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Cory Joseph Vatsaas

Cory Joseph Vatsaas

Assistant Professor of Surgery
Trauma, Acute, and Critical Care Surgery
DUMC 2837, Durham, NC 27710
1217 Pinehurst Drive, Chapel Hill, NC 27517

Selected Publications

Advancing student preparedness and involvement for representation and equity in surgery (ASPIRES): a pipeline for increasing heterogeneity in surgery

Journal Article Global Surgical Education - Journal of the Association for Surgical Education · February 16, 2026 Full text Cite

Impact of 25% Albumin on Vasopressor Requirements in Critically Ill Patients Receiving Continuous Renal Replacement Therapy.

Journal Article Ann Pharmacother · December 1, 2025 BACKGROUND: Critically ill patients receiving continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) commonly experience hypotension necessitating fluids, ultrafiltration (UF) adjustment, or vasopressors. There is limited evidence evaluating 25% albumin on vasopresso ... Full text Link to item Cite

A Scoping Review of Validated Echocardiographic Methods for Grading Right Ventricular Dysfunction: Proposal for an Evidence-Based Multiparametric Framework.

Journal Article J Cardiothorac Vasc Anesth · November 2025 Assessing the severity of right ventricular (RV) dysfunction using echocardiography (echo) remains subjective, in part because current guidelines do not recommend how to synthesize various echo parameters to form a global assessment of RV dysfunction. To a ... Full text Link to item Cite

The importance of diversity within surgical education.

Journal Article Curr Probl Surg · September 2025 Full text Link to item Cite

An Evidence-Based Echocardiographic Image Acquisition Protocol for Evaluating Right Ventricular Function.

Journal Article J Vis Exp · July 22, 2025 A major risk factor for morbidity and mortality in critical illness is the presence of right ventricular dysfunction (RVD). However, characterizing and grading the severity of RVD remains highly subjective, with significant inter-operator and intra-operato ... Full text Link to item Cite

Point-of-care Ultrasound to Screen for Gastrointestinal Dysfunction: Image Acquisition and Interpretation.

Journal Article J Vis Exp · July 3, 2025 A major cause of morbidity and healthcare resource utilization is gastrointestinal (GI) dysfunction. Although GI symptoms are frequently evaluated with computed tomography (CT), this modality subjects patients to ionizing radiation, high costs, and high re ... Full text Link to item Cite

Impact of a Surgical Skills Curriculum on Medical Student Procedural Experience and Confidence.

Journal Article J Surg Res · June 2025 INTRODUCTION: There is a documented decline in formal procedural skill training in undergraduate medical education. We evaluated a simulation-based skills curriculum before the core surgical clerkship at a large academic institution on its concordance with ... Full text Link to item Cite

Lower Extremity Penetrating Trauma Care Associated With Race and Income in the United States of America.

Journal Article J Surg Res · February 2025 INTRODUCTION: For lower extremity penetrating traumas (LEPT), the impact of race and insurance status, as a surrogate of socioeconomic status, is still not fully elucidated. This study aims to explore the relationship between these variables and the likeli ... Full text Link to item Cite

Student and Attending Preceptor Perceptions of Longitudinal Clinic as a Surgical Education and Assessment Tool.

Journal Article J Surg Res · December 2024 INTRODUCTION: As undergraduate medical education becomes increasingly longitudinal, particular attention is needed to maintain sufficient exposure to surgical disciplines. While traditional medical student clerkships are isolated 4 to 8-wk blocks on a sing ... Full text Link to item Cite

Predictive Energy Equations Inaccurately Estimate Metabolic Demands of Older Adult Trauma Patients.

Journal Article J Surg Res · October 2024 INTRODUCTION: Suboptimal nutrition promotes unfavorable outcomes in trauma patients, particularly among those aged 60 and over. While many institutions employ predictive energy equations to determine patients' energy requirements, mounting evidence shows t ... Full text Link to item Cite

Roles, Responsibilities, and Expectations of Medical Students on Surgical Subinternships: A Modified Delphi Consensus Study.

Journal Article Acad Med · August 1, 2024 PURPOSE: Surgical subinternships are important rotations for students preparing for a career in general surgery; however, these rotations often vary by institution and service. This modified Delphi study was conducted to reach a consensus set of roles, res ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Surgical Clerkship in the COVID Era: A Natural Language Processing and Thematic Analysis.

