Norman Briffa MD 📣 🇲🇹🇬🇧🇺🇦

Heart Surgeon, Reader, exAssociate Editor @Heart_BMJ Opinions my own, retweets not endorsements. Citizen of the Mediterranean, @Sheffielduni & @Stanford Alumnus

[Norman Briffa MD 📣 🇲🇹🇬🇧🇺🇦 @Chestcracker]

Clearing my office & came across this cracking little book. Can’t remember receiving or maybe nicking it! Seems an ideal question for the social media age. if you’re a medic please answer & RT. I’ll tweet a page a day #whyamiadoctor

[Norman Briffa MD 📣 🇲🇹🇬🇧🇺🇦 @Chestcracker]

Very useful study showing photoplethysmography using a Smartphone actually works and leads to fewer same day cancellations for cardioversion for #atrialfibrillation

https://t.co/Fc61Ua09qx
Precardioversion Heart Rhythm Monitoring Using Smartphone PPG https://t.co/hCQCLmj3gb

[Norman Briffa MD 📣 🇲🇹🇬🇧🇺🇦 @Chestcracker]

Why prevention of #atrialfibrillation, if possible is so crucial,
New-Onset Atrial Fibrillation and Kidney Function Decline in Working-Age Adults https://t.co/iG6pcggCbF

[Norman Briffa MD 📣 🇲🇹🇬🇧🇺🇦 @Chestcracker]

what can I say! Wow - Left field crazy but innovative & may just work. #mitralvalve #heartvalvedisease
A novel dual-orifice mitral bioprosthesis: Proof-of-concept in an ovine model - JTCVS Open https://t.co/EKSQYCwFVX

[Norman Briffa MD 📣 🇲🇹🇬🇧🇺🇦 @Chestcracker]

Great mitral paper from Joseph Woo's Team at Stanford University School of Medicine . One man's symptom is another's age effect. Guidelines should reflect this. Severe MR in a repairable valve should = surgery - Period! #mitralvalve #heartvalvedisease
https://t.co/fVXdS4ivkQ

[Norman Briffa MD 📣 🇲🇹🇬🇧🇺🇦 @Chestcracker]

Possible through generous support by Medtronic . Earn valuable CME points from @RCSEd Book NOW to avoid disappointment at https://t.co/zVzT1NBqJb

[Norman Briffa MD 📣 🇲🇹🇬🇧🇺🇦 @Chestcracker]

Highly acclaimed cardiac surgical wetlab for Consultants and Fellow. medical Students welcome. Key Speaker is Prof Vinayak Bapat who will teach us how to size SAVR prostheses with preop imaging.

[Norman Briffa MD 📣 🇲🇹🇬🇧🇺🇦 @Chestcracker]

@Roddy_Neilson Medical Education & the medical profession, once a shining example of British Soft Power, have been totally stuffed by an increasingly belligerent NHS which seems to think that by decreasing the medical head count, things somehow will get easier. And the BMA have not helped.

[Norman Briffa MD 📣 🇲🇹🇬🇧🇺🇦 @Chestcracker]

Wednesday #Holyweek
https://t.co/ZkrYqs8GfM

[🇨🇭🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿InLucysHead🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿🇨🇭© @InsideLucysHead]

Oxford University researchers have discovered the densest element yet known to science...

The new element, Governmentium (symbol=Gv), has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312.

These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called pillocks.

Since Governmentium has no electrons, it is inert.

However, it can be detected because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact.

A tiny amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second, to take from 4 days to 4 years to complete.

Governmentium has a normal half-life of 2 to 6 years.

It does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganisation in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places.

In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganisation will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes.

This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration.

This hypothetical quantity is referred to as a critical morass.

When catalysed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium (symbol=Ad), an element that radiates just as much energy as Governmentium, since it has half as many pillocks but twice as many morons.

[JAMA @JAMA_current]

💬 Perspective: Bayesian methodology supports efficient, flexible clinical trial designs; FDA guidance encourages prespecification and sensitivity analysis of priors.

@f2harrell @d_spiegel

https://t.co/7mMecV2EI1

[Tim Montgomerie 🇬🇧 @montie]

Some of the personal abuse that @stellacreasy has experienced in recent days has been off-the-scale. The abuse directed at women on social media is one of the most disturbing things I've learnt from being on this platform. It needs to be said, however, that this week's change in abortion laws - of which she is a prominent aupporter - is one of the most sickening changes to British society ever. It's now legal in this country to "terminate" up until birth. It's basically infanticide. We're killing babies that could easily survive outside the womb and it's been done without any meaningful public debate - piggy-backing as an amendment to a barely relevant bill. Dark. Dark in so many ways. I don't use the word "wicked" lightly but that's what this legislation is. And that so few people in this country even seem to care about what is now lawful is the saddest thing of all. "Great" Britain? Not while this law stands.

[Norman Briffa MD 📣 🇲🇹🇬🇧🇺🇦 @Chestcracker]

On the way to Belfast and #scts2026

[Norman Briffa MD 📣 🇲🇹🇬🇧🇺🇦 @Chestcracker]

@Mikeachim Bones of elephant and hippo type animals in Malta #ghardalam

[Norman Briffa MD 📣 🇲🇹🇬🇧🇺🇦 @Chestcracker]

Check out "Sheffield Aortic Root Surgery Wetlab and Course, 2026" https://t.co/7IhHPcz7jI @Eventbrite

[Norman Briffa MD 📣 🇲🇹🇬🇧🇺🇦 @Chestcracker]

BE THERE OR BE SQUARE at 2026 Annual meeting of #SCTS - Society for Cardiothoracic Surgery GB and I
Great #Tricuspidvalve Session - Fantastic line up including Dr Madalina Garbi, Dr Rob Smith, Mr Neil Cartwright and yours truly.

[Norman Briffa MD 📣 🇲🇹🇬🇧🇺🇦 @Chestcracker]

BE THERE OR BE SQUARE.
Great line up with Dr Madalina Garbi, Dr Rob Smith, Mr Neil Cartwright and yours truly.

[The BMJ @bmj_latest]

In 2024 NHS staff reported working unpaid overtime equivalent to at least 49 000 full time employees.

A BMJ data analysis finds this discretionary effort, which has long underpinned NHS delivery, is declining. What does this mean for workforce planning?
https://t.co/ueJNOd2WoT

[Norman Briffa MD 📣 🇲🇹🇬🇧🇺🇦 @Chestcracker]

@HSJEditor Depressing. Having said that not all hospitals used to or need to have Teaching status. Another BIG under appreciated downside of the Major/Blair legacy - just like all polys must get Uni status or 75% of all school leavers must go to Uni.

[Norman Briffa MD 📣 🇲🇹🇬🇧🇺🇦 @Chestcracker]

TO CARDIAC SURGEONS (Anyone else who is willing)
I need examples of Landmark Papers that every Adult (non-congenital) Cardiac Surgeon should read. Interested in those papers that do not deal primarily with coronary, aortic valve, mitral valve disease.

DM me directly. Thanks.