of the Stretta procedure providing conflicting results. Thus, the purpose of the current systematic review and meta-analysis was to determine the efficacy of the Stretta procedure using all currently available controlled and cohort studies. (more…)
Author Interviews, BMJ, Orthopedics, Pain Research, Surgical Research / 08.02.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Jonas Bloch Thorlund Associate Professor (MSc, PhD) Department of Sports Science and Clinical Biomechanics Research Unit for Musculoskeletal Function and Physiotherapy University of Southern Denmark MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Arthroscopic partial meniscectomy is a very common knee surgery. Research evidence has seriously questioned the effect of this type of surgery for degenerative meniscal tears in middle-aged and older patients. Most young patients with traumatic meniscal injury (from sports or similar) also undergo this type of surgery. There is a general understanding that young patients with traumatic tears experience larger improvements in patient reported pain, function and quality of life. However, evidence for this presumption is sparse. (more…)
Author Interviews, Surgical Research / 02.02.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Karen Zaderej CEO, AxoGen Karen Zaderej joined AxoGen in May 2006. She has served as President, Chief Executive Officer and a member of the Board of Directors of AxoGen, Inc. since May 2010. Prior to her current role, she served as Chief Operating Officer from October 2007 to May 2010 and as Vice President of Marketing and Sales from May 2006 to October 2007. From October 2004 to May 2006, Karen worked for Zaderej Medical Consulting, a consulting firm she founded that helped medical device companies build and execute successful commercialization plans. From 1987 to 2004, Karen worked at Ethicon, Inc., a Johnson & Johnson company, where she held senior positions in marketing, business development, research & development, and manufacturing. Karen is a Director of SEBio, a non-profit supporting the life science industry in the southeastern United States. Karen earned an MBA from the Kellogg Graduate School of Business at Northwestern University and a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering from Purdue University. MedicalResearch.com: Please tell us about yourself and how you became CEO at AxoGen. Response: I met Jamie Grooms, co-founder of AxoGen, in 2005 and we had one of those meetings that change your life. Jamie is a serial entrepreneur and loves to start businesses. He had tried to make nerves in the past but had been unsuccessful. When he saw new technology at the University of Florida that explained some of the issues in regenerating nerves, he decided to found a company focused on nerve repair. In parallel, I had been in business development and strategic marketing for Johnson & Johnson and we had looked at the nerve repair market. We determined there was a significant unmet need in nerve repair, but we could not find any technology at that time that solved the surgical need. Several years later, I left J&J and started a consulting business focused on market development and commercialization of early stage med tech companies. Jamie and I met, and I found the technology I had been looking for years earlier. We had an exciting conversation about the potential to improve the lives of patients with nerve injuries. I saw the possibility to create an entire new segment in med tech, one dedicated to nerve repair. With that great potential in front of me, I closed my consulting business, moved to Florida, and joined the AxoGen team. (more…)
Author Interviews, Gastrointestinal Disease, Surgical Research / 24.01.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr. Mark Noar Director of The Heartburn and Reflux Study Center Towson, MD  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The background for this study was developed out of a need to know whether the Stretta procedure was effective in both the short and long-term in all forms of reflux. This included standard refluxing patients who had never had surgery but also in the subpopulation of patients who had recurring reflux after having had reflux corrective surgery. The question to be answered was whether the Stretta procedure would be less effective, more effective, or just as effective in the patient who had had prior surgery compared to patients who did not have surgery. The main findings were that independent of whether a patient had had surgery for the correction of reflux or just had standard reflux without prior surgery, the Stretta procedure was equally effective in all patient subgroups both in the short-term and the long-term. (more…)
