AATS wants to improve research in the field of cardiothoracic surgery
The American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) said it has created a new collaboration with the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)-supported Cardiothoracic Surgical Trials Network (CTSN) to support practice-changing clinical trials in cardiothoracic surgery.
Under the partnership, AATS members are being asked to help with ideas on new clinical trial concepts and advances in technology innovation. The goal is to create timely and patient-centered studies that address ongoing challenges in patient recruitment and collecting long-term outcomes data. AATS added that the partnership will strengthen the intellectual and financial resources available to support CTSN trials.
“AATS is the global home for academic cardiothoracic surgery and surgeons. Combining resources with CTSN will result in the best possible trials and investigations and thus better care for patients, which is our primary goal as surgeons. Now, perhaps in this moment in history more than ever, collaborations are critical for global innovation,” Emile A. Bacha, MD, AATS president and surgeon-in-chief at New York Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center, said in a statement.
There will be a special session at the 2026 AATS annual meeting in Chicago for brainstorming new ideas, sharing trial updates and engaging the academic cardiothoracic surgical community.
A new AATS-CTSN Committee will work on the collaboration details to support the design and conduct of cardiothoracic surgical trials, from early-phase studies to large comparative effectiveness trials.
“It is great that surgeons are taking the lead to provide both financial and intellectual support for key randomized clinical trials (RCTs),” said A. Marc Gillinov, MD, CTSN chair, AATS board member and department chairman of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery at the Sydell and Arnold Miller Family Heart, Vascular and Thoracic Institute at Cleveland Clinic, in the same statement. “High quality trials are a requirement given the changes in interventions in cardiothoracic surgery and rapid changes in medicine including the utilization of artificial intelligence. The trials we do today will impact guidelines and standards of care for years to come. This partnership will ensure we are both nimble and relevant.”
NHLBI created the CTSN in 2007. It has built a large portfolio of clinical trials, enrolling about 20,000 patients across its cardiovascular studies. This includes more than 5,000 patients in 13 randomized trials at over 100 sites in North America and Europe. It is able to increase the efficiency of clinical research by providing a clinical laboratory where multiple clinical trials can be conducted simultaneously without the need to create a new infrastructure for each one. The network model also allows for flexibility to rapidly launch trials to address new clinical issues much faster than in the past.
Dave Fornell has covered healthcare for more than 17 years, with a focus in cardiology and radiology. Fornell is a 5-time winner of a Jesse H. Neal Award, the most prestigious editorial honors in the field of specialized journalism. The wins included best technical content, best use of social media and best COVID-19 coverage. Fornell was also a three-time Neal finalist for best range of work by a single author. He produces more than 100 editorial videos each year, most of them interviews with key opinion leaders in medicine. He also writes technical articles, covers key trends, conducts video hospital site visits, and is very involved with social media. E-mail: [email protected]