The Society of Thoracic Surgeons (STS) Adult Cardiac Surgery Database (ACSD) is one of the largest and most comprehensive contemporary clinical databases in use. It now contains over nine million procedures from 1010 participants and 3651 active surgeons. Using audited data collection, it has provided the foundation for multiple risk models, performance metrics, health policy decisions, and a trove of research studies to improve the care of patients in need of cardiac surgery procedures. This annual report provides an update on the current status of the database and summarizes the development of new risk models and the STS Online Risk Calculator. Further, it provides insights into current practice patterns, such as the change in the demographics among patients undergoing aortic valve replacement, the use of minimally invasive techniques for valve and bypass surgery, or the adoption of surgical ablation and left atrial appendage ligation among patients with atrial fibrillation. Lastly, an overview of the research conducted using the STS ACSD and future directions for the database are provided.
Keywords: coronary bypass; database; practice patterns; research; valve surgery.