Author Interviews, Hospital Acquired, Infections, Surgical Research / 24.01.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Kristen A. Ban, MD Loyola University American College Surgery Clinical Scholar MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The American College of Surgeons previously released surgical site infections (SSI) guidelines, and we wanted to update them with the most recent literature to give surgeons a concise, comprehensive document of recommended practices to reduce SSI. We were very fortunate to partner with our colleagues and content experts at the Surgical Infection Society for this update. There are a few areas where we had additional literature to support new or different guidelines. Blood glucose control is now recommended for all patients regardless of diabetic status. SSI reduction bundles have become very popular, and we emphasize that compliance must be high with all parts of these bundles to obtain the maximum benefit. Finally, we recommend cessation of prophylactic antibiotics at incision closure with some exceptions (mainly in regard to implanted material/hardware). (more…)
Anesthesiology, Author Interviews, JAMA, OBGYNE, Surgical Research / 20.01.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Adam Sachs MD Assistant Professor of Anesthesiology University of Connecticut School of Medicine MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: When women undergo appendectomy or cholecystectomy during pregnancy they are obviously concerned about the well being of their fetus. Unfortunately, the majority of the data available to council pregnant women is outdated and medical practice has significantly changed since their publication. (more…)
Author Interviews, Hospital Acquired, Infections, Surgical Research, Technology / 10.01.2017

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Alex Carignan, MD, MSc Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Université de Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada  MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Although reports of iatrogenic transmission directly linked to surgical power tools (SPTs) are rare, the decontamination of such instruments is challenging due to their complex designs, which may restrict access to cleaning and sterilization agents, and because they often become contaminated after use. Most studies on infection risk with ultrasonic surgical power tools include patients who underwent phacoemulsification surgeries,but it is logical to assume that lumen contaminants, including bacteria and proteinaceous material from previous operations, may be found in neurosurgery SPTs as well. During June 2015, the infection control department at our institution was notified of an increase in the number of surgical site infection cases following craniotomy since January 2015. We investigated an outbreak of neurosurgical SSIs at a tertiary care hospital in Quebec, Canada, to identify the outbreak’s cause, and our investigation strongly suggests that modifying the reprocessing procedure of an ultrasonic surgical aspirator caused the outbreak. (more…)
Author Interviews, Gender Differences, Lancet, OBGYNE, Surgical Research / 21.12.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Prof. Cathryn Glazener PhD Health Services Research Unit University of Aberdeen Aberdeen,UK MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Prolapse is a condition that affects up to half of all women after childbirth. Women notice a bulge or discomfort in their vaginas due to pressure from the bladder, bowel or womb moving downwards. Women who have surgery for their prolapse have a 3 in 10 chance of needing at least one more operation, so the success rate is not great. Gynaecologists hoped that by reinforcing their repairs the success rate would get better. PROSPECT was a pragmatic, multicentre randomised controlled trial conducted in 35 centres across the UK. Women undergoing their first operation for prolapse were randomised to having a standard repair of the front or back wall of the vagina, or a repair reinforced by synthetic non-absorbable mesh, or a biological graft. We found that, in contrast to previous research, women were just as likely to be cured after standard surgery rather than reinforced repairs. They were just as likely to have other symptoms such as bladder or sexual problems, and other adverse effects such as infection, bleeding or pain. However, about 1 in 10 of the women who had mesh did have mesh exposure when a small portion of the mesh becomes visible through the vaginal wall. Although many women did not have symptoms, about half of those women needed a small operation to remove or bury the exposed mesh. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, JACC, Surgical Research / 17.12.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Frederick L. Grover, M. D. Professor, Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery Past Chair, Department of Surgery University of Colorado School of Medicine-Anschutz Medical Campus Aurora, CO Past President, Society of Thoracic Surgeons Vice Chair, Society of Thoracic Surgeons/American College of Cardiology Transcatheter Valve Therapy Registry MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Following approval of the first transcatheter aortic heart valve late in 2011 the TVT-R was established and data entry was mandated by CMS for all patients who were undergoing transcatheter valve therapy.  