METHODS: This is a prospective observational study involving patients from the orthopaedic oncology unit who were undergoing surgery. They were assessed with Patient Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA), Malnutrition Screening Tool (MST) and 3-minute Nutritional Screening (3MinNS) questionnaires. Anthropometric data such as body mass index, mid upper arm circumference (MUAC) and blood parameters such as serum albumin, total lymphocyte count and haemoglobin were also investigated. Patients were then followed up for 3 months. Post-operative complications were divided into infectious and non-infectious groups. Length of stay and unplanned readmission were also documented.
RESULTS: Prevalence of malnutrition ranged from 13.3% to 45.8% under different nutritional assessment methods. Patients who were determined as malnourished were significantly associated with both infectious and non-infectious post-operative complications ( p < 0.001). PG-SGA and 3MinNS values were also significant in univariate and multivariate analysis, respectively. Low serum albumin (<35 g/L) was associated with post-operative infectious complications, especially surgical site infection ( p < 0.001), prolonged hospital stay ( p = 0.009) and unplanned readmission ( p = 0.017). 3MinNS and Charlson Comorbidity Index were predictive of non-infectious complications, whereas serum albumin and the presence of metastasis were predictive of infectious complications.
CONCLUSION: This pilot study of patients with soft tissue and bone sarcoma of upper and lower limbs showed that malnutrition is a significant independent factor related to infectious and non-infectious complications which leads to unplanned readmission and prolonged length of stay. Periodic screening using the PG-SGA or 3MinNS questionnaires, MUAC and evaluation of serum albumin levels is recommended during clinic session and pre-surgery assessment rounds to identify those predisposed to malnutrition and help in reducing incidence of post-operative complications.
BACKGROUND: Leadless pacemakers may be preferred in patients with limited vascular access and high-infection risk, such as patients on hemodialysis.
METHODS: Patients on hemodialysis at the time of Micra implantation attempt (n = 201 of 2,819; 7%) from the Micra Transcatheter Pacing Study investigational device exemption trial, Micra Transcatheter Pacing System Continued Access Study Protocol, and Micra Transcatheter Pacing System Post-Approval Registry were included in the analysis. Baseline characteristics, periprocedural outcomes, and intermediate-term follow-up were summarized.
RESULTS: Patients on hemodialysis at the time of Micra implantation attempt were on average 70.5 ± 13.5 years of age and 59.2% were male. The dialysis patients commonly had hypertension (80%), diabetes (61%), coronary artery disease (39%), and congestive heart failure (27%), and 72% had a condition that the implanting physician felt precluded the use of a transvenous pacemaker. Micra was successfully implanted in 197 patients (98.0%). Reasons for unsuccessful implantation included inadequate thresholds (n = 2) and pericardial effusion (n = 2). The median implantation time was 27 min (interquartile range: 20 to 39 min). There were 3 procedure-related deaths: 1 due to metabolic acidosis following a prolonged procedure duration in a patient undergoing concomitant atrioventricular nodal ablation and 2 deaths occurred in patients who needed surgical repair after perforation. Average follow-up was 6.2 months (range 0 to 26.7 months). No patients had a device-related infection or required device removal because of bacteremia.
CONCLUSIONS: Leadless pacemakers represent an effective pacing option in this challenging patient population on chronic hemodialysis. The risk of infection appears low with an acceptable safety profile. (Micra Transcatheter Pacing Study; NCT02004873; Micra Transcatheter Pacing System Continued Access Study Protocol; NCT02488681; Micra Transcatheter Pacing System Post-Approval Registry; NCT02536118).
METHODS: Perioperative data from 3008 adult patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery from 2008 to 2011 at the two main heart centers in Singapore was analyzed prospectively, and confirmatory analysis was conducted with the generalized structural equation model.
RESULTS: Diabetes was significantly associated with postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) and postoperative hyperglycemia. Postoperative AKI, Malay ethnicity, and blood transfusion were associated with postoperative dialysis. Postoperative AKI and blood transfusion were also associated with postoperative arrhythmias. In turn, postoperative dialysis and arrhythmias increased the odds of 30-day mortality by 7.7- and 18-fold, respectively.
CONCLUSIONS: This study identified that diabetes is directly associated with postoperative hyperglycemia and AKI, and indirectly associated with arrhythmias and 30-day mortality. Further, we showed that ethnicity not only affects the prevalence of diabetes, but also postoperative diabetes-related outcomes.
METHODS: This was a randomized controlled trial at 2 centers. A total of 78 patients requiring DC were randomized in a 1:1:1 ratio into 3 groups: vacuum drains (VD), passive drains (PD), and no drains (ND). Complications studied were need for surgical revision, SGH amount, new remote hematomas, postcraniectomy hydrocephalus (PCH), functional outcomes, and mortality.
