News & Media

The trusted data in the STS National Database™ has been a cornerstone for scientific research and quality improvement for more than three decades—and recently its General Thoracic (GTSD) and Congenital Heart (CHSD) surgery databases made major leaps toward demonstrating their importance across the United States.  GTSD Participants Can Earn Credit for Transparency US News & World Report recently announced its decision to create a new Public Transparency measure to be used in its Best Hospitals rankings in Pulmonology & Lung Surgery. The measure will be based on whether a hospital elects to publicly report its lobectomy outcomes on the GTSD public reporting website as of February 12, 2023.   “This is a boon for high-performing hospitals who participate in the GTSD,” said Vinay Badhwar, MD, chair of the STS Council on Quality, Research, and Patient Safety. “Those who already are publicly reporting their outcomes to the Database now have the option to earn Transparency best rankings, and GTSD participants who were not publicly reporting were given the means to opt in last month.” Dr. Badhwar added, “For hospitals who are not GTSD participants, the time to join is now.” The next edition of Best Hospitals will feature the new Public Transparency measure, and the measure will have a weight of 3% in the adult Pulmonology & Lung Surgery specialty rankings. “The same measure will be included in the Procedures & Conditions statistical analysis, and it likely will be used in calculating the Lung Cancer Surgery ratings,” wrote US News’ Ben Harder.  This means that, by simply enrolling in the STS National Database Public Reporting initiative, hospitals can receive the transparency credit.  More than 100 thoracic surgery programs nationwide are already publicly reporting their surgical outcomes. US News will review the GTSD public reporting site in February 2023, and they release their Best Hospitals lists once a year.  If a hospital joins GTSD in 2023 and enrolls in public reporting, they will be eligible to receive the transparency credit in 2024.  "For hospitals who are not GTSD participants, the time to join is now." Vinay Badhwar, MD CHSD Makes History with Infant Surgical Trial In a first-of-its-kind multicenter, NIH-funded randomized trial within a registry, investigators have found that infants undergoing cardiopulmonary bypass surgery experienced no difference in outcomes when they received prophylactic glucocorticoids versus placebo. Results from the study, made possible by the CHSD and 24 participating sites, appeared last month in the New England Journal of Medicine.  “With an NIH award of over 5 million dollars, our team successfully conducted a multicenter, prospective, randomized, placebo-controlled, registry-based clinical trial with participants enrolled at 24 sites participating in the CHSD,” said Jeffrey P. Jacobs, MD, principal investigator for the grant, titled “Leveraging existing registry resources to facilitate clinical trials.” With data curated in the CHSD, researchers were able to randomize outcomes for 1,200 infants and newborns undergoing open-heart surgery. Glucocorticoids have been used for decades in this surgical population, but until now, their benefits have remained unconfirmed. With this CHSD analysis, the research team assessed a primary outcome composite of operative mortality, 13 individual major complications, and postoperative length of stay.  “Among infants undergoing surgery with cardiopulmonary bypass, prophylactic methylprednisolone did not significantly decrease the likelihood of a worse outcome in adjusted analysis,” the authors wrote, noting that methylprednisolone additionally was associated with increased postoperative hyperglycemia requiring insulin.  The publication of these results is a reflection of the quality and power of the Database, said Dr. Jacobs, who served on STS’s Workforce on National Databases and as chair of its Congenital Heart Surgery Database Task Force. Based on his experiences, he emphasized, “The STS Congenital Heart Surgery Database is the premier registry in the world for pediatric quality assessment and research.” Database Makes Never-Before-Seen Science Possible at STS 2023 At the upcoming STS Annual Meeting in San Diego, presenters will unveil novel scientific discoveries gleaned from the robust data curation in the STS Adult Cardiac, Congenital, General Thoracic, and Intermacs/Pedimacs Databases, including Frozen elephant trunk versus traditional limited repair in acute type 1 aortic dissection Variables affecting survival in pediatric patients supported with ventricular assist devices Targeted molecular therapy and immunotherapy for lung and esophageal cancer Postcardiotomy shock and 30-day outcomes in patients with severe left ventricular systolic dysfunction Survival outcomes for patients undergoing lung transplant Establishment of an STS adult congenital heart surgery risk model The impact of surgical strategy on isolated tricuspid valve outcomes Practice patterns in the management of tetralogy of Fallot