Data is currently collected on transcatheter aortic valves (TAVR) from two companies, transcatheter mitral clip procedures (TMC), transcatheter mitral valve in valve or valve in ring procedures and aortic valve in valve procedures.  A report is published annually jointly in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology (JACC) and the Annals of Thoracic Surgery (ATS).  This report contains data from the beginning of 2012 through December 31, 2015.  Peoperative risk factors, operative details and outcomes data are collected prior to procedures, during the hospitalization, 30 days post procedure and at one year and later data can be collected by linking to CMS administrative data. For this annual report we concentrated on touching on some of the highlights since the length of the manuscript is limited. We discussed the trends in TAVR, since this is the most common procedure performed, the last two years’ experience in mitral clips since a very detailed paper was published on this last year, and the mitral valve in valve and ring since the results for this procedure were impressively good. In regard to TAVR, 418 sites perform this procedure and the number of cases in 2015 increased from 16,295 in 2014 to 24,808.  Very importantly, mortality and complications have been decreasing each year, probably related to improvements in the technology with smaller catheter and sheath sizes leading to less vascular complications, greater experience of those doing the procedures, a less sick group of patients going initially from those too ill to do an open operation on, to very high risk to high risk according to approval criteria.    The age of the patients however is most often in the 80s. (more…)
Author Interviews, Cancer Research, Dermatology, Surgical Research / 15.12.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Hywel C. Williams DSc, FMedSci, NIHR Senior Investigator Director of the NIHR Health Technology Assessment Programme http://www.nets.nihr.ac.uk/programmes/hta Professor of Dermato-Epidemiology and Co-Director of the Centre of Evidence-Based Dermatology, http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/research/groups/cebd/index.aspx University of Nottingham, Queen’s Medical Centre, Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust, Nottingham UK MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Our clinical trial of 5% imiquimod cream versus surgery for low risk basal carcinoma (BCC) of the skin was first prompted by a shocking lack of randomised controlled clinical trials for what is the commonest form of human cancer. We had conducted a Cochrane systematic review prior to starting the study and found very few long term studies. An emerging literature on imiquimod cream at the time suggested that it might have a clinically useful effect for low risk BCC. All the studies were short term and industry supported, so with the support of Cancer Research UK (UK largest cancer charity), we undertook a large independent study to see how the cream compared to the reference standard of excision surgery with a 4mm margin for low risk superficial and nodular BCC. Our three year results, published in Lancet Oncology, showed that surgery is clearly superior to imiquimod cream, with a success rate (absence of initial failure and no signs of recurrence at 3 years) of 98.4% compared to 83.6% for imiquimod. Nevertheless, the 83.6% success rate is still potentially useful, so we wanted to see whether these 3 year results were sustained. So we followed up your study participants for a total of 5 years and found that the response rates at 5 years were almost the same as those at 3 years (97.7% and 82.5% for surgery and imiquimod respectively). Most treatment failures with imiquimod occurred early on ie in the first year of treatment. Our study shows that if initial treatment works, the benefits are sustained. (more…)
Author Interviews, Education, JAMA, Surgical Research / 15.12.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Mohammed Al-Omran, MD, MSc, FRCSC Head, Division of Vascular Surgery St. Michael’s Hospital Professor, Department of Surgery University of Toronto MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: General surgery residency is among the most demanding clinical training programs in medicine. Several studies have suggested surgical residents have a relatively high attrition rate; however, no study has systematically reviewed the overall prevalence and causes of attrition among general surgery residents. We included over 20 studies representing 19,821 general surgery residents in our review. Most studies were from the US. We found the pooled estimate of attrition prevalence among general surgery residents was 18%. Female residents were more likely to leave than male (25% versus 15%), and residents were most likely to leave after their first training year (48%). Departing residents most commonly switched to another medical specialty (such as anaesthesia, plastic surgery, radiology or family medicine) or relocated to another general surgery program. The most common causes of attrition were uncontrollable lifestyle (range of 18% to 88%) and transferring to another specialty (range of 18% to 39%). (more…)
