The Journal of surgical research
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Adherence to evidence-based adverse outcome prevention techniques is a critical factor in providing high-quality patient care, but many of these interventions are not used by physicians. It is unclear if surgeons' risk attitudes and reactions to uncertainty influence their use of these or other interventions. ⋯ There are very limited data on the extent to which surgical decision making is linked to risk taking behavior and "comfort with uncertainty". Understanding the behaviors, attitudes and beliefs that make up surgical "judgment" remains a challenge for those interested in influencing behavior.
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Cardiogenic shock (CS) is the leading cause of death for patients hospitalized with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Despite contemporary management of AMI, the incidence of shock due to left ventricular failure has not declined and its mortality continues to be in excess of 50%. Furthermore, the role and indications of the different means of acute revascularization remain unclear. ⋯ Due to variability in the distribution of collateral flow, there is great variability in the severity of ischemia. Myocytes can exhibit different metabolic responses including hibernation, ischemic preconditioning, stunning, reperfusion injury, and necrosis. Precise knowledge of these biochemical and metabolic changes that take place in the myocardium after arterial occlusion and following reperfusion is paramount to the understanding of the indications for acute revascularization, the implementation of the different management strategies to enhance myocardial preservation and recovery, and the role of circulatory support in these exceedingly sick patients.
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The staging of lung cancer is a continuously progressing field, with advances in technology not only improving prognostic accuracy, but fundamentally changing pre-operative investigation algorithms. Noninvasive staging is currently undergoing revolutionary developments with the advent of Positron Emission Tomography, whereas Video-Assisted Thoracic Surgery has already been established as an essential, minimally invasive diagnostic tool for invasive histological staging. Molecular staging may transform future lung cancer staging, promising extremely accurate substaging, and potentially prompting a revision of our anatomically based conceptualization of lung cancer spread. This review presents an appraisal of current lung cancer staging modalities, and presents an overview of recent developments in molecular staging.