Psoas Muscle Index as a Predictor of Perioperative Outcomes in Geriatric Patients Undergoing Spine Surgery

Study Design Single-center retrospective study. Objective The objective of this study was to evaluate the association of psoas muscle mass defined sarcopenia with perioperative outcomes in geriatric patients undergoing elective spine surgery. Methods We included geriatric patients undergoing thoracolumbar spinal surgery. Total psoas surface area (TPA) was measured on preoperative axial computerized tomography or magnetic resonance imaging at the L3 vertebra and normalized to the L3 vertebral body area. Patients were divided into quartiles by normalized TPA, and the fourth quartile (Q4) was compared to quartiles 1–3 (Q1-3). Outcomes included perioperative transfusions, length of stay (LOS), delirium, pseudoarthrosis, readmission, discharge disposition, revision surgery, and mortality. Results Of the patients who met inclusion criteria (n = 196), the average age was 73.4 y, with 48 patients in Q4 and 148 patients in Q1-3. Q4 normalized TPA cut-off was <1.05. Differences in Q4 preoperative characteristics included significantly lower body mass index, baseline creatinine, and a greater proportion of females (Table 1). Q4 patients received significantly more postoperative red blood cell and platelet transfusions and had longer ICU LOS ( P < .05; Table 2). There was no difference in intraoperative transfusion volumes, delirium, initiation of walking, discharge disposition, readmission, pseudoarthrosis, or revision surgery (Tables 2 and 3). Mortality during follow-up was higher in Q4 but was not statistically significant ( P = .075). Conclusion Preoperative TPA in geriatric patients undergoing elective spine surgery is associated with increased need for intensive care and postoperative blood transfusion. Preoperative normalized TPA is a convenient measurement and could be included in geriatric preoperative risk assessment algorithms.

Transannular patch repair of tetralogy of Fallot with or without monocusp valve reconstruction: a meta-analysis

Background Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) is one of the most common cyanotic congenital heart diseases. Pulmonary regurgitation is the most common and severe comorbidity after transannular patch (TAP) repair of TOF patients. It has not been confirmed whether a TAP repair with monocusp valve reconstruction would benefit TOF patients in perioperative period compared to those without monocusp valve reconstruction. The purpose of the study is to review and analyze all clinical studies that have compared perioperative outcomes of TOF patients undergoing TAP repair with or without monocusp valve reconstruction and conduct a preferable surgery. Methods Eligible studies were identified by searching the electronic databases. The year of publication of studies was restricted from 2000 till present. The primary outcome was perioperative mortality, and secondary outcomes included cardiopulmonary bypass time, aortic cross-clamp time, ventilation duration, ICU length of stay, hospital length of stay, perioperative right ventricular outflow tract (RVOT) pressure gradient, and moderate or severe pulmonary regurgitation (PR). The meta-analysis and forest plots were drawn using Review Manager 5.3. Statistically significant was considered when p-value ≤ 0.05. Results Eight studies were included which consisted of 8 retrospective cohort study and 2 randomized controlled trial. The 10 studies formed a pool of 526 TOF patients in total, in which are 300 undergoing TAP repair with monocusp valve reconstruction (monocusp group) compared to 226 undergoing TAP repair without monocusp valve reconstruction (non-monocusp group). It demonstrated no significant differences between two groups in perioperative mortality (OR = 0.69, 95% CI 0.20–2.41, p = 0.58). It demonstrated significant differences in perioperative cardiopulmonary bypass time (minute, 95% CI 17.93–28.42, p < 0.00001), mean length of ICU stay (day, 95% CI − 2.11–0.76, p < 0.0001), and the degree of perioperative PR (OR = 0.03, 95% CI 0.010.12, p < 0.00001). Significant differences were not found in other secondary outcomes. Conclusion Transannular patch repair with monocusp valve reconstruction have significant advantages on decreasing length of ICU stay and reducing degree of PR for TOF patients. Large, multicenter, randomized, prospective studies which focuse on perioperative outcomes and postoperative differences based on long-term follow-up between TAP repair with and without monocusp valve reconstruction are needed.

