January 5th, 2011
Do Sleep-Deprived Invasive Cardiologists Cause Complications?
Richard A. Lange, MD, MBA
In an NEJM perspective, the former president of the Sleep Research Society reports an 83% increase in the risk of surgical complications in patients undergoing elective daytime surgery performed by attending surgeons who had a <6-hour opportunity for sleep between procedures during a previous on-call night. He argues that physicians who have been awake for […]
January 4th, 2011
Study Suggests Large Proportion of ICD Implantations Lack Firm Evidence Base
John Spertus, MD, MPH
Study Summary by Larry Husten: An analysis in JAMA of the National Cardiovascular Data Registry (NCDR) shows that a substantial proportion of ICD implantations are not supported by a firm evidence base. Sana Al-Khatib and colleagues examined data from 117,707 patients who received ICDs between January 1, 2006 and June 30, 2009, and found that […]
January 3rd, 2011
PLATO CABG Substudy Raises Hope and Questions
Larry Husten, PHD
The much-anticipated CABG substudy from the PLATO (Platelet Inhibition and Patient Outcomes) trial comparing ticagrelor to clopidogrel in ACS patients has been published online in JACC. About 10% of the 18,624 patients enrolled in PLATO underwent CABG. The substudy reports on the 1,261 who received the study drug within 7 days prior to their surgery. […]
January 3rd, 2011
Medicare: The MasterCard That Keeps On Giving
Shanti Bansal, MD
In the cardiac catheterization lab one Tuesday morning, I encountered a situation that made me reflect on a bit of 18th-century British history. At that time, the British government was overburdened with prisoners. A plan was hatched for sea captains to transport many of them to Australia. Due to poor conditions, up to one third […]