PCOM Library / Hot Topics in Research / Archive for "Surgery"

Category: Surgery

Hot Topics: YouTube Plastic Surgery Videos Inaccurate

jackiewe Hot Topics in Research, Surgery

Can You Trust What You Watch? An Assessment of the Quality of Information in Aesthetic Surgery Videos on YouTube

Gray MC, Gemmiti A, Ata A, et al. Can you trust what you watch? an assessment of the quality of information in aesthetic surgery videos on YouTube. Plast Reconstr Surg. 2020;145(2). https://dx.doi.org/10.1097/PRS.0000000000006463.

Background: 

Videos on YouTube can be posted without regulation or content oversight. Unfortunately, many patients use YouTube as a resource on aesthetic surgery, leading to misinformation. Currently, there are no objective assessments of the quality of information on YouTube about aesthetic surgery.

Methods: 

YouTube was queried for videos about the 12 most common aesthetic surgical procedures, identified from the 2015 American Society of Plastic Surgeons procedural statistics between May and June of 2016. The top 25 results for each search term were scored using the modified Ensuring Quality Information for Patients criteria based on video structure, content, and author identification. Average Ensuring Quality Information for Patients score, view count, and video duration were compared between authorship groups.

Results: 

A total of 523 videos were graded after excluding duplicates. The mean modified Ensuring Quality Information for Patients score for all videos was 13.1 (SE, 0.18) of a possible 27. The videos under the search “nose reshaping” had the lowest mean score of 10.24 (SE, 0.74), whereas “breast augmentation” had the highest score of 15.96 (SE, 0.65). Physician authorship accounted for 59 percent of included videos and had a higher mean Ensuring Quality Information for Patients score than those by patients. Only three of the 21 search terms had a mean modified Ensuring Quality Information for Patients score meeting criteria for high-quality videos.

Conclusions: 

The information contained in aesthetic surgery videos on YouTube is low quality. Patients should be aware that the information has the potential to be inaccurate. Plastic surgeons should be encouraged to develop high-quality videos to educate patients.

Hot Topics: Determining the Best Option for Broken Hips

jackiewe Hot Topics in Research, Orthopedics, Surgery

Total Hip Arthroplasty or Hemiarthroplasty for Hip Fracture

The HEALTH Investigators. (2019). Total hip arthroplasty or hemiarthroplasty for hip fracture. N Engl J Med, https://doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa1906190

BACKGROUND

Globally, hip fractures are among the top 10 causes of disability in adults. For displaced femoral neck fractures, there remains uncertainty regarding the effect of a total hip arthroplasty as compared with hemiarthroplasty.

METHODS

We randomly assigned 1495 patients who were 50 years of age or older and had a displaced femoral neck fracture to undergo either total hip arthroplasty or hemiarthroplasty. All enrolled patients had been able to ambulate without the assistance of another person before the fracture occurred. The trial was conducted in 80 centers in 10 countries. The primary end point was a secondary hip procedure within 24 months of follow-up. Secondary end points included death, serious adverse events, hip-related complications, health-related quality of life, function, and overall health end points.

RESULTS

The primary end point occurred in 57 of 718 patients (7.9%) who were randomly assigned to total hip arthroplasty and 60 of 723 patients (8.3%) who were randomly assigned to hemiarthroplasty (hazard ratio, 0.95; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.64 to 1.40; P=0.79). Hip instability or dislocation occurred in 34 patients (4.7%) assigned to total hip arthroplasty and 17 patients (2.4%) assigned to hemiarthroplasty (hazard ratio, 2.00; 99% CI, 0.97 to 4.09). Function, as measured with the total Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC) total score, pain score, stiffness score, and function score, modestly favored total hip arthroplasty over hemiarthroplasty. Mortality was similar in the two treatment groups (14.3% among the patients assigned to total hip arthroplasty and 13.1% among those assigned to hemiarthroplasty, P=0.48). Serious adverse events occurred in 300 patients (41.8%) assigned to total hip arthroplasty and in 265 patients (36.7%) assigned to hemiarthroplasty.

CONCLUSIONS

Among independently ambulating patients with displaced femoral neck fractures, the incidence of secondary procedures did not differ significantly between patients who were randomly assigned to undergo total hip arthroplasty and those who were assigned to undergo hemiarthroplasty, and total hip arthroplasty provided a clinically unimportant improvement over hemiarthroplasty in function and quality of life over 24 months.