John H. Calhoon, MD STS News, Fall 2022 — It’s hard to believe my year as President is already complete. There were several memorable moments, including Coronary Congress in early summer in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, followed by resident Boot Camp, AQO, and a great EACTS meeting in Milan, Italy. In early December, STS/EACTS and LACES put on an excellent cardiac meeting in Cartagena, Columbia, attended by more than 300 Latin American surgeons and other participants. This year’s meetings generated a lot of value for surgeons, residents, students, and industry partners enjoying the opportunity to be back together in person.  This past year, STS has been investigating ways to broaden its reach and impact internationally. To this end, we have proposed bylaws changes—to be reviewed at the STS Business Meeting at STS 2023—that will promote equal standing for members across the world. STS 2023 is really shaping up. Early atten­dance figures look as good as ever, but what is most energizing is the program. Dr. Adil Husain, Ms. Michele Rush, and their team have put together a great meeting. It is designed to give attendees some time during the day to go for a walk or grab lunch with a spouse, friend, or colleague—to not just talk about work/life balance, but to actually live it a bit.  Themes for this year’s meeting include: • Education, not just of our students and residents, but of ourselves.  • Social unrest: avoiding noise while navigating equitably and inclusively. • Data and how we should be using it. To this end, we have three great invited speakers lined up.  One is Dr. Francisco Cigarroa, one of my surgical colleagues in San Antonio. He previously dabbled in administration as president of our medical school, and then as chancellor of the entire UT system, before going back to just being a very talented and hardworking director of organ transplant programs. He will be delivering the Vivien Thomas Lecture to open our annual meeting. Please make every effort to be there Saturday morning as it promises to be awesome.  Our Thomas Ferguson Lecturer is a great orator, the Rev. Max Lucado, who will be speaking about “recalling our calling.” I’ve come to know Max well and I respect him tremendously. This talk will resonate with everyone about why we went into medicine and surgery and how to continue to enjoy the many great parts of our profession. It will not be evangelical, just something good for our souls.  Finally, we can all be really excited about Dr. Peter Smith agreeing to deliver the C. Walton Lillehei Lecture. He is going to be speaking about how CABG still is, in many cases, the best possible treatment for coronary disease. There is likely no one who has used data better than Dr. Smith to highlight our worth to patients, institutions, and to the health care industry. He almost singlehandedly helped us prevail with RVU based reimbursement over a decade ago. His talk on “the collision of a belief system with the evidence” will no doubt highlight just that.  Dr. Jo Chikwe and her team at The Annals continue to help us strengthen knowledge and skills as a key part of the STS experience. The STS Research Center and STS National Database have made progress this year in achieving quality and consistency of data to assess and benchmark performance. STS research and analytics services are increasingly used by physicians, researchers, payers, pharma, and industry for quality improvement initiatives, comparative effectiveness research, post-market surveillance, clinical trials, and basic and translational research. In addition, US News & World Report, starting in 2023, will track STS lobectomy outcomes through the GTSD—generating a lot of interest from hospitals! Learn more on page 7.  One thing which has been sad for so many of us was the sudden loss of Dr. Sean Grondin. As stated before, Sean was simply a wonderful man, surgeon, husband, father, son, teacher, and leader. His loss so soon was hard to fathom and remains simply hard to even process. His knack of spending time where it mattered and finding the right “fit” for whatever the situation is even more poignant now.  So, hope all enjoyed a wonderful holiday season and are looking forward to an even better 2023.  God Bless,  John

The Reviewer of the Year award is announced annually to recognize outstanding peer reviewers for The Annals of Thoracic Surgery. The Editorial Board highlights a winner in each of the three main disciplines—Adult Cardiac, General Thoracic, and Congenital Heart Surgery—in addition to highlighting one trainee/resident award winner.  The Annals recognizes these 2022 contributors who consistently provided a combination of high-quality, thorough, and professional reviews in a timely manner:  Adult Cardiac Heidi J. Reich, MD from Central California Heart and Lung Surgery, Fresno, California  General Thoracic Alejandro Bribriesco, MD  from Cleveland Clinic, Cleveland, Ohio  Congenital  Nishant Saran, MBBS  from Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota  Trainee Alejandro Suarez-Pierre, MD University of Colorado, Aurora, Colorado “Reviewing for The Annals is an act of generosity, a responsibility to uphold high standards, and a privilege,” said editor Joanna Chikwe, MD, FRCS. “This year’s winners demonstrated extreme dedication, and their work helped authors conduct better studies and write better papers.”  “The Annals is tremendously grateful for this year’s recipients for safeguarding the quality and integrity of scholarly communication,” Dr. Chikwe continued. “Their work, and the work of other contributors, has made The Annals the most cited journal in cardiothoracic surgery.”  STS experts interested in peer reviewing for The Annals are invited to join the Reviewer Volunteer program, which provides senior editors with a qualified pool of potential reviewers when editors are working with manuscripts in different areas of expertise. For more information, contact theannals@sts.org.   

