Ethicon, Inc. is a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. It was incorporated as a separate company under the Johnson & Johnson umbrella in 1949 to expand and diversify the Johnson & Johnson product line.Ethicon has manufactured surgical sutures and wound closure devices since 1887. After World War II, Ethicon's market share in surgical sutures rose from 15% to 70% worldwide.[citation needed] In the United States, the market share is approximately 80%.[citation needed]Ethicon conducts business in 52 countries.
Purpose: To investigate the safety and effectiveness of microwave ablation (MWA) for treating liver tumors using real-world data from a multicenter registry (NeuWave Observational Liver Ablation [NOLA]). Materials and Methods: NOLA is approved to enroll up to 1,500 adults treated with MWA and follow them for 5 years. Initial data for 615 patients treated across 24 tertiary healthcare centers in the United States (14), Europe (8), and Asia (2), from January 2020 to October 2022, are summarized herein. Effectiveness and safety endpoints included technical success (TS), technique efficacy (TE), local tumor progression (LTP), adverse events (AEs), and overall survival (OS). AEs were retrospectively graded according to the Society of Interventional Radiology (SIR) classification. A total of 615 patients (male, 72.7%; median age, 66 years; range, 25-89 years) underwent 721 MWA sessions to treat 760 liver tumors, with 95.6% of sessions performed percutaneously. Results: TS and TE were achieved in 98.1% (730/744) and 95.1% (615/647) of tumors, respectively. The cumulative incidence of LTP at 12 months was 11.9% (95% confidence interval [CI], 8.8%-15.5%) for patients. Within 30 days following the ablation, 408 AEs were reported, with 78.4% (320/408) classified as mild, 3.9% (16/408) as moderate, and 16.9% (69/408) as severe AEs. Procedure-related AEs and serious AEs were reported in 63.7% (392/615) and 11.7% (72/615) of the total patient cohort, respectively. The OS rate at 12 months was 95.5% (95% CI, 92.8%-97.2%). Conclusions: MWA is a safe and effective treatment for primary and metastatic liver tumors in a large, real-world patient population.
Goal:Cost-saving initiatives targeting surgical supplies management have become increasingly common to address rising healthcare costs. However, few studies provide details on hospital stakeholder experiences or learnings from implementing such initiatives. Thus, we sought to evaluate hospital stakeholder satisfaction with conversion to a sole supplier for hemostasis products, in addition to economic and clinical impacts, to help develop best practices for implementation. Methods:This cross-sectional study assessed satisfaction with converting to a sole supplier for hemostasis products at a large US academic medical center using qualitative interviews and quantitative surveys with clinical and non-clinical stakeholders, on the decision-making process, conversion, and vendor-supported hemostasis optimization program (HOP) post-implementation (February 2022-May 2022). Perioperative hemorrhage events, adjunctive hemostat utilization, and total annual hospital expenditure on hemostatic products were also evaluated pre- and post-conversion (2020-2022) to identify impacts on clinical and economic outcomes. Findings:Ten hospital stakeholders completed qualitative interviews (n = 7 surgeons, n = 2 surgical technicians, n = 1 administrator) and 22 completed quantitative surveys (n = 6 surgeons, n = 5 surgical technicians, n = 11 nurses). Survey respondents noted overall satisfaction with conversion, including the level of input they provided in the decision-making process (75% were somewhat to extremely satisfied), availability of hemostatic agents during the conversion process (87%), and the vendor-supported HOP (100%). The outcomes analyses revealed a nearly 25% decrease in supply expenditure without changes to the number of postoperative hemorrhage events following implementation. Practical Applications:Converting to a sole vendor for hemostasis products was achieved with high satisfaction among hospital stakeholders and cost savings to the institution without impacting the quality of patient care. This study provides a roadmap of best practices for other institutions interested in implementing similar initiatives and presents an example of a successful transition to a sole vendor for hemostasis products driven by effective supplier, institution, and hospital stakeholder coordination.
We assessed clinical outcomes of patients undergoing open hernia repair using STRATAFIX™ Symmetric, a barbed triclosan-coated suture (TCS; Ethicon), versus conventional polydioxanone suture (PDS) for abdominal wall closure. This single-center retrospective cohort study identified patients undergoing hernia repair. The site used PDS from 2013 to 2016 and switched exclusively to barbed TCS in 2017. Outcomes were assessed at 30, 60, and 90 days. Multivariate regression analyses and Cox proportional hazards models were used. Of 821 hernia repairs, 446 used barbed TCS and 375 used conventional PDS. Surgical site infections (SSIs) were significantly less frequent with barbed TCS (60 days, 5.9
