Articles: cations.
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Critical care medicine · Mar 2024
EditorialCentral Line-Associated Bloodstream Infection Misclassifications-Rethinking the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infection Definition and Its Implications.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services imparts financial penalties for central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) and other healthcare-acquired infections. Data for this purpose is obtained from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s National Health Safety Network. We present examples of misclassification of bloodstream infections into CLABSI by the CDC's definition and present the financial implications of such misclassification and potential long-term implications.
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Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) is a collection of connective tissue disorders which are often associated with tissue laxity and disc degeneration. However, the implications of EDS on the risk of adjacent segment disease (ASD) after transforaminal lumbar interbody fusion (TLIF) are not well described. The objective of this study is to compare the rates of ASD among patients with EDS and those without EDS. ⋯ After propensity matching to control for confounding variables, the findings of this study suggest that EDS may be associated with an increased risk of ASD following TLIF. Future studies are needed to corroborate these findings.
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J. Cardiothorac. Vasc. Anesth. · Mar 2024
Beating Heart Transplants-Overview and Implications for Anesthesiologists.
As the demand for heart allografts for transplantation continues to rise, ex vivo organ perfusion strategies are playing an increasingly important role in the preservation of organs from donation after circulatory death and extended-criteria donors. One such method uses the Organ Care System (TransMedics, Andover, MA). ⋯ In a novel surgical technique pioneered at the authors' institution, heart allograft implantation no longer requires a second cardioplegic arrest. This article discusses the surgical approach for this procedure, the advantages and disadvantages of this approach, and analogs to current clinical practice to theorize what impact this may have on cardiac transplantation volumes in the future.