Rapid detection of single nucleotide polymorphisms using the MinION nanopore sequencer: a feasibility study for perioperative precision medicine

Introduction: Precision medicine is a phrase used to describe personalized medical care tailored to specific patients based on their clinical presentation and genetic makeup. However, despite the fact that several single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been reported to be associated with increased susceptibility to particular anesthetic agents and the occurrence of perioperative complications, genomic profiling and thus precision medicine has not been widely applied in perioperative management. Methods: We validated six SNP loci known to affect perioperative outcomes in Japanese patients using genomic DNA from saliva specimens and nanopore sequencing of each SNP loci to facilitate allele frequency calculations and then compared the nanopore results to those produced using the conventional dideoxy sequencing method. Results: Nanopore sequencing reads clustered into the expected genotypes in both homozygous and heterozygous cases. In addition, the nanopore sequencing results were consistent with those obtained using conventional dideoxy sequencing and the workflow provided reliable allele frequency estimation, with a total analysis time of less than 4 h. Conclusion: Thus, our results suggest that nanopore sequencing may be a promising and versatile tool for SNP genotyping, allowing for rapid and feasible risk prediction of perioperative outcomes.

Video-assisted thoracoscopic lobectomy versus open lobectomy in the treatment of large lung cancer: propensity-score matched analysis

Background There are several concerns on thoracoscopic surgery for large tumors because of the increased risk of tumor cell spillage. This study aimed to compare perioperative outcomes and oncological validity between video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) and open lobectomy for non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with tumor size > 5 cm. Methods We retrospectively reviewed 355 patients who underwent lobectomy with clinical N0 NSCLC with solid tumor component diameter > 5 cm between January 2009 and December 2016. Patients with tumor invading adjacent structures were excluded. The patients were divided into the VATS group (n = 132) and thoracotomy group (n = 223). Propensity score matching (1:1) was applied. Results After propensity score matching, 204 patients were matched, and clinical characteristics of the two groups were well balanced. The VATS group was associated with a shorter length of hospital stay (6 days vs. 7 days; P < 0.001) than the thoracotomy group. There were no significant differences in the 5-year overall survival (71.5% in VATS vs. 64.4% in thoracotomy, P = 0.390) and 5-year recurrence-free survival (60.1% in VATS vs. 51.5% in thoracotomy, P = 0.210) between the two groups. The cumulative incidence of ipsilateral pleural recurrence was not significantly different between the two groups (12.0% in VATS vs. 7.9% in thoracotomy; P = 0.582). Conclusions In clinical N0 NSCLC larger than 5 cm, VATS lobectomy resulted in shorter hospital stay and similar survival outcome compared to open lobectomy. Based on these results, VATS lobectomy is a valuable option in this subset of patients.

COVID-19 Future Predictions Using 4 Supervised Machine Learning Models

Forecasting Mechanisms like Machine Learning (ML) models having been proving their significance to anticipate perioperative outcomes in the domain of decision making on the future course of actions. Many application domains have witnessed the use of ML models for identification and prioritization of adverse factors for a threat. The spread of COVID-19 has proven to be a great threat to a mankind announcing it a worldwide pandemic throughout. Many assets throughout the world has faced enormous infectivity and contagiousness of this illness. To look at the figure of undermining components of COVID-19 we’ve specifically used four Machine Learning Models Linear Regression (LR), Least shrinkage and determination administrator (LASSO), Support vector machine (SVM) and Exponential smoothing (ES). The results depict that the ES performs best among the four models employed in this study, followed by LR and LASSO which performs well in forecasting the newly confirmed cases, death rates yet recovery rates, but SVM performs poorly all told the prediction scenarios given the available dataset.

Disparities in Utilization and Outcomes of Minimally Invasive Techniques for Gastric Cancer Surgery in the United States

Background This study investigated national implementation patterns and perioperative outcomes of minimally invasive gastrectomy (MIG) in gastric cancer surgery in the United States. Methods The National Inpatient Sample (NIS) was queried for patients who underwent elective gastrectomy for gastric cancer from 2008-2018. The MIG versus open gastrectomy approach was correlated with hospital factors, patient characteristics, and complications. Results There was more than a fivefold increase in MIG from 5.8% in 2008 to 32.9% in 2018 (nptrend < 0.001). Patients undergoing MIG had a lower Elixhauser Comorbidity Index (p = 0.001). On risk adjusted analysis, black patients (AOR = 0.77, p = 0.024) and patients with income below 25th percentile (AOR = 0.80, p = 0.018) were less likely to undergo MIG. When these analyses were limited to minimally invasive capable centers only, these differences were not observed. Hospitals in the upper tertile of gastrectomy case volume, Northeast, and urban teaching centers were more likely to perform MIG. Overall, MIG was associated with a 0.7-day decrease in length of stay, reduced risk adjusted mortality rates (AOR = 0.58, p = 0.05), and a $4,700 increase in total cost. Conclusions In this national retrospective study, we observe socioeconomic differences in patients undergoing MIG, which is explained by hospital level factors in MIG utilization. We demonstrate that MIG is associated with a lower mortality compared with open gastrectomy. Establishing MIG as a safe approach to gastric cancers and understanding regional differences in implementation patterns can inform delivery of equitable high-quality health care.