Hot Topics: Steroid Implant Restores Sight

jackiewe Hot Topics in Research, Oncology, Surgery

Outcomes Associated With Sustained-Release Intraocular Fluocinolone Implants in a Case of Melanoma-Associated Retinopathy Treated Without Systemic Immunosuppression

Karatsai E, Robson AG, Taylor SRJ. Outcomes associated with sustained-release intraocular fluocinolone implants in a case of melanoma-associated retinopathy treated without systemic immunosuppression. 2019. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamaophthalmol.2019.0284.

Importance  Melanoma-associated retinopathy (MAR) is a paraneoplastic syndrome in which antiretinal antibodies crossreact with retinal ON-bipolar cells, resulting in night blindness and progressive visual field loss. Current therapeutic options include cytoreductive surgery in combination with immunoglobulin, corticosteroids, or plasmapheresis, but their effectiveness is limited and may be contraindicated, given the possible protective role of circulating autoantibodies against metastatic spread. We report 3-year follow-up of the first case (to our knowledge) of MAR treated with intravitreal long-acting steroid implants.

Objective  To report on a patient with MAR who was treated with intravitreal fluocinolone acetonide implants in the absence of systemic immunosuppression.

Design, Setting, and Participants  This is a 3-year follow-up of a 73-year-old woman with a history of surgical excision of a malignant melanoma of the left pinna who presented with visual symptoms of shimmering and nyctalopia. Fundus examination, fundus autofluorescence, and optical coherence tomography were normal, with no evidence of cystoid macular edema. Automated perimetry showed a reduction in visual field and full-field electroretinography (ERG) demonstrated findings consistent with generalized ON-bipolar cell dysfunction, typical of MAR. The patient was treated with bilateral fluocinolone acetonide intravitreal implants.

Main Outcomes and Measures  Visual acuity, visual field, and electroretinography testing for 3 years after treatment.

Results  Visual fields improved in this 73-year-old patient from 20/30 (Snellen measured as 6/9) OD and 20/16 (6/5) OS at baseline to 20/20 OU within 1 week of treatment. Detailed electroretinography monitoring indicated characteristic abnormalities that partly resolved after treatment, consistent with improved inner retinal ON-bipolar cell function. Bilateral cataracts developed approximately 2 years after injection; cataract surgery was performed uneventfully. At 3 years posttreatment, the patient remained visually stable and in systemic disease remission, with best-corrected visual acuity remaining at 20/20 OU.

Conclusions and Relevance  We report what is, to our knowledge, the first case of MAR treated with intravitreal slow-release corticosteroid implants, which shows improvements in visual symptoms, visual fields, and retinal function. Sustained-release intraocular steroid implants may offer an effective and safe alternative to systemic immunosuppression in MAR, although results from 1 case should be generalized with abundant caution.

Hot Topics: Training Muscles Before Surgery Eases Autotransplantation

jackiewe Hot Topics in Research, Pediatrics, Sports Medicine, Surgery

Perspectives for the Use of Neurotechnologies in Conjunction With Muscle Autotransplantation in Children

Blagovechtchenski E, Agranovich O, Kononova Y, Nazarova M, Nikulin VV. Perspectives for the use of neurotechnologies in conjunction with muscle autotransplantation in children. Frontiers in Neuroscience. 2019;13:99. https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2019.00099

Muscles autotransplantation is an important way to restore motor activity in case of injury or diseases associated with a loss of muscles ability. One of the typical examples of such pathology is arthrogryposis multiplex congenita (AMC). Arthrogryposis is one of the most serious congenital malformations of the musculoskeletal system. It is characterized by the presence of two or more major joint contractures, muscle damage, and motoneuronal dysfunction in the anterior horns of the spinal cord. One of the main problems that determines the limitation or even impossibility of self-care of patients suffering from arthrogryposis is the lack of active movements in the upper limb joints, which can be restored by autotransplantation of the muscles of various donor areas (Hall, 1997; Bamshad et al., 2009; Loeffler and Lewis, 2016).

