Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2019/10/04/bernie-sanders-discharged-from.html
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Bernie Sanders discharged from hospital after heart surgery
Discharged? More like REcharged!
#NewCampaignSlogan
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Bern it all down!
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(BBC using the phrase ‘heart attack,’ as in “Sanders released from hospital after a heart attack…” in the top-of-the-hour world news recap.)
“Heart attack” is out there now because this report says “myocardial infarction” … which is new information and was only let out by the campaign today.
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Just going through the federal election ourselves up north, and reminding myself that this is a hiring process, not a sports game or choosing a church.
He is closest to my politics and my favourite US politician, but the hiring is for a 9-year commitment - not for a 40-hour week, either, but mostly 60-80, with the occasional 16 hour day and always the chance of a 30-hour day with some terrifying decision needed at hour 25.
It’s not about lifespan or even healthspan, but … call it “vigorspan”? The age until which you can handle the above job description. He’s putting out that and now, has for decades, sure, but the odds of a sudden downturn rise exponentially every year after 80.
I just can’t see it.
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@xeni
It wasn’t heart surgery. No one used a knife to cut through his chest, nor sutured a graft onto his clogged artery. The team taking care of him inserted two stents into one or two of his coronary arteries, using a catheter placed into either his femoral artery or one of the arteries in his arm (cardiologist’s choice).
This is not surgery. It is awesome, and has great results, but it is not surgery. I hate it when they get the words wrong.
In other matters of this procedure… “heart attack” is actually a vague term, bc it is based in everyday language and not technical, so different people will take it different ways. Myocardial Infarction means that the patient had EKG changes consistent with part of the heart muscle not getting enough blood flow, usually (not always) caused by a fully or partially occluded artery. Such an EKG, coupled with symptoms like chest pain, shortness of breath, dizziness, nausea, vomiting, arm pain, jaw pain, or weakness, is usually enough to send someone to the “cath lab” for PTCA (Percutaneous transluminal coronary angioplasty ). A fast response to this situation can open the blockages before much (sometimes any) damage is done. You can’t always tell how much damage was done during the initial catheterization, and the reports so far do not discuss the data that would show that. However, his quick release from the hospital suggests little to none.
“Time is Muscle”
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Oh good lord. A myocardial infarction is a heart attack. Angioplasty with a stent placed in your heart muscle is a surgical procedure.
You’re trying too hard. He can have a procedure and still be fit for the job. Though he does have a responsibility now to release health records that he didn’t have to the same degree previously.
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An MI is definitely a “heart attack.” I would not classify angioplasty with stenting as heart surgery. It is performed with a puncture not much different than giving blood, but done to the arteries rather than veins. However, in journalistic terms, it is often called “surgery” because the public is not very aware about the various level of medical interventions.
There are noninvasive procedures, like splinting a broken bone.
There are interventional or catheter-based procedures, like this one. Heck, now they can implant a heart valve via catheter!
There is minimally-invasive surgery, where only small (~1 cm) cuts are used to access the surgical area.
Then there is open surgery, which is what most people think of when the term is used.
Generally speaking, the less invasive the procedure, the quicker the recovery and the fewer complications.
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I don’t know- every surgical procedure isn’t a major surgical procedure,
I had a actinic keratosis removed in my Dr’s Office. It was surgery- but it was outpatient- no specialized room or equipment. Angioplasty with a cardiac stent is performed in hospitals in specialized rooms. It’s surgery. Is it hip replacement surgery- no. But neither was mine.
And I had an endoscopic surgery last year for what would have been an extensive open surgery a few years back - which is a somewhat similar situation to cardiac repair- nowhere near the severity of recovery to years ago - but still - surgery.
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^^^^^^^^This.
