The Annals of thoracic surgery
-
Recruiting and promoting women and racial/ethnic minorities could help enhance diversity and inclusion in the academic cardiothoracic (CT) surgery workforce. However, the demographics of trainees and faculty at US training programs have not yet been studied. ⋯ The demographic landscape of CT surgery trainees and faculty across multiple training pathways reflects increasing representation by gender and race/ethnicity. However, we must continue to work toward equitable representation in the workforce to benefit the diverse patients we treat.
-
Robotic transthoracic first rib resection (R-FRR) has advantages over traditional approaches; however, its impact on postoperative neurogenic thoracic outlet syndrome (nTOS) outcomes is unknown. Our primary objective was to determine improvement of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) of pain and disability after R-FRR in nTOS. Our secondary objective was to compare improvement of patient-reported pain between R-FRR and supraclavicular FRR (SC-FRR) in nTOS. ⋯ R-FRR results in significant improvement in disability and pain in nTOS and may have a greater impact on patient-reported pain than SC-FRR in the early postoperative period.
-
We have previously demonstrated that Enhanced Recovery After Surgery protocols are associated with a reduction in pulmonary complications. As a component of enhanced recovery pathways, intercostal nerve blocks with liposomal bupivacaine are increasingly utilized, but the extent to which this element may contribute to such outcomes has not been evaluated. ⋯ As a component of an active enhanced recovery program, liposomal bupivacaine is associated with a reduction in major pulmonary complications, and utilization should be evaluated on a hospital-by-hospital basis.