The Journal of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery
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J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. · Dec 2023
Recommendations for centers performing pediatric heart surgery in the United States.
Care and outcomes for the more than 40,000 patients undergoing pediatric and congenital heart surgery in the United States annually are known to vary widely. While consensus recommendations have been published across numerous fields as one mechanism to promote a high level of care delivery across centers, it has been more than two decades since the last pediatric heart surgery recommendations were published in the United States. ⋯ The focus of this initial work is on pediatric heart surgery, and it is recommended that future efforts focus in detail on the adult congenital population. We describe the background, rationale, and methodology related to this collaborative effort, and recommendations put forth for Essential Care Centers (essential services necessary for any program), and Comprehensive Care Centers (services to optimize comprehensive and high-complexity care), encompassing structure, process, and outcome metrics across 14 domains.
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J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. · Dec 2023
Stem Cell-Derived Exosome Patch with Coronary Artery Bypass Graft Restores Cardiac Function in Chronically Ischemic Porcine Myocardium.
This study aimed to investigate whether or not the application of a stem cell-derived exosome-laden collagen patch (EXP) during coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) can recover cardiac function by modulating mitochondrial bioenergetics and myocardial inflammation in hibernating myocardium (HIB), which is defined as myocardium with reduced blood flow and function that retains viability and variable contractile reserve. ⋯ Exosomes recovered cardiomyocyte mitochondrial respiration and reduced myocardial inflammation through paracrine signaling, resulting in improved cardiac function.
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J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. · Dec 2023
Statistical power and sample size calculations for time-to-event analysis.
To provide thoracic and cardiovascular surgeons with the necessary tools for performing sample size and power calculations for studies with time-to-event outcomes. ⋯ Statistical power is an essential element for designing studies to ensure sufficient sample sizes for detecting treatment effects or group differences in time-to-event patient outcomes. Power and sample size justification not only adds statistical rigor and credibility to research manuscripts, but also provides the reader with assurance that the findings and conclusions are valid and based on a sufficient number of patients.