All Members

Coarctation, a condition which comprises 4-5% of all congenital heart disease cases, is the second most common congenital heart defect  requiring neonatal intervention. Yet there is a lack of guidance regarding aspects of its management in neonates and infants, primarily due to heterogeneity in phenotype, making consensus in management challenging.

Recently, the STS Workforce on Evidenced-Based Surgery and its Task Force on Congenital Heart Surgery formed a panel of congenital cardiac surgeons, cardiologists, and intensivists to provide guidance to specialists who manage isolated coarctation in neonates and infants¹. 

Methods

The multi-disciplinary Task Force members first identified key questions related to the care of these patients using the PICO Framework (Patients/Population, Intervention, Comparison/Control, Outcome). After performing a literature search for each question, practice guidelines were developed using a modified Delphi method with a “recommendation” classification and evidence level, which were graded using Class of Recommendations (COR) and Level of Evidence (LOE) based on AAC/AHA classification system².

Results

The following recommendations reached a “consensus,” which meant that 80% of panel members voted on them, and 75% of them agreed with these statements:  

• For neonates and infants with isolated coarctation, surgery is indicated in the absence of obvious surgical contraindications for those with prematurity, low weight, or other risk factors for surgical intervention. 
• For patients with risk factors for surgery, medical management prior to intervention is reasonable. 
• For those without associated arch hypoplasia, repair via thoracotomy is indicated. 
• For those with associated arch hypoplasia that cannot be adequately addressed via thoracotomy, repair via sternotomy is preferable. 
• For those with bovine arch anatomy, repair via sternotomy may be reasonable given the potential increased risk of recoarctation with bovine arch anatomy repaired via thoracotomy
• For those undergoing repair via sternotomy, antegrade cerebral perfusion or limited duration deep hypothermic circulatory arrest may be reasonable
• For those undergoing repair via sternotomy, extended end-to-end, arch advancement (end-to-side reconstruction with ligation of isthmus), and patch augmentation are all reasonable techniques

Conclusions

After completing the evaluation, Task Force members concluded that surgery remains the standard of care for managing isolated coarctation in neonates and infants. Depending on degree and location, arch hypoplasia may require a sternotomy approach rather than a thoracotomy approach. Significant opportunities remain to delineate management in these patients better.

Although these statements provide guidance considering the available data, they are not intended to be prescriptive, and practitioners should apply these based on their experience, as well as within the clinical setting in which they work.

"Some of these guidelines' most valuable aspects summarize the data related to thoracotomy vs. sternotomy, which is a continued area of debate," said the study's lead author, Dr. Elizabeth Stephens, associate professor of surgery at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn.  "The decision is often relatively subjective and based on the surgeon's training and/or experience."

This paper reveals the many questions that still need to be studied and answered. "The good news is that we as a specialty have moved from ensuring survival in these patients to decreased morbidities related to surgery, but the next step is studying long-term outcomes and how to improve them, namely freedom from hypertension and late reintervention," added Dr. Stephens.

Read the Annals article, which will soon be published in the upcoming September 2024 issue (Vol 118, No. 3) of The Annals of Thoracic Surgery. 

References:

1. Stephens EH, Ahmad D, Alsoufi B, Anderson BR, Ashfaq A, Bleiweis MS, Dearani JA, d’Udekem Y, Feins EN, Jacobs JP, Karamlou T, Marino BS, Najm HK, Nelson JS, St. Louis JD, Turek JW, The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Clinical Practical Guidelines on the Management of Neonates and Infants with Coarctation, The Annals of Thoracic Surgery (2024)

2. Class of Recommendation (COR) and Level of Evidence (LOE); Further Evolution of the ACC/AHA Clinical Practice Guideline Recommendation Classification System: A Report of the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association Task Force on Clinical Practice Guidelines. Journal of the American College of Cardiology, 67(13), 1572–1574. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jacc.2015.09 

Two papers recently published in The Annals of Thoracic Surgery aim to guide the management of thymoma¹ and pleural drains following pulmonary lobectomy² – thoracic conditions and treatments that lack widely accepted guidelines. Recognizing this need, the Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) Workforce on Evidenced-Based Surgery convened a task force to develop expert consensus documents to help alleviate this knowledge gap.

Thymoma, a rare epithelial tumor – but also the most common anterior mediastinal tumor in adult patients – is a condition thoracic surgeons will likely encounter as clinicians. However, there is a lack of evidence covering all aspects of treatment due to its relatively low incidence. Managing pleural drains following pulmonary lobectomy is standard practice, yet there are no established guidelines on this topic despite abundant published literature.

Management of thymoma

The STS Workforce on Evidence-Based Surgery, which includes general thoracic surgeons with expertise in thoracic surgical oncology, and medical and radiation oncologists with expertise in neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapies, evaluated existing literature about surgical considerations in managing thymomas, such as:

•    Imaging characteristics
•    Diagnostic tests 
•    Staging 
•    Surgical approach and technique
•    Neoadjuvant and adjuvant therapy 
•    Surgery for advanced or recurrent disease, and 
•    Postoperative surveillance

Consensus statements were drafted using the modified Delphi method. Votes for each proposed statement were tallied using a 5-point Likert scale, with the option to abstain on those not within the specific authors’ expertise. Statements with 75% of responding authors selecting “agree” or “strongly agree” were considered to have reached a consensus. 