RESULTS: Only 1 VD patient required surgical revision to evacuate SGH. There was no difference in SGH thickness and volume among the 3 drain types (P = 0.171 and P = 0.320, respectively). Rate of new remote hematoma and PCH was not significantly different (P = 0.647 and P = 0.083, respectively), but the ND group did not have any patient with PCH. In the subgroup analysis of 49 patients with traumatic brain injury, the SGH amount of the PD and ND group was significantly higher than that of the VD group. However, these higher amounts did not translate as a significant risk factor for poor functional outcome or mortality. VD may have better functional outcome and mortality.
CONCLUSIONS: In terms of complication rates, VD, PD, and ND may be used safely in DC. A higher amount of SGH was not associated with poorer outcomes. Further studies are needed to clarify the advantage of VD regarding functional outcome and mortality, and if ND reduces PCH rates.
METHODS: This retrospective study presents a total of 257 operations in 243 patients from 2 hospitals. A total of 130 cases were operated under LA sedation in hospital 1 and 127 cases under GA in hospital 2. Patient demographics and presenting features were similar at baseline.
RESULTS: Values are shown as LA sedation versus GA. Postoperatively, most patients recovered well in both groups with Glasgow Outcome Scale scores of 4-5 (96.2% vs. 88.2%, respectively). The postoperative morbidity was significantly increased by an odds ratio of 5.44 in the GA group compared with the LA sedation group (P = 0.005). The mortality was also significantly higher in the GA group (n = 5, 3.9%) than the LA sedation group (n = 0, 0.0%; P = 0.028). The CSDH recurrence rate was 4.6% in the LA sedation group versus 6.3% in the GA group. No intraoperative conversion from LA sedation to GA was reported.
CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrates that CSDH drainage under LA sedation is safe and efficacious, with a significantly lower risk of postoperative mortality and morbidity when compared with GA.
METHODS: Patients with mild to moderate ABP were prospectively randomized to either an early cholecystectomy versus a delayed cholecystectomy group. Recurrent biliary events, peri-operative complications, conversion rate, length of surgery and total hospital length of stay between the two groups were evaluated.
RESULTS: A total of 72 patients were enrolled at a single public hospital. Of them, 38 were randomized to the early group and 34 patients to the delayed group. There were no differences regarding peri-operative complications (7.78% vs 11.76%; p = 0.700), conversion rate to open surgery (10.53% vs 11.76%; p = 1.000) and duration of surgery performed (80 vs 85 minutes, p = 0.752). Nevertheless, a greater rate of recurrent biliary events was found in the delayed group (44.12% vs 0%; p ≤ 0.0001) and the hospital length of stay was longer in the delayed group (9 vs 8 days, p = 0.002).
CONCLUSION: In mild to moderate ABP, early laparoscopic cholecystectomy reduces the risk of recurrent biliary events without an increase in operative difficulty or perioperative morbidity.
BACKGROUND: Few data regarding the safety and effectiveness of self-apposing sirolimus-eluting Stentys stent are available.
METHODS: 278 patients (30% stable coronary artery disease, 70% acute coronary syndromes, and 54% on unprotected left main) treated with sirolimus eluting Stentys stent were retrospectively included in the self-aPposing, bAlloon-delivered, siRolimus-eluting stent for the Treatment of the coronary Artery disease multicenter registry. Major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE, a composite of cardiac death, myocardial infarction, target lesion revascularization, stent thrombosis) were the primary end-point, single components of MACE were the secondary ones.
RESULTS: After 13 months (interquartile range 5-32), MACE was 14%. Stent thrombosis occurred in 3.9% of the patients (2.5% definite stent thrombosis and 1.4% probable stent thrombosis), 66% of them presenting with ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) at admission. Cardiovascular death, target lesion revascularization and myocardial infarction was 4.7%, 8.3%, and 7.2%, respectively. At multivariate analysis, risk of MACE was increased by diabetes (hazard ratios 4.76; P = 0.002) but was not affected by the indication leading to sirolimus-eluting Stentys stent implantation (marked vessel tapering vs. coronary ecstasies, hazard ratios 0.74, P = 0.71).
CONCLUSION: Sirolimus-eluting Stentys stent may represent a potential solution for specific coronary anatomies such as bifurcation, ectasic, or tapered vessels. Risk of stent thrombosis appears related to clinical presentation with STEMI and to anatomic features, stressing the importance of the use of intracoronary imaging for self-expandable stents implantation.
METHODS: The authors randomized 10,010 patients with or at risk of atherosclerosis and scheduled for noncardiac surgery in a 1:1:1:1 ratio to clonidine/aspirin, clonidine/aspirin placebo, clonidine placebo/aspirin, or clonidine placebo/aspirin placebo. Patients started taking aspirin or placebo just before surgery; those not previously taking aspirin continued daily for 30 days, and those taking aspirin previously continued for 7 days. Patients were also randomly assigned to receive clonidine or placebo just before surgery, with the study drug continued for 72 h.