The only surgery was into an artery to insert the catheter; NOT into his heart. It is called a procedure, as in a catheterization procedure. In general terms they 1) introduced the catheter into one of his limbs, and snaked it up into blood vessels in his heart, 2) performed angiography, i.e., while under x-rays, released radiopaque dye from end of catheter to visualize where the blockage was, 3) once found, used a balloon to widen the blocked artery, and 4) finally deployed the stent(s) – a wire mesh tube that is expanded by the balloon to keep the artery open (or alternatively, expands on its own due to the higher temperature of blood). The stent may or may not be the kind that delivers trace amounts of drugs that help keep the stent open and the blood flowing freely.
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Unfortunately, while this was a true emergency and the hospital was within Mr. Sander’s insurance network, many of the contracted doctors and ancillary services were not.
He will be leaving the campaign trail in search of a job that pays better than POTUS so he can pay off the bills from the private equity firms that control the contracted services he received during this unfortunate event.
His doctors report he will be fine.
The private equity firms are awaiting his financial report before offering a prognosis.
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It’s still surgery, it’s just not open heart surgery. There was damage to his heart due to ischemia, but it sounds like he got the stents quickly. Nothing like being a major political figure to make your door to balloon time super quick.
This does highlight the age of some candidates as well as Trump.
Godspeed!
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I’m a socialist. Sanders’s positions are closest to my own. But no. I want to vote for someone whose heart I don’t have to worry about. Call it ignorance, shortsightedness, bias, etc., but no. And thousands of me saying no to this. It was fun while it lasted!
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Is it surgery, or not? Heart attack, or not? A bit of both, or neither? This calls for a Venn diagram! I’ll check back later.
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It isn’t heart surgery. It isn’t surgery. This isn’t a matter of opinion. And it matters (beyond my pedantic quest for the proper terminology).
By referring to Mr Sanders’ procedure as a surgery, it puts him into catagory of longer recovery and a more frail postop patient. It makes it sound, especially to lay people, like he’s less likely to be functional and reliably well. By accidentally referring to his procedure incorrectly, people are making him sound less healthy, more sick, less able, and more of a risk than he really is. This will then be used by his detractors to claim that he’s unfit to campaign, or to hold office.
And here’s why it matters: Surgery takes a long time to recover, especially compared to stenting procedures. A much longer time. After surgery, grafts need to heal and epithelialize, the incision needs to heal, internal bleeding (albeit a small amount) needs to stop, chest drainage tubes must be removed, and patients face the added risk of pneumonia. The road back to 100% can be long, though not always.
PTCA/ stenting involves one access point in either arm or leg. The risk of post procedure bleeding is smaller, and the risk of pneumonia is virtually nill. People can get up and walk within a couple hours, sometimes immediately. They have no incisions ,no chest tubes, no pacer wires, were not under anaesthesia, and were not unconscious. They often walk out of the hospital the next day.
— more annoying technical stuff:
Open heart surgery is performed by cardio thoracic surgeons, in conjunction with a complicated OR team. They train for years to perform heart surgeries, and that’s what they do: bypass grafting, valve replacements, etc. They don’t do PTCA, they don’t do stents.
PTCA & stenting is performed by interventional cardiologists, with a “cath lab” team. Interventionists train with fluoroscopes and long thin catheters to thread balloons and stents into heart arteries. They don’t use scalpels and there’s rarely full anesthesia.
I spent two years working cardiothoracic surgery post op ICU. I’ve spent 20 years working in the ER figuring out who goes to the cath lab & who goes to the OR and who goes home. Surgery is surgery, cath lab is cath lab, and they’re totally different.
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I’ve had a similar procedure, entering through the femoral artery and labroscopy of the heart remotely. It’s not as invasive as open heart surgery but it still involved signing lots of releases, a serious consult on the risk of death involved, anesthesia, a consult on the risk of death involved with anesthesia, a visit from a chaplain and queries if I wanted a dnr or not, and 24 hours inpatient observation to make sure I didn’t die suddenly from an air bubble or something. It’s absolutely surgery, or at least my surgeon thought it was.
Glad the man is recovering well. Don’t downplay the seriousness of the event.
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