Unlike broader guidelines encompassing various aspects of thymoma management, including medical oncology, radiology, and pathology, this paper addresses thymoma from a surgical perspective by guiding surgical interventions, especially in metastatic and recurrent diseases.

"Given the scarcity of randomized controlled trials due to the rarity of thymoma, this document is framed as an expert consensus rather than strict evidence-based clinical practice guidelines," said the study's lead author, Dr. Douglas Liou, clinical associate professor at Stanford Medicine. "Our findings rely more heavily on the combined experience and judgment of experts in the field rather than solely on data from large-scale studies." 

Read the Annals article. 

Management of pleural drains following pulmonary lobectomy

Similarly, the consensus document developed by the STS Workforce on Evidence-Based Surgery to manage pleural drains includes:

•    Choice of drain, including size, type, and number
•    Management, such as use of suction versus waterseal and criteria for removal
•    Imaging recommendations, including the use of daily and post-pull chest x-rays
•    Use of digital drainage systems, and
•    Management of prolonged air leak

Workforce members reviewed existing literature on the condition. A consensus using a modified Delphi method consisting of two rounds of voting until 75% agreement on the statements was reached, with a total of thirteen statements that encouraged standardization and stimulated additional research in this critical area. 

“Optimal management of these drains should reduce patient discomfort, length of stay, and complications.”  said study investigator Dr. Michael Kent, associate professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School. “However, despite how commonly chest tubes are used in practice, the literature must provide more clarity on this subject. Many important questions have yet to be addressed and may require well-designed, prospective randomized trials.”

Read the Annals article. 

1. Reference: Liou DZ, Berry MF, Brown LM, Demmy TL, Huang J, Khullar OV, Padda SK, Shah RD, Taylor MD, Toker SA, Weiss E, Wightman SC, Worrell SG, Hayanga JWA, The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Expert Consensus Document on the Surgical Management of Thymomas, The Annals of Thoracic Surgery (2024)

2. Reference: Kent MS, Mitzman B, Diaz-Gutierrez, I, Khullar OV, Fernando H, Backus L, Brunelli A, Cassivi SD, Cerfolio RJ, Crabtree TD, Kakuturu J, Martin LW, Worrell SG, Raymond DP, Schumacher L, Hayanaga JWA, The Society of Thoracic Surgeons Expert Consensus Document on the Management of Pleural Drains following Pulmonary Lobectomy, The Annals of Thoracic Surgery (2024)

This afternoon the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) released the CY 2025 Medicare Physician Fee Schedule Proposed Rule. STS has compiled a summary of key provisions affecting thoracic surgery in the rule. 

Payment Cuts

CMS is again proposing significant cuts to cardiothoracic surgery reimbursement, this time by 2.8%. CMS estimates the CY 2025 conversion factor (CF) to be $32.36. Unlike hospital payments with a built-in yearly increase, physician payments do not have such adjustments. STS will continue lobbying Congress and CMS for systematic reforms and an inflationary update to Medicare payments.

Changes to physician reimbursement often stem from the budget neutrality requirement, which lacks a mechanism for inflationary adjustments. Disruptions occur when the value of specific services change, affecting the reimbursement of other services to maintain budget neutrality. STS and the physician community are advocating for Congress to legislate an inflationary update to the CF and adjust budget neutrality thresholds. For more details, see our recent response to the Senate Finance Committee’s request for information on physician payment. 

Quality Payment Program (QPP)

Thanks to advocacy efforts from STS and other stakeholders, Congress has stepped in to extend a 3.5% incentive payment for Advanced Alternative Payment Model (APM) participation in CY 2025 (based on CY 2023 participation). Additionally, starting in payment year 2026, APM participants will be eligible for a higher CF update than other clinicians: 0.75% compared to 0.25%. 

STS previously worked with CMS to provide specialty-specific, meaningful measures for our members who participate in the Bundled Payments for Care Improvement (BPCI) Advanced APM. Additionally, this will be relevant for CT surgeons performing CABG procedures under the new TEAM payment model proposed in the inpatient payment rule. CMS is considering, with STS support, allowing TEAM participation to count towards Advanced APM participation under the QPP.

Global Surgical Codes 

CMS is proposing to expand the use of transfer of care modifiers for global packages. They would require the use of modifiers (-54, -55, and -56) for all 90-day global surgical packages in cases where a practitioner (or another from the same group) expects to provide only the pre-operative (-56), procedure (-54), or post-operative (-55) portions. This applies to both formally documented and informally expected transfers of care. CMS aims to use the information collected to refine global surgical codes in the future.  

In the past, STS has actively promoted the benefits of maintaining the 90-day global code and has refuted flawed data used to advocate for their repeal. We will continue to promote the value of these bundled payments and urge policymakers to extend the increased reimbursement for E/M visits to those packaged in procedural global payments.  

Telehealth

CMS has extended telehealth flexibilities where possible, including adding new services to the telehealth list and permitting two-way and real-time audio-only communication technology for any telehealth service. Absent congressional intervention, the future of telemedicine hangs in the balance as the current telehealth flexibilities are scheduled to expire on December 31, 2024. STS urges Congress to permanently extend telehealth flexibilities established during the COVID-19 public health emergency.