Research 
One study that has received a lot of attention coning out the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ ANESTHESIOLOGY 2026 meeting was “Impact of GLP-1 Receptor Agonists on Postoperative Major Adverse Cardiovascular Events and Infection: A Cohort Study.” “The use of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) has increased since their approval…
Humanoid robotics is emerging as a potentially transformative field at the intersection of artificial intelligence, advanced manufacturing, and healthcare. Although the number of companies developing humanoid robots varies according to how the industry is defined, recent market assessments indicate that more than 60 companies are actively pursuing humanoid robotics. Thus…
An original investigation in perioperative medicine, published ahead of print in the journal Anesthesiology, finds that air purification and sterilization systems may not be living up to their billing. An article published by UTHealth Houston stated that the study of more than 110,000 surgeries found that “adding advanced air purification…
Proponents of environmental sustainability in surgery have long believed that facilities should reduce their use of high-emission anesthetic gases such as desflurane and nitrous oxide. A new study presented at the ANESTHESIOLOGY 2026 annual meeting suggests they’re correct. The researchers compared one health system’s anesthetic use, estimated emissions, costs and…
A new study finds that patients who use cannabis may face a significantly higher risk of heart attack during and after surgery, while also unexpectedly showing a lower risk of blood clots in the veins. The American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) has promoted the study, which was presented this week…
Cedars-Sinai this month launched its Center for Autonomous Robotic Surgery, “a new initiative bringing surgeons and engineers together to develop the next generation of surgical robots capable of performing certain surgical tasks autonomously while working alongside surgeons in the operating room.” The center is co-directed by Andrew J. Hung, MD,…
Research presented by Hospital for Special Surgery (HSS) at this month’s North American Spine Society (NASS) Annual Meeting showed that patients who underwent robotic-assisted minimally invasive lumbar fusion surgery required “significantly less opioid medication during their hospital stay, without increased complications or longer hospital stays, compared with patients treated using…
A new original investigation published online ahead of print in JAMA Surgery tackles the question of whether robot-assisted radical hysterectomy is associated with improved perioperative safety and early patient-reported outcomes compared with open surgery in early-stage cervical cancer. Researchers performed a secondary analysis of the Robot-Assisted Approach to Cervical Cancer…
A non-systematic narrative review of available studies to summarize evidence to support best clinical practice in perioperative care of patients 80 years and older has been published in the journal European Geriatric Medicine. The researchers state that “geriatric-specific problems (frailty, cognitive decline, malnutrition, sarcopenia, comorbidities) should be assessed and addressed…
The American College of Surgeons (ACS) announced that new research to be presented at its Clinical Congress 2026 will show that underweight patients “face 92% increased odds of death after emergency general surgery.” The study drew on ACS’ National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) database, which covers more than…
