Surgery/Specialties Editor's Note Obtaining organs from deceased donors in a freestanding facility dedicated to organ recovery costs much less and leads to higher numbers of transplantable organs, this study finds. Researchers evaluated 6 years of data from the nation’s first freestanding organ recovery facility located in St Louis and owned and…
Editor's Note Readmissions after total hip and knee replacements are associated with nurse staffing levels and poor nurse work environments, finds this study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Nursing, Philadelphia. The study analyzed data on more than 112,000 Medicare patients in nearly 500 hospitals. Adjusting for patient and…
Editor's Note Implementing bundled payments for Medicare patients having total joint replacements resulted in improved quality of care and outcomes and reduced costs, finds this study presented March 2 at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. As a pilot site for Medicare’s Bundled Payment for Care…
Editor's Note The risk of developing a surgical site infection (SSI) increased significantly in patients who had a total hip within 3 months of receiving a steroid injection in the hip joint, finds this study presented March 2 at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons. Analyzing…
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration on February 29 announced a safety notice issued by Abbott (Abbott Park, Illinois) to reinforce the proper procedures used to operate and deploy its MitraClip Delivery System. The company has received nine reports of device malfunction where the user was unable to separate…
Editor's Note An old drug, tranexamic acid (TXA), which has been used in heart surgery, to treat hemophilia, and to stop excessive uterine bleeding is now being used to reduce the need for blood transfusions during total joint replacements. Researchers from the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York City…
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on February 18 issued a final order to require the filing of a premarket approval (PMA) application for two types of metal-on-metal total hip replacement devices: hip joint metal/metal semi-constrained, with a cemented acetabular component hip joint metal/metal semi-constrained, with an uncemented…
Editor's Note A team of Cleveland Clinic surgeons on February 24 performed the nation’s first uterus transplant. The 9-hour procedure was performed on a 26-year old patient who had uterine factor infertility. The transplanted uterus came from a deceased organ donor. Further information will be released this week in a…
Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on February 25 issued a Safety Communication on neurosurgical head holders (skull clamps) and device slippage. From January 2009 to January 2016, the FDA received more than 1,000 reports of slippage or movement of skull clamps before and/or during surgical procedures. The slippage,…
Editor's Note Though cancer rates have remained the same, the rate of women having mastectomies increased 36% between 2005 and 2013, according to new data released February 22 by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). The analysis also showed the rate of double mastectomies more than tripling, and…
