Noteworthy articles in 2015 for the cardiothoracic anesthesiologist

Large multicenter, randomized controlled trials published in reputable journals had a large impact on the world of cardiothoracic anesthesia in 2015. We as cardiac anesthesiologists pride ourselves as being experts in applied physiology, physics, ultrasonography, and pharmacology/pharmacotherapy. The selected studies added to our knowledge in the fields of echocardiography, pharmacology, molecular biology, and genetics. Outcome studies shine a light on important topics that are relevant to all cardiac anesthesiologists: does surgical atrial fibrillation ablation during mitral valve surgery reduce the recurrence of atrial fibrillation at 1 year after surgery? Does remote ischemic preconditioning live up to its promise to reduce postoperative major cardiac and cerebral events? Although we still do not have the answer to all the questions, the year 2015 has been a great step toward the goal of understanding molecular mechanisms of ischemic myocardial injury and toward providing evidence-based medicine for improving patient outcome.