Development and Publication of Clinical Practice Parameters, Reviews, and Meta-analyses: A Report From the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists Presidential Task Force.

The Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists (SCA) is committed to improving the quality, safety, and value that cardiothoracic anesthesiologists bring to patient care. To fulfill this mission, the SCA supports the creation of peer-reviewed manuscripts that establish standards, produce guidelines, critically analyze the literature, interpret preexisting guidelines, and allow experts to engage in consensus opinion. The aim of this report, commissioned by the SCA President, is to summarize the distinctions among these publications and describe a novel SCA-supported framework that provides guidance to SCA members for the creation of these publications.

Matters of the Heart: Examining Motivating Factors and Unconscious Bias in the Adult Cardiothoracic Anesthesiology Fellowship.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to identify barriers to improving diversity within adult cardiothoracic anesthesiology (ACTA) and to provide possible strategies that could be implemented by evaluating the demographics of current ACTA fellows, examining motivating factors to pursue the sub-specialty, and assessing perceptions of unconscious biases during their application process and training.

Design: A survey was created by the authors and distributed electronically by the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists to the ACTA Fellows from April to June 2022.

Setting: A multicenter survey.

Rare Congenital Obstruction of the Inferior Vena Cava Diagnosed by Intraoperative Transesophageal Echocardiography.

• Idiopathic IVC obstructions are rare and unlikely to be detected by routine testing. • They can be aberrant membranes, stenoses, or malformed Eustachian valves. • IVC obstructions may be a cause of congestive hepatopathy.

Operative strategies to reduce cerebral embolic events during on- and off-pump coronary artery bypass surgery: A stratified, prospective randomized trial.

Objective: To determine the impact of different aortic clamping strategies on the incidence of cerebral embolic events during coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG).

Methods: Between 2012 and 2015, 142 patients with low-grade aortic disease (epiaortic ultrasound grade I/II) undergoing primary isolated CABG were studied. Those undergoing off-pump CABG were randomized to a partial clamp (n = 36) or clampless facilitating device (CFD; n = 36) strategy.

Avoiding aortic clamping during coronary artery bypass grafting reduces postoperative stroke.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to determine whether the incidence of postoperative stroke could be reduced by eliminating aortic clamping during coronary artery bypass grafting.

Methods: From 2002 to 2013, 12,079 patients underwent primary, isolated coronary artery bypass grafting at a single US academic institution. Aortic manipulation was completely avoided by using in situ internal thoracic arteries for inflow in 1552 patients (12.

A review of cardiac transplantation.

Perioperative anesthetic management for cardiac transplantation is reviewed. Recent developments in adult cardiac transplantation are noted. This review includes demographics and historical results, recipient and donor selection and evaluation, mechanical circulatory support and heart transplantation techniques, and patient management immediately postimplantation.

An argument for routine ultrasound screening of the thoracic aorta in the cardiac surgery population.

Stroke and neurological injury are among the most devastating and disabling complications associated with cardiac surgery. Transesophageal echocardiography and epiaortic ultrasound allow for sensitive, point-of-care diagnosis of thoracic aortic disease, which is especially common in patients with heart disease. Unlike other operative procedures, the manipulation of the ascending aorta is routine in cardiac surgery and often unavoidable.