Management of antiplatelet therapy in patients with coronary stents undergoing noncardiac surgery: association with adverse events.

Background: Perioperative discontinuation of antiplatelet therapy (APT) in patients with coronary stents has been associated with major adverse cardiac events. Our aim was to analyse the perioperative management of APT in such patients and its relationship to the incidence of major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) and major bleeding events (MBE) in noncardiac surgery.

Methods: We completed a prospective multicentre observational study of patients with coronary stents undergoing noncardiac surgery in 11 hospitals in Spain.

Ceramic barrier layers for flexible thin film solar cells on metallic substrates: a laboratory scale study for process optimization and barrier layer properties.

Flexible thin film solar cells are an alternative to both utility-scale and building integrated photovoltaic installations. The fabrication of these devices over electrically conducting low-cost foils requires the deposition of dielectric barrier layers to flatten the substrate surface, provide electrical isolation between the substrate and the device, and avoid the diffusion of metal impurities during the relatively high temperatures required to deposit the rest of the solar cell device layers. The typical roughness of low-cost stainless-steel foils is in the hundred-nanometer range, which is comparable or larger than the thin film layers comprising the device and this may result in electrical shunts that decrease solar cell performance.

Preoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate and the risk of major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events in non-cardiac surgery.

Background: Chronic kidney disease is an independent predictor of perioperative cardiovascular morbidity and mortality. We analysed the preoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) as a risk factor for perioperative major adverse cardiovascular and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) in non-cardiac surgery.

Methods: In a post hoc analysis of the ANESCARDIOCAT database, patients were classified into six stages of eGFR calculated with the abbreviated Modification of Diet in Renal Disease Study and the Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration equations: >90 (1), 60-89.

Incidence and predictors of major perioperative adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events in non-cardiac surgery.

Background: Major adverse cardiac and cerebrovascular events (MACCE) represent the most common cause of serious perioperative morbidity and mortality. Our aim was to identify risk factors for MACCE in a broad surgical population with intermediate-to-high surgery-specific risk and to build and validate a model to predict the risk of MACCE.

Methods: A prospective, multicentre study of patients undergoing surgical procedures under general or regional anaesthesia in 23 hospitals.