Is serum gamma-glutamyltransferase activity increased in patients with calcific aortic valve stenosis?
The study results suggest that serum GGT activity is increased in patients with calcific AS. These increases seem to occur in advanced rather than milder forms of calcific aortic valve disease.
Standardized postoperative management protocols and critical clinical pathways can reduce costs and operative time. Future efforts must focus on lowering the costs of the prostheses, particularly with competitive bidding or capitation of prostheses costs. Although a single-vendor approach was not effective in this study, it is possible that a cost reduction could have been realized if more TKRs were performed, because the pricing contract was based on projected volume of TKRs to be done by the hospital.