Surgery News

The FDA has designated Boston Scientific’s recall of angiographic catheters used for contrast agent delivery as a class 1 recall, the most serious kind.

The Mount Sinai Health System in New York is one of many systems in the U.S. that has been adapting in the attempt to care for the influx of patients with known or suspected COVID-19. As elective surgeries are no longer being performed, the cardiac ICU at this hospital has been converted into a unit strictly dedicated to the care of patients with COVID-19.

The FDA has identified the recall of LeMaitre Vascular’s balloon embolectomy catheter as class 1, the most serious kind, due to risk for death or injury from balloon deflation failure.

In patients who underwent surgical bioprosthetic valve implantation or repair, early postoperative anticoagulation with edoxaban was noninferior to warfarin for preventing thromboembolism and major bleeding during the first 3 months after the procedure, according to results of the ENAVLE trial presented at the virtual American College of Cardiology Scientific Session.

In the UK TAVI randomized pragmatic trial of older real-world patients with severe symptomatic aortic stenosis, those who underwent transcatheter aortic valve replacement had similar stroke, major bleeding and all-cause mortality at 1 year compared with patients who underwent surgical AVR.

In the VOYAGER PAD trial, patients with symptomatic peripheral artery disease who underwent lower-extremity revascularization had a lower incidence of major adverse limb and CV events compared if treated with low-dose rivaroxaban twice daily plus aspirin, compared with aspirin only.

From March 28 to 30, the American College of Cardiology will host its Scientific Session, together with the World Congress of Cardiology, in a virtual format, with late-breaking clinical trials, keynotes and other sessions available online.

Researchers observed several significant differences regarding in-hospital care, CV risk profile and rehospitalization rates in patients with acute MI who were homeless vs. those who were not, according to a study published in Mayo Clinic Proceedings.

Among patients who underwent chronic total occlusion PCI, those with prior CABG had worse outcomes including higher rates of in-hospital morality, MI and coronary perforation compared with those without prior CABG, according to findings from a meta-analysis on the program at the American College of Cardiology Scientific Session.

The FDA announced it has cleared a new version of a heater-cooler system for use during cardiac surgery and updated a safety communication for a previous version of the device associated with infection risks.