Imam Takes Over as Lagonne Chair Mohammed N. “Mo” Imam, MD, has been appointed chair of the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery at NYU Long Island School of Medicine. From 2016 to 2022, Dr. Imam was chair of cardiothoracic surgery and executive director of The Heart Institute in Staten Island, New York. His areas of expertise include coronary bypass grafting, minimally invasive valve surgery, transcatheter aortic valve procedures, surgery for arrythmia, mitral valve repairs, minimally invasive aneurysm repair, and lung cancer surgery. He has been an STS Member since 2003. Wilder Joins Staff at Brigham and Women’s Hospital Fatima G. Wilder, MD, has joined the Thoracic Surgery Division at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Wilder was a cardiothoracic surgery fellow at Johns Hopkins University Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland. An STS Member since 2016, she serves on the STS Workforce on Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.   Guy Brings Robotic Expertise to Georgia T. Sloane Guy, MD, MBA, is the new director of Minimally Invasive & Robotic Cardiac Surgery at Gainesville’s Northeast Georgia Physicians Group and Georgia Heart Institute. Dr. Guy will be the first-ever robotic heart surgeon to perform procedures at Northeast Georgia Medical Center Gainesville. Previously, he served as vice chief of the Division of Cardiac Surgery, clinical director of cariac surgery, and director of minimally invasive and robotic cardiac surgery at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He has chaired the STS Task Force on Robotic Surgery, and he has been an STS Member since 2006. Szeto Assumes Endowed Chair at Penn Wilson Y. Szeto, MD, has been selected for the Julian Johnson II endowed chair at Penn Medicine in Philadelphia. Dr. Szeto joined the Penn faculty in 2015, and in 2017 he was appointed vice chief of clinical operations and quality in the Division of Cardiovascular Surgery. Currently serving as secretary of the STS Board of Directors, he has been an STS Member since 2007. Send news about yourself or a colleague to stsnews@sts.org. Submissions will be printed based on content, membership status, and space available.

After 2 years of virtual-only programming, The Society’s 59th Annual Meeting, January 21 – 23 in San Diego, California, promises an in-person experience that’s better than ever—with late-breaking abstracts, challenging case presentations, immersive experiences, and never-before-seen scientific discoveries and surgical techniques.  “The ability for colleagues and friends to gather in person for the first time in several years will be a palpable opportunity to not only share intellectual knowledge but also—perhaps more importantly—reconnect on a personal level,” said S. Adil Husain, MD, chair of the STS Workforce on Annual Meeting. “We have each experienced many unique challenges since our last in-person meeting and this reunion of sorts will be a valuable elixir for us all.”  The program planning committee received a record number of exciting abstract submissions in all subspecialty areas, Dr. Husain said. They designed the program with a focus on blending top-scoring science with highly respected invited speakers, with an emphasis on interaction and discussion time.  Adult Cardiac Offerings Target Optimal Outcomes  Parallel sessions in adult cardiac surgical topics explore why cardiac surgeons should be involved in pulmonary embolism response teams, the management of severe aortic stenosis in young adult patients, optimizing care for infective endocarditis, the heart team approach to complex tricuspid valve disease, and much more.   Hands-on courses cover annular enlargement and mitral valve repair, while “In the OR with” videos take attendees on an immersive journey as world-class surgeons demonstrate complex aortic arch reconstruction, minimally invasive mitral valve repair, and the Ross procedure. The J. Maxwell Chamberlain Memorial Paper and Richard E. Clark Memorial Paper will unveil outcomes data in large patient groups—the former on coronary artery bypass grafting versus multivessel percutaneous intervention, and the latter on the effect of surgical strategy in isolated tricuspid valve procedures.  Congenital Program Is Dynamic with Data  Data-driven outcomes, evidence-based guidelines, and optimizing the landscape for the current and future congenital surgery workforces feature prominently in the congenital surgery curriculum. “To Train or Not to Train?” will include a debate on the regulation of fellowship positions, and “Leveling the Playing Field” will explore whether it’s useful for lower-volume centers to partner with high-volume centers to deliver best results.  Engaging video and abstract presentations will demonstrate single leaflet neocuspidization with autologous pericardium, position of the autograft and homograft in the Ross-Konno procedure, neonatal palliation for high-risk single ventricle heterotaxy, and a novel hybrid palliation technique for a premature newborn prior to Norwood single ventricle palliation. The inaugural James S. Tweddell Paper investigates the creation of an STS adult congenital heart surgery risk model, and the Clark paper analyzes the STS National Database for patterns in the management of tetralogy of Fallot.   