Author Interviews, Breast Cancer, Chemotherapy, Mammograms, MD Anderson, Surgical Research / 12.12.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Henry M. Kuerer, MD, PhD, FACS Executive Director, Breast Network Programs MD Anderson Cancer Network PH and Fay Etta Robinson Distinguished Professor in Research Department of Breast Surgical Oncology Director, Breast Surgical Oncology Training Program MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Worldwide, triple negative and HER2 positive breast cancers, combined, account for about 370,000 women diagnosed annually. With recent advances in neoadjuvant systemic therapy (NST, chemotherapy and targeted therapy given before surgery) for both subsets, the pCR (pathologic complete response- when no residual cancer is found) rates found at the time of surgery in these populations can be as high as 60 percent. This high rate of pCR naturally raises the question of whether surgery is required for all patients, particularly those who will receive adjuvant radiation. We believe surgery may potentially be redundant – at least for these two subtypes of breast cancer – because of such a high chance for no evidence of disease at the time of pathological review. If there’s no cancer left after the patient has received chemotherapy and the patient is going to receive local radiation therapy, is surgery actually needed? The challenge has been that standard breast imaging methods cannot accurately predict residual disease after NST. However, by doing the same image-guided percutaneous needle biopsies after neoadjuvant systemic therapy that we do at time of diagnosis, our preliminary research reveals that we may be able to accurately predict which women will have cancer or not. (more…)
Author Interviews, Dermatology, Surgical Research, Telemedicine, UT Southwestern / 05.12.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Rajiv Nijhawan MD Department of Dermatology The University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Dallas MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: From a healthcare perspective, we are constantly working to improve access to patients, and telemedicine has proved to be an excellent platform for this goal especially in the field of dermatology. In regards to surgical dermatology, the role of telemedicine has been limited. The ubiquity of smartphones with photograph capability has provided an opportunity for patients to take self-acquired photographs (selfies) easily. Our experience has been that few patients who call with post-operative concerns have major issues (e.g. infection, bleeding, etc.) while the majority of concerns are minor in nature, and patients are often seeking reassurance. Our study shows that the majority of concerns can easily be triaged and managed through patient-directed photography without burdening the patient to take time off work for another appointment, find transportation/travel (many of our patients travel hours for their visits), wait to see the provider, etc. This option of triaging a post-operative concern essentially immediately through the use of patient-directed photographs provides the opportunity for immediate feedback on the patient’s concerns and likely reduces anxiety while making the process as patient-centered as possible. In addition, it allows the physician to be as efficient as possible by not having to overbook his/her schedule to accommodate these often non-urgent concerns. (more…)
Accidents & Violence, Anemia, Author Interviews, Hematology, Surgical Research, Technology / 05.12.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Allan Doctor, MD Pediatric Critical Care Medicine Professor of Pediatrics and (Associate) Biochemistry Washington University School of Medicine & Saint Louis Children’s Hospital St. Louis, Missouri MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Our research team has developed the first nanoscale artificial cells designed to emulate vital functions of natural red blood cells. If ultimately confirmed safe for use in humans, this nanotechnology-based product, called ‘ErythroMer’, could represent a new and innovative alternative to blood transfusions that would be especially valuable in situations where stored blood is needed, but difficult to obtain or use, such as in pre-hospital or battlefield settings. The artificial cells are designed to be freeze-dried, stored for extended periods at ambient temperatures, and simply reconstituted with water for immediate use. This year, the National Academy of Sciences estimated that 30,000 civilian trauma deaths/year are preventable and of these, two-thirds arise from hemorrhage in the pre-hospital phase of care. One key goal for our team is to advance treatment for trauma victims or soldiers in austere environments by initiating resuscitation in the field, particularly when transport is prolonged. ErythroMer could be a blood substitute that medics carry in their pack and literally take it out, add water, and inject. There are currently no simple, practical means to bring transfusion to most trauma victims outside of hospitals. Delays in resuscitation significantly impact outcomes; it is our goal to push timely, effective care to field settings. (more…)
