heart surgery

Rosa Cruz has a broken heart - but she's hoping a Valentine's Day operation will be the cure. The 56-year-old Bronx woman is having heart surgery Monday - a coincidence she views as good luck.

(MedPage Today) -- A simple test of an older patient's walking speed -- a measure of frailty -- may help predict the risk of short-term complications following cardiac surgery, researchers found.

(MedPage Today) -- Antibiotic-soaked collagen sponges placed in the wound after heart surgery do not appear to cut down on infections among high-risk patients, according to results of a randomized trial.

Bayer pulled Trasylol off the market in 2007 after researchers found the medicine posed a higher risk of death than competing drugs.

Children's heart surgery should remain suspended at Oxford's John Radcliffe Hospital where four babies died, a report says.

SAN DIEGO (MedPage Today) -- Temporary biventricular pacing after cardiopulmonary bypass for congenital heart disease appears to improve the performance of the heart in children with ventricles out of sync on pulmonary flow, according to a preliminary randomized trial.

Experts discuss broadcast journalist Barbara Walters' upcoming heart surgery.

WHEELING, W.Va. (MedPage Today) -- Providing continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) after cardiac surgery reduced lung complications and ICU readmissions by half in a large randomized trial.