RESULTS: Neither aspirin nor clonidine had a significant effect on the primary 1-yr outcome, a composite of death or nonfatal myocardial infarction, with a 1-yr hazard ratio for aspirin of 1.00 (95% CI, 0.89 to 1.12; P = 0.948; 586 patients [11.8%] vs. 589 patients [11.8%]) and a hazard ratio for clonidine of 1.07 (95% CI, 0.96 to 1.20; P = 0.218; 608 patients [12.1%] vs. 567 patients [11.3%]), with effect on death or nonfatal infarction. Reduction in death and nonfatal myocardial infarction from aspirin in patients who previously had percutaneous coronary intervention at 30 days persisted at 1 yr. Specifically, the hazard ratio was 0.58 (95% CI, 0.35 to 0.95) in those with previous percutaneous coronary intervention and 1.03 (95% CI, 0.91to 1.16) in those without (interaction P = 0.033). There was no significant effect of either drug on death, cardiovascular complications, cancer, or chronic incisional pain at 1 yr (all P > 0.1).
CONCLUSIONS: Neither perioperative aspirin nor clonidine have significant long-term effects after noncardiac surgery. Perioperative aspirin in patients with previous percutaneous coronary intervention showed persistent benefit at 1 yr, a plausible sub-group effect.
METHODS: This historical cohort study included women who underwent mastectomy after diagnosis with stage 0 to stage IIIa breast cancer from 2011 to 2015 in a tertiary hospital. Multivariable regression analyses were used to assess factors associated with immediate breast reconstruction and to measure clinical outcomes.
RESULT: Out of 790 patients with early breast cancer who had undergone mastectomy, only 68 (8.6%) received immediate breast reconstruction. Immediate breast reconstruction was independently associated with younger age at diagnosis, recent calendar years, Chinese ethnicity, higher education level, and invasive ductal carcinomas. Although immediate breast reconstruction was associated with a higher risk of short-term local surgical complications (adjusted odds ratio: 3.58 [95% confidence interval 1.75-7.30]), there were no significant differences in terms of delay in initiation of chemotherapy, 5-year disease-free survival, and 5-year overall survival between both groups in the multivariable analyses.
CONCLUSION: Although associated with short-term surgical complications, immediate breast reconstruction after mastectomy does not appear to be associated with delays in initiation of chemotherapy, recurrence, or mortality after breast cancer. These findings are valuable in facilitating shared surgical decision-making, improving access to immediate breast reconstruction, and setting priorities for surgical trainings in middle-income settings.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: Individuals undergoing primary sleeve gastrectomy (SG) or Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) from February 2008 to December 2015 were included. Impaired mobility (WC) was defined as using a wheelchair or motorized scooter for at least part of a typical day. The WC group was propensity score matched to ambulatory patients (1:5 ratio). Comparisons were made for 30-day morbidity and mortality and 1-year improvement in weight-related comorbidities.
RESULTS: There were 93 patients in the WC group matched to 465 ambulatory controls. The median operative time (180 vs 159 min, p = 0.003) and postoperative length of stay (4 vs 3 days, p ≤ 0.001) was higher in the WC group. There were no differences in readmission or all-cause morbidity within 30 days. The median percent excess weight loss (%EWL) at 1 year was similar (WC group, 65% available, 53% EWL vs AMB group, 73% available, 54% EWL); however, patients with impaired mobility were less likely to experience improvement in diabetes (76 vs 90%, p = 0.046), hypertension (63 vs 82%, p
METHODS: In the international RE-COVERY DVT/PE observational study (enrollment January 2016 to May 2017), we sought to characterize the patient population and describe the prescribed anticoagulant. Patient characteristics and anticoagulants administered after objective diagnosis of VTE were recorded at the baseline visit and again at hospital discharge or at 14 days after the diagnosis, whichever was later.
RESULTS: A total of 6095 patients were included, 50.2% were male, and the mean age was 61.5 years. The most common comorbidities were hypertension (35%), diabetes mellitus (11%), cancer (11%), prior VTE(11%), and trauma/surgery (7%). Overall, 77% of patients received oral anticoagulants, with 54% on NOACs and 23% on vitamin K antagonists (VKAs); 20% received parenteral anticoagulation only. NOACs comprised about 60% of anticoagulant treatment in Europe and Asia but substantially less in Latin America (29%) and the Middle East (21%). For NOAC therapies, the distribution (as a percentage of the total cohort) was rivaroxaban 25.6%, dabigatran 15.5%, apixaban 11.3%, and edoxaban 1.7%. Treatment with NOACs was less frequent in patients who had cancer, chronic renal disease, heart failure, or stroke.
CONCLUSIONS: These findings enhance our understanding of baseline characteristics and the initial management of patients with VTE in routine practice.