Author Interviews, Frailty, JAMA, Surgical Research, University of Pittsburgh / 01.12.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Daniel E. Hall, MD, MDiv, MHSc, FACS Associate Professor of Surgery University of Pittsburgh Staff Surgeon VA Pittsburgh Healthcare System Core Investigator VA Center for Health Equity Research and Promotion. PIttsburgh, PA MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: A growing body of research demonstrates that frailty is a more powerful predictor of postoperative outcomes than risk-prediction models based on age or comorbidity alone. However, it has not been clear if surgeons could intervene on frailty to improve outcomes. This study reports what we believe to be the first ever demonstration that it is not only feasible to screen an entire health system for frailty, but that it is possible to act on that information to improve outcomes. Every patient evaluated for elective surgery was screened for frailty with a brief tool that takes 1-2 minutes to complete. Those identified as potentially frail and thus at greater risk for poor surgical outcomes received an ad-hoc administrative review aimed at optimizing perioperative care. After implementing the frailty screening initiative, we observed a 3-fold increase in long-term survival at 6 and 12 months—even after controlling for age, frailty, and predicted mortality. (more…)
Author Interviews, NEJM, Outcomes & Safety, Surgical Research / 22.11.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Alan Karthikesalingam MD PhD, NIHR Academic Clinical Lecturer in Vascular Surgery St George's Vascular Institute London, UK MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The background for this study was that the typical diameter at abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA)  repair, and the population incidence of AAA repair, have been known to vary considerably between different countries. This study aimed to observe whether a discrepancy in the population incidence rate of AAA repair between England and the USA was seen alongside a discrepancy in population rates of AAA-related mortality or AAA rupture in those countries. (more…)
Author Interviews, Gender Differences, Heart Disease, Surgical Research / 21.11.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Dr James Spratt Bsc, MD, FRCP, FESC, FACC Spire Edinburgh Hospitals and Spire Murrayfield Edinburgh Spire Shawfair Park Hospital MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Gender differences exist between male and female patients following routine PCI but data regarding these differences in Chronic Total Occlusions (CTO) Percutaneous Coronary Intervention (PCI) is limited. We maintain a dedicated national (United Kingdom) prospective CTO database contributed to by dedicated CTO PCI operators (lifetime CTO PCI >300). We retrospectively analysed this database from 2011-2015 to compare outcomes and characteristics of male versus female patients undergoing CTO PCI. We attempted to limit the bias of this observational study by propensity matched analysis. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, OBGYNE, Surgical Research, Weight Research / 15.11.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Brodie Parent, MD MS General Surgery R4 University of Washington MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: We already knew that women with a history of bariatric surgery are a high risk group when it comes to childbirth. Our study has confirmed prior data which show that infants from these women are at a higher risk for being premature, low birth-weight, or requiring ICU admission. However, this is some of the first data which looks at their risk over time after recovery from the operation. Data from this study show that risks to the infant are highest in the first 3 years after an operation, and diminish over time. This suggests that women should wait a minimum of three years after an operation before attempting conception. (more…)
Author Interviews, Heart Disease, JACC, Surgical Research / 28.10.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Anna Franzone, MD and Prof.Thomas Pilgrim, MD Department of Cardiology Bern University Hospital INSELSPITAL Bern, Switzerland MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Surgical aortic valve replacement is the therapeutic standard for patients with pure native aortic regurgitation (AR). However, transcatheter aortic valve implantation (TAVI) is emerging as a novel treatment option for patients deemed inoperable or at high-risk for surgery because of advanced age and multiple comorbidities. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis including 237 patients with pure native AR undergoing TAVI across 13 studies. The primary study endpoint, all-cause mortality at 30-day, ranged from 0% up to 30% with a summary estimate rate of 7% . The occurrence of complications such as the need for a second valve implantation was relatively low as well as the rates of other endpoints (cerebrovascular events, major bleeding and vascular complications). (more…)
