The Journal of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery
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J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. · Mar 2016
Psoas muscle size as a frailty measure for open and transcatheter aortic valve replacement.
To evaluate the use of sarcopenia as a frailty assessment tool for patients with aortic stenosis undergoing surgical aortic valve replacement (SAVR) or transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR). ⋯ CT scan-derived measurement of TPA as an objective frailty assessment tool predicts early morbidity and mortality, high resource utilization, and late survival after treatment for aortic stenosis. The correlation observed between sarcopenia and resource utilization after SAVR versus TAVR suggests that this simple and reproducible risk assessment tool also may help identify those patients who will derive optimal benefit from catheter-based therapy.
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J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. · Mar 2016
Prolonged continuous-flow left ventricular assist device support and posttransplantation outcomes: A new challenge.
To assess outcomes after cardiac transplantation in patients receiving long-term continuous-flow left ventricular assist device (CF-LVAD) support. ⋯ A bridge-to-transplant (BTT) strategy with a CF-LVAD has become standard care for patients with advanced heart failure. Duration of CF-LVAD support is associated with increased midterm mortality, warranting early transplantation in the modern BTT era.
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J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. · Mar 2016
Comparative StudyThe National Surgical Quality Improvement Program risk calculator does not adequately stratify risk for patients with clinical stage I non-small cell lung cancer.
The study objective was to validate the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) Risk Calculator in stratifying risk estimates for patients who received surgery or stereotactic body radiation therapy for clinical stage I non-small cell lung cancer. ⋯ The National Surgical Quality Improvement Program risk calculator does not effectively classify or stratify risk in patients with stage I non-small cell lung cancer. Continued efforts are needed to assess risk in this population and develop more tailored treatment decision aids.
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J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. · Mar 2016
Pulmonary venous blood sampling significantly increases the yield of circulating tumor cells in early-stage lung cancer.
To identify circulating tumor cells (CTCs) in the blood of patients with early-stage lung cancer and to show that sampling pulmonary vein (PV) blood using microfluidic chip technology will yield significantly more CTCs. Improving early detection of lung cancer is critical to improving lung cancer survival. Reproducible detection of CTCs is limited currently in early stage tumors. ⋯ With a single vein draining the entire tumor basin, lung cancers are unique, allowing the high-yield isolation of CTCs from the PV. This method may facilitate future studies to improve the detection and analysis of early-stage lung CTCs.