Editor's Note The Food and Drug Administration on July 28 approved a new balloon device to treat obesity without the need for a surgical procedure. The ReShape Integrated Dual Balloon System (ReShape Medical Inc, San Clemente, California) is inserted into the stomach endoscopically and then filled with saline. Patients are…

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Editor's Note Patients exposed to radiation during cardiac computed tomographic angiography had evidence of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) damage that was associated with cell death, DNA damage in cells, and activation of genes involved in DNA repair, in this study. Most cells damaged by the CT scan were repaired, but a…

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Editor's Note Older women are more likely than older men to have mental decline after general anesthesia, and both men and women had faster declines in mental function and brain volume than those who had no general anesthesia, this study finds. Mental decline was especially severe in women who had…

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Editor's Note The AmericanCollege of Surgeons calls the usefulness of surgeon rating systems released last week by two public interest group websites questionable. The groups use differing methodologies (ie, years of Medicare data reviewed, procedures studied, and rating scales used) to determine their rankings, and a patient visiting both sites…

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At least half the battle in making and sustaining process improvements is getting the entire team on board with a new workflow. One key to getting buy-in from staff is to clarify why changes are needed and what the consequences may be if the new processes aren’t followed. In a…

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Editor's Note US News & World Report has posted its honor roll of the 15 best hospitals for 2015 to 2016. Honor roll hospitals scored near the top in at lease six specialties. Boston’s Massachusetts General Hospital returned to the top spot this year after being second last year. The…

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Editor's Note The use of hybrid coronary revascularization is safe and effective, with faster recovery and similar outcomes compared to conventional coronary artery bypass grafting, this study finds. The 30-day composite of mortality, myocardial infarction, or stroke was similar for both procedures, as was mortality during a 3-year follow-up period.…

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Editor's Note Baxter International Inc has announced a recall of two lots of 0.9% sodium chloride injection, USP, 50 mL and 100 mL, because of the presence of particulate matter. The lot numbers are P319921 and P327635. The particulate matter was determined to be an insect and was identified as…

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Editor's Note In this study, patients having hip fracture surgery under regional anesthesia had significantly more complications than patients who received general anesthesia. Spinal anesthesia had the highest complication rate (19.6%), followed by general anesthesia (17.9%), and regional nerve blocks (12.6%). After combining regional nerve block and spinal anesthesia patients,…

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Editor's Note Patient handoffs in ambulatory surgery centers are commonly interrupted by distractions that put patients at risk, and nearly 50% might be preventable, this study finds. Handoffs with communication distractions were rated lower in overall quality and associated with a greater number of errors (ie,  transfer of incorrect information).…

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