Articles related to CARDIAC SURGERY

A European Heart Journal debate revisits whether surgical aortic valve replacement should remain the preferred approach for patients with aortic stenosis and life expectancy beyond five years. Long-term durability and late procedural outcomes continue to shape the discussion.

Dr. Nidhi Madan discusses building a rural structural heart program at Bassett Medical Center, the health equity gaps keeping high-burden patients from reaching heart team evaluation, and why cardiac CT fluency has become a foundational competency for the modern structural interventionalist.

An interventional cardiologist at UCLA Health describes how combined IVUS and near-infrared spectroscopy imaging identified culprit lesions in angiographically ambiguous NSTEMI cases and informed stent landing zone decisions in complex PCI.

A post-CABG patient underwent transcatheter coil occlusion of a 51 x 39-mm saphenous vein graft aneurysm and died hours after discharge from anterior MI attributed to external LIMA compression.

Drawing largely from observational data, mechanical valves were associated with superior overall survival but increased bleeding due to lifelong anticoagulation.

Cardiologist noted patient was “low-risk from cardiac standpoint; however, I am more concerned with her respiratory status than her cardiac status at this point in time” – yet surgery proceeded without addressing this documented concern.