Patients are not the only ones at risk during cardiac procedures. Doctors performing heart surgery also face health risks, namely to their eyes.

A study reveals today that inadequate blood sugar control in patients having heart surgery is associated with a four fold increase in post-surgery death and major complications - and that the blood sugar disturbances occur in patients with and without diabetes.

Heart surgeons at Johns Hopkins have evidence to support further tightening rather than easing of standards used to designate hospitals that are best at performing heart transplants.

Women die and get infections more often than men after heart surgery because they tend to receive more blood transfusions, which boost the risks of bad outcomes, according to a study published in the December Journal of Women’s Health.

Doctors said Monday that women with heart problems may need to be treated differently than men. Research presented at the annual European Society of Cardiology meeting in Vienna suggested that surgeries that typically save men's lives can actually be deadly for women.

Contrary to recent studies, proper use of a drug called aprotinin to reduce bleeding during heart surgery does not increase the risk of heart attack or stroke, according to a study in the June issue of The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery.

A novel catheter technique for patching holes in the heart may make it possible for many patients to avoid surgery altogether and others to regain enough strength to safely undergo surgical repair at a later date, according to a study reported at the 30th Annual Scientific Sessions of the Society for Cardiovascular Angiography and Interventions, May 9-12, 2007, in Orlando, FL.

A new study, led by Felix Aigner, M.D., has identified a protein known as Lipocalin-2 (Lcn-2) as potentially responsible for regulating the body's inflammatory response during heart transplants. One of the major complications involved with many transplantations is the damage done to the transplanted heart during and immediately following surgery, known as ischemia and reperfusion (IR).

Filtering white cells from donor blood before a transfusion is much safer for patients and long overdue as a national standard for all surgical procedures, according to University of Rochester researchers who present their analysis in the April journal, Transfusion.

Researchers today reported that an investigational anti-hypertensive therapy may perform better in controlling blood pressure than standard treatments for patients undergoing heart surgery, during a presentation at the American College of Cardiology's 56th Annual Scientific Session.