Journal Article J Surg Res · July 2024 INTRODUCTION: Responses to COVID-19 within medical education prompted significant changes to the surgical clerkship. We analyzed the changes in medical student end of course feedback before and after the COVID-19 outbreak. METHODS: Postclerkship surveys fr ... Full text Link to item Cite

Longitudinal Integrated Clerkships and Undergraduate Surgical Education: A Scoping Review and Gap Analysis.

Journal Article J Surg Educ · March 2024 OBJECTIVE: Longitudinal integrated clerkships (LICs) are an increasingly popular approach to medical student clinical education, and the literature describing them is expanding. Despite this, there is a lack of understanding for how surgery didactics and s ... Full text Link to item Cite

Surgical Residents as Clerkship Scholars May Improve Student Perception of the Surgery Clerkship.

Journal Article J Surg Res · February 2024 INTRODUCTION: The surgical clerkship is a formative experience in the medical school curriculum and can leave a lasting impression on students' perception of surgery. Given the historical negative stereotypes of surgeons, the clerkship represents an opport ... Full text Link to item Cite

Multidisciplinary pediatric trauma simulation curriculum in conjunction with a trauma resuscitation cognitive aid improves resident performance

Journal Article Global Surgical Education - Journal of the Association for Surgical Education · January 3, 2024 Full text Cite

INDIRECT CALORIMETRY OPTIMIZING ACS PATIENT NUTRITION DELIVERY

Conference CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE · January 2024 Link to item Cite

GUIDELINE ADHERENCE IMPROVES RIB FRACTURE PATIENT OUTCOMES

Conference CRITICAL CARE MEDICINE · January 2024 Link to item Cite

1549: GUIDELINE ADHERENCE IMPROVES RIB FRACTURE PATIENT OUTCOMES

Conference Critical Care Medicine · January 2024 Full text Cite

Revisiting Medical Student Expectations on the Surgery Clerkship.

Journal Article J Surg Educ · October 2023 OBJECTIVE: Medical students frequently report ambiguity of expectations in their feedback of the surgery clerkship. Herein, we aimed to gauge general surgery resident and attending expectations of students on their clerkship. DESIGN: Residents and attendin ... Full text Link to item Cite

A novel low-cost model of superficial abscess for trainee education in incision and drainage.

Journal Article Surg Open Sci · August 2023 BACKGROUND: Proficiency in ultrasound usage is quickly becoming an expectation in multiple residency programs: emergency medicine, obstetrics-gynecology, surgery, and internal medicine. There is a lack of affordable training devices for ultrasound training ... Full text Link to item Cite

Evaluation of Levetiracetam Dosing Strategies for Seizure Prophylaxis Following Traumatic Brain Injury.

Conference Neurocrit Care · April 2023 BACKGROUND: Although levetiracetam has been increasingly used as an alternative to phenytoin for early posttraumatic seizure prophylaxis following traumatic brain injury (TBI), an optimal dosing strategy has not been elucidated. The objective of this study ... Full text Link to item Cite

Incidence and Diagnostic Challenges of Bowel Ischemia after Continuous-flow Left Ventricular Assist Device Therapy.

Journal Article ASAIO J · May 1, 2022 Long-term continuous-flow left ventricular assist device (CFLVAD) therapy is limited by complications. Compared with stroke and renal dysfunction, post-CFLVAD bowel ischemia is poorly characterized. Adult patients who underwent first-time durable CFLVAD im ... Full text Link to item Cite

The Role of Surgery for Pancreatic Neuroendocrine Tumors.

Journal Article Anticancer Res · February 2022 Pancreatic neuroendocrine tumors (PNETs) arise from endocrine pancreatic cells and comprise 3-5% of pancreatic cancers. Surgical resection is the only potentially curative option for PNETs. Surgical candidates should be carefully selected according to tumo ... Full text Link to item Cite

Use of a Structured Observation Tool to Promote Medical Student Engagement in Trauma Resuscitations.

Journal Article J Surg Educ · 2022 OBJECTIVE: We describe a novel approach to promoting medical student learning and engagement during trauma resuscitation with implementation of a structured observation and debriefing tool. DESIGN: In the context of a multifaceted quality improvement effor ... Full text Link to item Cite

Antibiotic prophylaxis for tube thoracostomy placement in trauma: a practice management guideline from the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma.

