Afternoon open heart surgery 'leads to fewer complications'

Conclusion This study found evidence of an effect that's worth investigating further to see if there are real differences in heart muscle function and risk of complications from heart surgery at different times of the day. However, there were some limitations: It took place at a single hospital, with a relatively small number of people undergoing operations. The laboratory study found differences in gene activity that suggested the body clock may play a role in making the heart better able to tolerate loss of oxygen and subsequent re-oxygenation. However, there may be other explanations for these differences. For example, all the operations were performed by only four different surgeons. Variation in post-operation outcomes could have something to do with the surgeons' performances rather than the patients' characteristics. The research only looked at aortic valve surgery, so we don't know if the same result would be seen for other types of operation. As one expert – Dr Tim Chico, consultant cardiologist at the University of Sheffield in the UK – pointed out, if what this research suggests is shown to be correct, there would be major implications for the future scheduling of operations, and this could have extensive knock-on effects in terms of staffing and resources across the healthcare service. That's why further study of this potential effect is very important to ensure we understand the reasons why these differences are seen and what types of surgery they may apply t...
Source: NHS News Feed - Category: Consumer Health News Tags: Heart/lungs Source Type: news