Author Interviews, Hip Fractures, Orthopedics, Surgical Research / 27.10.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Tom Withers Research Student, School of Health Sciences University East Anglia Norwich, UK MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: There is a lot of subjective evidence to suggest that physical activity does not improve following hip replacement we wanted to therefore synthesise the current evidence to come to a more objective conclusion. The main finding from this study is that physical activity does not significantly change pre-operatively compared to up to one year post-operatively. (more…)
Author Interviews, JAMA, Surgical Research / 21.10.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Thue Bisgaard, M.D., D.M.Sc Professor of Surgery, Hvidovre Hospital Hvidovre Denmark MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: The complete spectrum for the benefits and risks of mesh used to reinforce hernia repair is not known because there are very few clinical trial data reporting hernia outcomes as they pertain to mesh utilization. Generally, there is evidence that mesh is beneficial in terms of less risk of reoperation for recurrence after incisional hernia repair compared with sutured repair. The present study confirmed this for the first time in nationwide analysis with a long-term follow-up of 5 years up. From earlier studies from our group (Ann Surg 2012) it is known that reoperation rate for recurrence severely underestimates overall (clinical) risk of recurrence making differences between mesh vs. sutured repair even much bigger. Although rare (5%) the incidence of mesh-related complications was progressively increasing throughout the study period suggesting that mesh-related complications rate may continue to accrue with even longer follow-up. (more…)
Anesthesiology, Author Interviews, Opiods, Pain Research, Surgical Research / 18.10.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Bryan Sakamoto MD, PhD Department of Anesthesia Richard L. Roudebush, Veterans Affairs Medical Center Department of Anesthesia Indiana University School of Medicine Indianapolis, Indiana MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? Response: Liposomal bupivacaine is a novel extended-duration anesthetic that has recently become a popular option in total knee arthroplasty (TKA) for post-operative pain management. Although liposomal bupivacaine is widely used, it is unknown if the benefits justify the cost in the veteran population at our institution. The main purpose of this medication use study was to evaluate the cost verses benefit of using this agent in our veteran patient population. (more…)
Author Interviews, Outcomes & Safety, Surgical Research / 18.10.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Vishal Sarwahi, MD, senior author Associate Surgeon-in-Chief Chief, Spinal Deformity and Pediatric Orthopaedics Billie and George Ross center for Advanced Pediatric Orthopaedics and Minimally Invasive Spinal Surgery Cohen's Children Medical Center Northwell Hofstra School of Medicine and Stephen F. Wendolowski Research Assistant Pediatric Orthopaedics Cohen Children’s Medical Center New Hyde Park, NY, 11040 MedicalResearch.com: What is LEAN? Response: LEAN is a management principle that supports the concept of continuous improvement through small incremental changes to not only improve efficiency, but also quality. Particularly, we took interest in the 5S’s – Sort, Simplify, Sweep, Standardize, and Self-Discipline. We felt that Sort, Simplify, and Standardize were the most relevant to surgery. (more…)
Author Interviews, Brigham & Women's - Harvard, Cost of Health Care, Surgical Research / 06.10.2016

MedicalResearch.com Interview with: Diego Lopez Harvard medical student and Dr. Andrew Loehrer MD former surgical resident at MGH senior author: David C. Chang, PhD, MPH, MBA Associate Professor of Surgery Director of Healthcare Research and Policy Development Department of Surgery Massachusetts General Hospital Harvard Medical School MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study? What are the main findings? Response: Income inequality in the United States has been increasing in recent decades, and has become an important in this election cycle. Although income inequality is often framed in terms of its effects on politics and the economy, little attention has been paid to its effect on the healthcare system. In our study, we set out to evaluate the way in which counties with differing levels of income inequality made use of the healthcare system while controlling for the overall income (as well as other demographic variables). We found that areas with higher income inequality were associated with higher Medicare expenditures.  And these effects are independent of – meaning they are in addition to – the known effect of poverty on healthcare utilization. (more…)