Journal Article Trauma Surg Acute Care Open · 2022 BACKGROUND: Antibiotic prophylaxis is routinely administered for most operative procedures, but their utility for certain bedside procedures remains controversial. We performed a systematic review and meta-analysis and developed evidence-based recommendati ... Full text Link to item Cite

Massive Transfusion Protocol Predictive Modeling in the Modern Electronic Medical Record.

Journal Article Ann Surg Open · December 2021 OBJECTIVES: Integrate a predictive model for massive transfusion protocol (MTP) activation and delivery in the electronic medical record (EMR) using prospectively gathered data; externally validate the model and assess the accuracy and precision of the mod ... Full text Link to item Cite

Platelet rich plasma concentration improves biologic mesh incorporation and decreases multinucleated giant cells in a dose dependent fashion.

Journal Article J Tissue Eng Regen Med · November 2021 Platelet rich plasma (PRP) has been shown to improve incorporation and reduce inflammation in ventral hernia repair (VHR) with acellular dermal matrix (ADM). The concentration of platelets in PRP varies in clinical studies and an ideal concentration has ye ... Full text Link to item Cite

Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) after trauma: Improving incidence, but increasing mortality.

Journal Article J Crit Care · August 2021 PURPOSE: Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS) is an infrequent, yet morbid inflammatory complication in injury victims. With the current project we sought to estimate trends in incidence, determine outcomes, and identify risk factors for ARDS and rel ... Full text Link to item Cite

Platelet-rich plasma enhances mechanical strength of strattice in rat model of ventral hernia repair.

Journal Article J Tissue Eng Regen Med · July 2021 Incisional hernia is a common complication of hernia repair despite the development of various synthetic and bio-synthetic repair materials. Poor long-term mechanical strength, leading to high recurrence rates, has limited the use of acellular dermal matri ... Full text Link to item Cite

Addition of platelet-rich plasma supports immune modulation and improved mechanical integrity in Alloderm mesh for ventral hernia repair in a rat model.

Journal Article J Tissue Eng Regen Med · January 2021 The recurrence of ventral hernias continues to be a problem faced by surgeons, in spite of efforts toward implementing novel repair techniques and utilizing different materials to promote healing. Cadaveric acellular dermal matrices (Alloderm) have shown s ... Full text Link to item Cite

Thromboelastography and rotational thromboelastometry in bleeding patients with coagulopathy: Practice management guideline from the Eastern Association for the Surgery of Trauma.

Journal Article J Trauma Acute Care Surg · December 2020 BACKGROUND: Assessment of the immediate need for specific blood product transfusions in acutely bleeding patients is challenging. Clinical assessment and commonly used coagulation tests are inaccurate and time-consuming. The goal of this practice managemen ... Full text Link to item Cite

Are Octogenarians and Older Adult Trauma Patients Equivalent

Conference Journal of the American College of Surgeons · October 2019 Full text Cite

The Impact of Race and Socioeconomic Status on Treatment and Outcomes of Blunt Splenic Injury.

Journal Article J Surg Res · August 2019 BACKGROUND: Racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic disparities have been shown to exist in trauma patients. Management of blunt splenic injuries (BSIs) can include splenectomy, embolization, or nonoperative management. This study assesses the effect of race and ... Full text Link to item Cite

Higher mortality in pediatric and adult trauma patients with traumatic coagulopathy, using age-adjusted diagnostic criteria.

Journal Article Surgery · June 2019 BACKGROUND: Acute traumatic coagulopathy has been described in adult trauma patients. Acute traumatic coagulopathy may be associated with higher mortality and morbidity in pediatric trauma patients. We aimed to (1) compare acute traumatic coagulopathy inci ... Full text Link to item Cite

Socioeconomic Status Affects Outcomes After Severity-Stratified Traumatic Brain Injury.

Journal Article J Surg Res · March 2019 BACKGROUND: Socioeconomic status (SES) and race have been shown to increase the incidence of being afflicted by a traumatic brain injury (TBI) resulting in worse posthospitalization outcomes. The goal of this study was to determine the effect disparities h ... Full text Link to item Cite

Outcomes of Acute Kidney Injury in Patients With Severe ARDS Due to Influenza A(H1N1) pdm09 Virus.

Journal Article Am J Crit Care · January 2018 BACKGROUND: The incidence and long-term outcomes of acute kidney injury in patients with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) due to influenza A(H1N1) pdm09 virus (pH1N1) have not been examined. OBJECTIVE: To assess long-term renal recovery in ... Full text Link to item Cite