Rationale and Design of the Randomized Controlled Trial of New Oral Anticoagulants Versus Warfarin for Post Cardiac Surgery Atrial Fibrillation: The NEW-AF Trial.

OBJECTIVE: This manuscript describes the rationale and design of a randomized, controlled trial comparing outcomes with Warfarin vs Novel Oral Anticoagulant (NOAC) therapy in patients with new onset atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery. BACKGROUND: New onset atrial fibrillation commonly occurs after cardiac surgery and is associated with increased rates of stroke and mortality. in nonsurgical patients with atrial fibrillation, NOACs have been shown to confer equivalent benefits for stroke prevention with less bleeding risk and less tedious monitoring requirements compared with Warfarin. However, NOAC use has yet to be adopted widely in cardiac surgery patients. METHODS: The NEW-AF study has been designed as a pragmatic, prospective, randomized controlled trial that will compare financial, convenience and safety outcomes for patients with new onset atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery that are treated with NOACs versus Warfarin. RESULTS: Study results may contribute to optimizing the options for stroke prophylaxis in cardiac surgery patients and catalyze more widespread application of NOAC therapy in this patient population. CONCLUSIONS: The study is ongoing and actively enrolling at the time of the publication. The trial is registered with clinicaltrials.gov under registration number NCT03702582.

Description and Impact of a Comprehensive Multispecialty Multidisciplinary Intervention to Decrease Opioid Prescribing in Surgery.

INTRODUCTION: Diversion of excess prescription opioids contributes to the opioid epidemic. We sought to describe and study the impact of a comprehensive departmental initiative to decrease opioid prescribing in surgery. METHODS: A multispecialty multidisciplinary initiative was designed to change the culture of postoperative opioid prescribing, including: consensus-built opioid guidelines for 42 procedures from 11 specialties, provider-focused posters displayed in all surgical units, patient opioid/pain brochures setting expectations, and educational seminars to residents, advanced practice providers, residents and nurses. Pre- (April 2016-March 2017) versu post-initiative (April 2017-May 2018) analyses of opioid prescribing at discharge [median oral morphine equivalent (OME)] were performed at the specialty, prescriber, patient, and procedure levels. Refill prescriptions within 3 months were also studied. RESULTS: A total of 23,298 patients were included (11,983 pre-; 11,315 post-initiative). Post-initiative, the median OME significantly decreased for 10 specialties (all P values < 0.001), the percentage of patients discharged without opioids increased from 35.7% to 52.5% (P < 0.001), and there was no change in opioids refills (0.07% vs 0.08%, P = 0.9). Similar significant decreases in OME were observed when the analyses were performed at the provider and individual procedure levels. Patient-level analyses showed that the preinitiative race/sex disparities in opioid-prescribing disappeared post-initiative. CONCLUSION: We describe a comprehensive multi-specialty intervention that successfully reduced prescribed opioids without increase in refills and decreased sex/race prescription disparities.

Cardiac Surgery Trainees as "Skin-to-Skin" Operating Surgeons: Midterm Outcomes.

BACKGROUND: We have previously demonstrated that cardiac surgery trainees can safely perform operations "skin-to-skin" with adequate attending surgeon supervision. METHODS: We used 100 consecutive cases (82 coronary artery bypass grafts, 9 aortic valve replacements, 7 coronary artery bypass grafts plus aortic valve replacements, 2 others) performed by residents (group R) to match 1:1 by procedure to nonconsecutive cases done by a single attending surgeon (group A) from July 2014 to October 2016. Patients were stratified based on whether the attending surgeon or trainee performed every critical step of the operation skin-to-skin. Outcomes included death, major morbidity, and readmission. RESULTS: Patients in the two groups were similar with respect to demographic characteristics and comorbidities. The median follow-up time for patients in this study was 28 months (interquartile range: 23 to 35 months). There were seven deaths (3.5%; four in group A, three in group R, p = 0.7). Of the 43 patients (21.5%) who were readmitted during the study term, 27 patients (13.5%) were readmitted for causes related to the operation (11 in group A, 16 in group R, p = 0.02). The most common reasons for readmissions related to the operation were chest pain (n = 11), pleural effusion that required drainage (n = 8), pneumonia (n = 4), and unstable angina that required percutaneous coronary intervention (n = 3). No statistically significant differences were found in reasons for readmission between group A and group R. CONCLUSIONS: The equivalence of postoperative outcomes previously demonstrated at 30 days persists at midterm follow-up. Our data indicate that trainees can be educated in operative cardiac surgery under the current paradigm without sacrificing outcome quality. It is reasonable to expect academic programs to continue providing trainees with experience as primary operating surgeons.

A Novel and Successful Repair of a Left Atriogastric Fistula After Esophagectomy.

Atriogastric fistulas remain a rare adverse event in patients who undergo esophagectomy with gastric pullthrough. The presentation of an atriogastric fistula ranges from self-limited gastrointestinal bleeding to life-threatening hemorrhage, end-organ dysfunction from septic emboli, or both. These fistulas are associated with significant mortality. Previous reports describe successful repairs of gastrocardiac fistulas with the use of cardiopulmonary bypass. This report describes a patient with a significant burden of cerebral embolic disease, which therefore required a unique approach to fistula repair.

Are homografts superior to conventional prosthetic valves in the setting of infective endocarditis involving the aortic valve?