General Thoracic Sessions Showcase Next-Gen Techniques  Parallel sessions in the general thoracic program highlight topics including controversies in transplant practices, immunotherapy and targeted molecular therapy, and challenging esophageal consults, while an Ask the Experts session titled “Elegant Solutions to Lung Disasters” will show attendees how to salvage pulmonary resections gone wrong. Attendees will gain hands-on expertise in complex central airway reconstruction, and an “In the OR with” video demonstrates uniport segmentectomy and left lower lobectomy.  Among the abstracts are a 20-year experience with salvage esophageal reconstruction with colon interposition, a one-step classifier for molecular differential diagnosis between multiple primary lung cancer and intrapulmonary metastasis, the evolution of pain control for adult pectus excavatum repair, and how the number of involved structures affects outcomes in thymic epithelial tumors. The Chamberlain Paper examines racial disparities in patients awaiting lung transplant, and the Clark Paper pinpoints how urgent paraesophageal hernia repair in elderly patients is associated with worse outcomes. Perioperative, Critical Care Topics Bring Results into Practice  An array of offerings in perioperative and critical care includes controversies in perioperative blood management, building an ERAS cardiac program without added cost, contemporary approaches to pain management, phenotypes and unique characteristics of cardiogenic and postcardiotomy shock, and new regulatory standards for resuscitation. A hands-on course covers the V3 exam—volume status, venous access, ventricular function—for CT surgery.   The Clark Paper, “The Price of Delay: RV Failure and Biventricular Support” utilizes relevant findings from the Intermacs database, and the Chamberlain Paper demonstrates that the COVID-19 pandemic is associated with increased mortality, failure to rescue, and cost across all socioeconomic statuses.   Equity Is Paramount in Wellness, Education, Quality  Surgeon wellness and career advancement take center stage at STS 2023. A “Surgical Families” session explores unique situations including adoptive parents, parents of children with special needs, surgical trainees and parents, two-surgeon households, and single-parent surgeons. A session on ergonomics helps surgeons avoid injuries that can curtail a career, and Annals Academy provides tips on publishing impactful research.   In the quality and education realms are sessions on the preoperative assessment of frailty beyond the “eyeball test” and making sense of hospital star ratings, while intriguing abstracts investigate how communication patterns in the OR are affected by task difficulty, how male versus female candidates regard diversity in selecting jobs and training programs, and harnessing natural language processing to evaluate gender bias in letters of recommendation for cardiothoracic surgery applicants. “The plenary session invited speakers will offer a unique opportunity for attendees to self-reflect both personally and professionally,” added Dr. Husain. The Vivien T. Thomas Lecture will be delivered by Francisco G. Cigarroa, MD, who directs the transplant center at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio. Bestselling author Max Lucado will present the Thomas B. Ferguson Lecture, and Peter K. Smith, MD, principal investigator for the Duke University site in the Cardiothoracic Surgery Clinical Trials Network, is this year’s C. Walton Lillehei Lecturer.   The Presidents Reception—at a bayfront restaurant and cocktail venue featuring a floating reception hall and a skyline lounge—will celebrate not only the term of current STS President John H. Calhoon, MD, but also the legacies of Past Presidents Sean C. Grondin, MD, MPH, FRCSC and Joseph A. Dearani, MD, who oversaw the Society’s governance with innovation and grace during the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Space is limited for the reception, and attendees must add it to their cart during registration.   “We have lost several admired colleagues in recent times, Dr. Tweddell and Dr. Grondin in particular,” said Dr. Husain. “We will value our ability to celebrate their contributions to our subspecialty as well as to acknowledge the loss of other cherished members within our Society.”  STS 2023 also heralds the return of live product demonstrations, with 150 exhibitors showcasing the latest tools and technologies for surgical practice. Industry symposia—both offsite and at the convention center this year—afford rare opportunities to practice new techniques, and product theaters let attendees experience devices and software hands-on.  For those who can’t travel to San Diego—or for those who want to do more with their in-person registration—a new option, Plenary Livestream-Plus, will allow registrants to livestream the President’s Address and named lectures from anywhere onsite or across the globe.   STS Members enjoy significant discounts on STS 2023 registration, and Resident/Fellow and Medical Student Members register for free. There’s still time to register at sts.org/annualmeeting.