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G C Kaiser

Publications and source records attributed to G C Kaiser.

160 records · Page 9Linked to original sources

Institutional differences in therapeutic decision making in the Coronary Artery Surgery Study (CASS).

This article examines institutional differences in therapeutic decision making in the Coronary Artery Surgery Study (CASS). The initial decision to use medical therapy or coronary artery bypass surgery for coronary artery disease is studied. Data from the CASS registry and a survey of CASS principal investigators were used to examine the effects of institutional characteristics, individual physician characteristics, and decision making responsibility on the recommended therapy, the actual therapy, and the ratio of the observed to expected number of surgeries. The results indicated that the experience and involvement of the surgeon in the decision making process were related to actual and recommended rates of surgery. The percentage of urgent transfers from other hospitals and the percentage of surgical referrals to outside hospitals were related to the ratio of the observed to expected numbers of surgery, an adjusted rate of surgery. A major conclusion of this study is that despite the effects of certain institutional constructs, scientific criteria in the form of clinical and angiographic data are the most important determinants of whether a patient receives coronary artery bypass surgery.

Adult↗

Coronary graft flow and glucose tolerance: evidence against the existence of myocardial microvascular disease.

Patients having coronary bypass for stable angina pectoris were grouped on the basis of the two hour plasma sugar of the glucose tolerance test: Group I, 120 mgs% (159 grafts); Group II, 120-150 (93 grafts); Group III, 150-200 (131 grafts) and Group IV, 200 (57 grafts) or patients receiving therapy for diabetes mellitus (10 patients, 21 grafts). Five of 10 diabetic patients had genetic evidence of diabetes and an average duration of therapy of 6.5 years. Blood flow was measured in 461 grafts with an electromagnetic flow probe after discontinuation of cardiopulmonary bypass in a stable state, after a 30 second graft occlusion and after injection of 15 mg of papaverine into the graft. Mean arterial pressure, graft flow and coronary resistance for each succeeding group did not vary significantly when compared with Group I. Analysis of phasic flow in 10 grafts to the left anterior descending indicates that the same proportion of flow occurs during systole and diastole in the basal state and after pappaverine. Coronary flow and resistance in patients with abnormal glucose metabolism and maturity onset diabetes do not provide evidence for the existence of myocardial microangiopathy.

Blood Pressure↗