BACKGROUND: Surgical dogma suggests that homografts should be used preferentially, compared with conventional xenograft or mechanical prostheses, in the setting of infective endocarditis (IE), because they have greater resistance to infection. However, comparative data that support this notion are limited. METHODS: From the prospective databases of 2 tertiary academic centers, we identified 304 consecutive adult patients (age ≥17 years) who underwent surgery for active IE involving the aortic valve (AV), in the period 2002 to 2014. Short- and long-term outcomes were evaluated using propensity scores and inverse-probability weighting to adjust for selection bias. RESULTS: Homografts, and xenograft and mechanical prostheses, were used in 86 (28.3%), 139 (45.7%), and 79 (26.0%) patients, respectively. Homografts were more often used in the setting of prosthetic valve endocarditis (58.1% vs 28.8%, P = .002) and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus (25.6% vs 12.1%, P = .002), compared with conventional prostheses. Early mortality occurred in 17 (19.8%) in the homograft group, and 20 (9.2%) in the conventional group (P = .019). During follow-up (median: 29.4 months; interquartile-range: 4.7-72.6 months), 60 (19.7%) patients died, and 23 (7.7%) experienced reinfection, with no significant differences in survival (P = .23) or freedom from reinfection rates (P = .65) according to the types of prostheses implanted. After adjustments for baseline characteristics, using propensity-score analyses, use of a homograft did not significantly affect early death (odds ratio 1.61; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.73-3.40, P = .23), overall death (hazard ratio 1.10; 95% CI, 0.62-1.94, P = .75), or reinfection (hazard ratio 1.04; 95% CI, 0.49-2.18, P = .93). CONCLUSIONS: No significant benefit to use of homografts was demonstrable with regard to resistance to reinfection in the setting of IE. The choice among prosthetic options should be based on technical and patient-specific factors. Lack of availability of homografts should not impede appropriate surgical intervention.

Surgical outcomes of infective endocarditis among intravenous drug users.

BACKGROUND: With increasing prevalence of injected drug use in the United States, a growing number of intravenous drug users (IVDUs) are at risk for infective endocarditis (IE) that may require surgical intervention; however, few data exist about clinical outcomes of these individuals. METHODS: We evaluated consecutive adult patients undergoing surgery for active IE between 2002 and 2014 pooled from 2 prospective institutional databases. Death and valve-related events, including reinfection or heart valve reoperation, thromboembolism, and anticoagulation-related hemorrhage were evaluated. RESULTS: Of the 436 patients identified, 78 (17.9%) were current IVDUs. The proportion of IVDUs increased from 14.8% in 2002 to 2004 to 26.1% in 2012 to 2014. IVDUs were younger (aged 35.9 ± 9.9 years vs 59.3 ± 14.1 years) and had fewer cardiovascular risk factors than non-IVDUs. During follow-up (median, 29.4 months; quartile 1-3, 4.7-72.6 months), adverse events among all patients included death in 92, reinfection in 42, valve-reoperation in 35, thromboembolism in 17, and hemorrhage in 16. Operative mortality was lower among IVDUs (odds ratio, 0.25; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.06-0.71), but overall mortality was not significantly different (hazard ratio [HR], 0.78; 95% CI, 0.44-1.37). When baseline profiles were adjusted by propensity score, IVDUs had higher risk of valve-related complications (HR, 3.82; 95% CI, 1.95-7.49; P < .001) principally attributable to higher rates of reinfection (HR, 6.20; 95% CI, 2.56-15.00; P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: The proportion of IVDUs among surgically treated IE patients is increasing. Although IVDUs have lower operative risk, long-term outcomes are compromised by reinfection.

Minimally Invasive Mitral Valve Surgery via Mini-Thoracotomy: Current Update.

OPINION STATEMENT: In recent years, minimally invasive mitral valve surgery (MIMVS) has established itself as an alternative and increasingly used option for patients with mitral valve (MV) pathology. MIMVS is associated with a very low perioperative morbidity and mortality rate in appropriately selected patients, comparable to a full sternotomy approach. Besides superior cosmetic results, patients after MIMVS enjoy shorter recovery times and earlier returns to full activity. A number of approaches are branded as minimally invasive, but the most widely used one entails peripheral cardiopulmonary bypass and a small right anterolateral mini-thoracotomy. The operative technique and outcomes of this approach are summarized in the current update.

Barlow's mitral valve disease: results of conventional and minimally invasive repair approaches.

Barlow's valve is a clinically important form of degenerative mitral valve (MV) disease that is characterized by unique clinical, echocardiographic and pathological features. Successful and durable repair of Barlow's MV represents a clinical challenge for most cardiac surgeons. An armamentarium of different MV repair techniques may be required, resectional, neochordal or plicational techniques. Although conventional sternotomy remains the mainstay approach for MV surgery in the majority of cardiac surgery centers, minimally invasive surgery (MIS) is becoming increasingly accepted amongst patients, referring physicians and practicing cardiac surgeons. As surgical approaches, instrumentation and operative experience develop, select centers are now performing MIS MV surgery for nearly all MV patients. Although successful Barlow's MV repair is more complex than that for most degenerative pathologies, several centers have published relatively large series of MIS MV repair for Barlow's disease. In this review article, we highlight and compare the early and long-term results of conventional and minimally invasive approaches to Barlow's and bileaflet mitral prolapse disease. Recent studies from various large volume centers around the world have demonstrated equivalent safety and efficacy outcomes of the MIS approach compared to conventional sternotomy surgery. In addition, MIS MV surgery may allow patients to benefit from a cosmetically appealing incision, a faster recovery and a quicker return to normal activities. However, a definite learning curve has been demonstrated for MIS MV surgery. If a patient with Barlow's disease or other complex MV pathology desires to undergo MIS MV surgery, referral to a center and/or surgeon with extensive experience in MIS MV surgery is recommended.