[HSF] Cardiac Surgery Edition of the NEJM??

[Michael Firstenberg]

>From this week's NEJM:
Maybe after enough complaining about the OPCAB and the Aprotinin articles,
something interesting/useful:
comments????

[image: graphic] Left Ventricular Assist Device and Drug Therapy to Reverse
Heart Failure <http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/355/18/1873>
Fifteen patients with severe heart failure underwent implantation of left
ventricular assist devices followed by a specific pharmacologic regimen.
Eleven patients had sufficient myocardial recovery to permit explantation of
the device, and eight of these patients were alive and free of heart failure
or transplantation more than 4 years later.

    with:   When the Failing, End-Stage Heart Is Not End-Stage
<http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/355/18/1922>


[image: Perspective]
[image: graphic] Public Report Cards — Cardiac Surgery and Beyond
<http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/355/18/1847>
Cardiac surgery — most notably, coronary-artery bypass grafting (CABG) — is
the longest-standing and most common focus of public report cards. Cardiac
surgeons might feel that they are being subjected to a unique level of
scrutiny, but Dr. Robert Steinbrook writes that the attention goes with the
territory.

and looking deep into the letters:
Tracheal Replacement with Aortic Allografts
<http://content.nejm.org/cgi/content/short/355/18/1938>


-michael