Newsletter
October 2002 Newsletter
Collaboration with journals promotes integration between disciplines
The publisher of The Annals of Thoracic Surgery has agreed to
offer members of the Society of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists subscriptions to
The Annals of Thoracic Surgery for $140/year, discounted from $240. The
subscription includes both the printed edition and electronic access to the same
complete edition at the web site,
http://ats.ctsnetjournals.org. The primary
purpose of this discount is to provide
cardiovascular and thoracic anesthesiologists access to
a broad range of current scientific and clinical articles on adult and pediatric cardiac
and general thoracic surgery; critical care; transplantation; mechanical
circulatory assistance; brain, heart and spinal
cord protection; ischemia/reperfusion research; extracorporeal perfusion; imaging
and monitoring; anesthesiology; blood transfusion; database analyses;
and respiratory and circulatory physiology and pathophysiology. The Annals publishes
4-6 supplements per year; between 4500 and 5000 pages; 550 to 600 original
scientific articles and is sent to over 10,000 subscribers worldwide. A
secondary purpose of the discount is to encourage greater interaction and
interchange between surgeons, anesthesiologists, intensivists, perfusionists and
other members of teams caring for patients before, during and after cardiothoracic operations.
The Annals already publishes more scientific articles written by anesthesiologists
and intensivists than competitive cardiothoracic surgical journals
and, according to the editor, is receptive and happy to publish more
top quality work. For example, the June 2002 issue contained 7 articles
authored by at least one anesthesiologist. One hundred four anesthesiologists
serve as guest reviewers for The Annals. In an informal survey among
our cardiothoracic anesthesiology fellows, an average of 155 (range:
69-240) articles that were clinically relevant to their practice were
identified within the last 12 issues of the Annals. The editor, Dr.
L. Henry Edmunds, considers this a start not a ceiling. 
The executive committee of the SCA welcome this gesture of cooperation
and collaboration on the part of The Annals and Elsevier Science. It has always been
our belief that free exchange of information and knowledge between surgeons
and anesthesiologists is necessary for
effective function as an integrated team. This
has been particularly evident as TEE is being used more frequently to make
diagnostic decisions in the operating room and as
more cardiothoracic anesthesiologists provide critical care services to
cardiothoracic surgical patients. It is our hope
that increased access to the cardiothoracic surgical literature will make our jobs
more interesting, and promote collaboration
between disciplines. The Society
of Cardiovascular Anesthesiologists recog-nized also the importance of
establishing collaborations with our surgical
colleagues and identified it as an important
objective in the 2002 strategic plan.
Albert T. Cheung, MD
Editor, SCA Newsletter
Roger A. Moore, MD
SCA President
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