BACKGROUND Although numerous studies have demonstrated the feasibility of cardiac surgery for blood refusal patients, few studies match to controls, and fewer examine cost. This historical cohort study aims to compare costs and outcomes after cardiac surgery in Jehovah's Witness patients who refuse blood transfusion with a group of matched patients accepting transfusion. STUDY DESIGN AND METHODS A retrospective database review was performed to find all patients having cardiac surgery who refused blood products from January 2005 to July 2012 at Duke University Medical Center. These 45 patients were closely matched 1:2 with controls who accepted transfusion based on characteristics likely to influence transfusion. Cost from day of surgery to hospital discharge and other outcome data (length of stay [LOS], discharge hemoglobin [Hb], acute kidney injury) were analyzed retrospectively. RESULTS Forty‐five Witnesses having cardiac surgery were temporally matched to two controls having the same surgery. Median euroSCORE was the same in both groups (6.0, p = 0.9981). In the matched‐pairs comparison of cost, there was no significant difference in total cost for Witnesses and controls. There was no difference in intensive care unit LOS (median, 1 day, both groups) or total LOS (median, 9 days for Witnesses vs. 7 days for controls). Mean Hb at discharge was higher in Witnesses than in controls (11.7 g/dL vs. 9.8 g/dL, p < 0.001). Thirty‐day mortality was zero in both groups. CONCLUSION Utilizing applicable blood conservation measures, cardiac surgery may be performed with similar outcomes and cost from day of surgery to discharge compared to controls in select patients without blood transfusion.

BackgroundTo determine the impact of preoperative Liver Dysfunction (LD) on outcomes after elective Coronary Artery Bypass Grafting (CABG) and Valvular surgery (VS).MethodsThe Nationwide Inpatient Sample (2002–2010) was queried to identify patients with LD who had elective CABG or VS utilizing ICD-9-CM diagnosis and procedure codes. These patients were matched with the similar patients without LD (controls) by propensity score matching. Chi-square and Wilcoxon rank sum tests were used for analysis.ResultsWe identified 1197 patients with LD (CABG = 755; VS = 442) who were matched to 2394 controls. LD significantly increased hospital mortality after both CABG (OR = 5.19; 95%CI = 2.93–9.20) and VS (OR = 7.49; 95%CI = 3.12–17.96). Overall rates of complications after CABG with LD were greater than in non-complicated cases (OR = 1.73; 95%CI = 1.46–2.05). Among them, there was an increase in bleeding (OR = 1.81;95%CI = 1.44–2.28), respiratory (OR = 2.33;95%CI = 1.86–2.93), renal (OR = 2.79;95%CI = 2.04–3.81), and infectious (OR = 2.93;95%CI = 2.14–4.01) complications. In general, the rates of complications after VS with LD were also greater than in non-complicated cases (OR = 2.77;95%CI = 2.13–3.60), specifically for bleeding (OR = 3.07;95%CI = 2.17–4.34), respiratory (OR = 3.57;95%CI = 2.51–5.07), renal (OR = 4.40;95%CI = 2.80–6.92), and infectious (OR = 4.63;95%CI = 2.85–7.51) complications. The development of LD significantly increased mean hospital length of stay (LOS) and total hospital charges after both CABG (from7.0 ± 4.0 to 9.2 ± 9.1 days and from $100,265 ± 87,107 to $117,756 ± 99,320, respectively; P < 0.0001 for both) and VS (from 7.9 ± 5.0 to 11.4 ± 9.9 days and from $134,306 ± 114,216 to $176,620 ± 147,049, respectively; P < 0.0001 for both).ConclusionsLD worsened the outcomes after cardiac surgery. It increased rates of complications, hospital mortality, length of stay and total hospital charges after both procedures.

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ObjectiveThe treatment of active infective endocarditis (IE) presents a clinical dilemma with uncertain outcomes. This study sets out to determine the early and intermediate outcomes of patients treated surgically for active IE at an academic medical center.MethodsA retrospective chart review was conducted to identify patients who underwent surgical intervention for IE at our institution from July 1st, 2011 to June 30th, 2018. In-patient records were examined to determine etiology of disease, surgical intervention type, postoperative complications, length of stay (LOS), 30-day in-hospital mortality, and 1-year survival.ResultsTwenty-five patients underwent surgical intervention for active IE. The average age of the patients was 47 ± 14 years old and most of the patients were male (N = 15). The majority of the patients had the mitral valve replaced (N = 10), with the remaining patients having tricuspid (N = 8) and aortic (N = 7) valve replacements. The etiology varied and included intravenous drug use (IVDU), and presence of transvenous catheters. The 30-day in-hospital mortality was 4% with 1 patient death and the 1-year survival was 80%. The average LOS was 27 days ±15 and the longest LOS was 65 days.ConclusionsSurgical management of IE can be difficult and challenging however mortality can be minimized with acceptable morbidity. The most common complication was CVA. The average LOS is longer than traditional adult cardiac surgery procedures and the recurrence rate of valvular infection is not minimal especially if the underlying etiology is IVDU.

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Development of neural network models for the prediction of glucose levels in critically ill patients through the application of continuous glucose monitoring may provide enhanced patient outcomes. Here we demonstrate the utilization of a predictive model in real-time bedside monitoring. Such modeling may provide intelligent/directed therapy recommendations, guidance, and ultimately automation, in the near future as a means of providing optimal patient safety and care in the provision of insulin drips to prevent hyperglycemia and hypoglycemia.