Rebecca Weedle

• Medical Professional at St. James's Hospital

Background: Lung resection remains the gold-standard of treatment for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). British Thoracic Society (BTS) guidelines recommends the pursuit of pre-operative histological diagnosis and staging where possible. In the absence of pre-operative histology, surgical treatment can be offered in conjunction with multidiscipli...

Background: The antiadrenergic and antifibrillatory effects of cardiac sympathectomy in pathological states such as long QT syndrome are well established. The indications for the procedure have expanded since the videoassisted thoracoscopic approach was first used. However, the procedure is currently largely used in cases where medication has faile...

Aim The aim of this study is to assess the impact of EBUS on the concordance of clinical and pathological NSCLC staging in our center. Methods Data was collected retrospectively from the hospital database regarding patients who underwent surgical resection for early stage NSCLC between 2012 and 2017. Results A total of 251 patients were included. T...

Background: Cardiac surgery remains the gold standard treatment for select cohorts of patients with coronary artery and valvular heart diseases. It induces an acute systemic inflammatory response due to cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), myocardial arrest, and surgical trauma. There is growing evidence that increased inflammation leads to greater compl...

Introduction Cardiac implantable electronic devices (CIED) are associated with low rates of procedure-related complications but many of these complications are associated with significant morbidity and prolonged hospitalisations. The aim of this study was to perform a retrospective ‘real world’ review of CIED complication rates in a tertiary centre...

Background DSC (delayed sternal closure) is most frequently utilized in neonates and infants undergoing complex repairs. In the early days of cardiac surgery, primary closure of the sternum at the end of the operation was mandatory because of the concern of mediastinal infection. Potential risks of delayed sternal closure include sepsis, mediastini...

Introduction Mitral valve repair surgery is the procedure of choice for degenerative mitral valve disease in symptomatic patients. There is a paucity of national records in mitral valve repair rates and outcomes in Ireland. Aim We set out to review our mitral valve repair rates for degenerative disease as proposed by the local Heart Team / Joint C...

Thoracic pain in a young woman carries a wide differential diagnosis. We present the case of a 37-year-old woman who presented with thoracic pain due to a posterior mediastinal Müllerian cyst. Excision was performed by left uniportal video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery. This is the first report to describe thoracic pain that resolved with excision...

Objective: To identify current entry requirements set by international medical licensing bodies for immigrating physicians, focusing on postgraduate level communication skills, clinical and technical skill assessments. Methods: A standardised, author developed survey was administered to a selection of national, state and provincial licensing ins...