Laparoscopic Versus Open Surgery for Early-Stage Intrahepatic Cholangiocarcinoma After Mastering the Learning Curve: A Multicenter Data-Based Matched Study

BackgroundSurgical resection is the only widely accepted curative method for intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC). However, little is known about the efficacy of laparoscopic liver resection for ICC, especially in patients with early-stage disease. The aim of this study was to compare the short-term and long-term effects of laparoscopy and open surgery for the treatment of ICC.MethodsData from 1,084 patients treated at three hospitals from January 2011 to December 2018 were selected and analyzed. Propensity score matching was performed to compare the long-term outcomes (overall survival and recurrence-free survival) and short-term outcomes (perioperative outcomes) of all-stage and early-stage patients.ResultsAfter matching, 244 patients (122 vs. 122) in the all-stage group and 65 patients (27 vs. 38) in the early-stage group were included. The baseline of the two groups was balanced, and no significant differences were found in sex or age. The short-term results of the laparoscopic group were better than those of the open group, including less blood loss [blood loss ≥400 ml 27 (22.1%) vs. 6 (4.92%), p&lt;0.001 for all-stage, 12 (31.6%) vs. 2 (7.41%), p=0.042 for early stage), shorter surgery [200 (141; 249) min vs. 125 (115; 222) min, p=0.025 for early stage] and shorter hospital stay [11.0 (9.00; 16.0) days vs. 9.00 (7.00; 12.0) days, p=0.001 for all stage, 11.0 (8.50; 17.8) days vs. 9.00 (6.50; 11.0) days, p=0.011 for early stage]. Regarding long-term outcomes, no significant differences were found for all-stage patients, while there were significant differences observed for the early-stage group (p=0.013 for OS, p=0.014 for RFS). For the early-stage patients, the 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS rates of the OLR group were 84.2, 65.8, and 41.1%, respectively, and those of the LLR group were 100, 90.9, and 90.9%, respectively. The RFS rates of the OLR group were 84.2, 66.7, and 41.7%, respectively, and those of the LLR group were and 92.3, 92.3, and 92.3%, respectively.ConclusionPatients treated with laparoscopy seemed to have better short-term outcomes, such as less blood loss, shorter operation duration, and shorter hospital stay, than patients undergoing open surgery. Based on the long-term results, laparoscopic treatment for early ICC may have certain advantages.

PUTH Grading System for Urinary Tumor With Supradiaphragmatic Tumor Thrombus: Different Surgical Techniques for Different Tumor Characteristics

PurposeTo explore the different treatment strategies for urinary tumors with Mayo IV thrombus.Materials and MethodsWe retrospectively analyzed the patients with Mayo IV thrombus in Peking University Third Hospital from January 2014 to April 2021. We used the Peking University Third Hospital (PUTH) grading system to classify urinary tumors with supradiaphragmatic thrombus. PUTH-A referred to the filled thrombus whose tip just reached above the diaphragm, or the thrombus entering the right atrium (&lt; 2cm). PUTH-B referred to the filled thrombus entering the right atrium (&gt; 2cm), or the thrombus invading the wall of the inferior pericardial vena cava. Detailed techniques were described for various scenarios. Clinicopathological data and perioperative outcomes were reported. Group difference statistical analysis was performed.ResultsA total of 26 cases of urinary tumors with supradiaphragmatic IVC thrombus (Mayo grade IV) underwent treatment were enrolled in this study. 19 patients in the PUTH-A group received the open approach without sternotomy and cardiopulmonary bypass. Seven patients in the PUTH-B group received open thoracotomy assisted by cardiopulmonary bypass. No intraoperative death occurred. After 56 months of follow-up, 46.2% (12 of 26) patients died of all causes. Estimated 1-year, 2-year, and 3-year overall survival were 72.0% (95% CI, 54.4%-89.6%), 58.2% (95% CI, 38.0%-78.4%), and 52.4% (95% CI, 31.2%-73.6%), respectively.ConclusionsWe introduced the PUTH grading system for the characteristics of urinary tumors with supradiaphragmatic tumor thrombus, and selected different surgical techniques according to different classifications. This grading system was relatively feasible and effective.