Hot Topics: Spinal Surgery “Enhanced Recovery” Cuts Opioid Use

jackiewe Hot Topics in Research, Neurosurgery, Substance Use Disorders, Surgery, Uncategorized

Enhanced recovery after elective spinal and peripheral nerve surgery: pilot study from a single institution

Ali ZS, Flanders TM, Ozturk AK, et al. Enhanced recovery after elective spinal and peripheral nerve surgery: Pilot study from a single institution. Journal of Neurosurgery: Spine SPI. 2019:1-9. https://dx.doi.org/10.3171/2018.9.SPINE18681.

Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) protocols address pre-, peri-, and postoperative factors of a patient’s surgical journey. The authors sought to assess the effects of a novel ERAS protocol on clinical outcomes for patients undergoing elective spine or peripheral nerve surgery.

METHODS

The authors conducted a prospective cohort analysis comparing clinical outcomes of patients undergoing elective spine or peripheral nerve surgery after implementation of the ERAS protocol compared to a historical control cohort in a tertiary care academic medical center. Patients in the historical cohort (September–December 2016) underwent traditional surgical care. Patients in the intervention group (April–June 2017) were enrolled in a unique ERAS protocol created by the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania. Primary objectives were as follows: opioid and nonopioid pain medication consumption, need for opioid use at 1 month postoperatively, and patient-reported pain scores. Secondary objectives were as follows: mobilization and ambulation status, Foley catheter use, need for straight catheterization, length of stay, need for ICU admission, discharge status, and readmission within 30 days.

RESULTS

A total of 201 patients underwent surgical care via an ERAS protocol and were compared to a total of 74 patients undergoing traditional perioperative care (control group). The 2 groups were similar in baseline demographics. Intravenous opioid medications postoperatively via patient-controlled analgesia was nearly eliminated in the ERAS group (0.5% vs 54.1%, p < 0.001). This change was not associated with an increase in the average or daily pain scores in the ERAS group. At 1 month following surgery, a smaller proportion of patients in the ERAS group were using opioids (38.8% vs 52.7%, p = 0.041). The ERAS group demonstrated greater mobilization on postoperative day 0 (53.4% vs 17.1%, p < 0.001) and postoperative day 1 (84.1% vs 45.7%, p < 0.001) compared to the control group. Postoperative Foley use was decreased in the ERAS group (20.4% vs 47.3%, p < 0.001) without an increase in the rate of straight catheterization (8.1% vs 11.9%, p = 0.51).

CONCLUSIONS

Implementation of this novel ERAS pathway safely reduces patients’ postoperative opioid requirements during hospitalization and 1 month postoperatively. ERAS results in improved postoperative mobilization and ambulation.

Hot Topics: Botox May Help Aftermath of Cardiac Surgery

jackiewe Cardiology, Hot Topics in Research, Surgery

Long-term suppression of atrial fibrillation by botulinum toxin injection into epicardial fat pads in patients undergoing cardiac surgery: Three-year follow-up of a randomized study
Romanov A, Pokushalov E, Ponomarev D, et al. Long-term suppression of atrial fibrillation by botulinum toxin injection into epicardial fat pads in patients undergoing cardiac surgery: Three-year follow-up of a randomized study. Heart Rhythm. 2018. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.hrthm.2018.08.019
Background
Botulinum toxin (BTX) injections into epicardial fat pads in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) has resulted in suppression of atrial fibrillation (AF) during the early postoperative period through 1-year of follow-up in a pilot program.
Objective
The purpose of this study was to report 3-year AF patterns by the use of implantable cardiac monitors (ICMs).
Methods
Sixty patients with a history of paroxysmal AF and indications for CABG were randomized 1:1 to either BTX or placebo injections into 4 posterior epicardial fat pads. All patients received an ICM with regular follow-up for 3 years after surgery. The primary end point of the extended follow-up period was incidence of any atrial tachyarrhythmia after 30 days of procedure until 36 months on no antiarrhythmic drugs. The secondary end points included clinical events and AF burden.
Results
At the end of 36 months, the incidence of any atrial tachyarrhythmia was 23.3% in the BTX group vs 50% in the placebo group (hazard ratio 0.36; 95% confidence interval 0.14–0.88; P = .02). AF burden at 12, 24, and 36 months was significantly lower in the BTX group than in the placebo group: 0.22% vs 1.88% ( P = .003), 1.6% vs 9.5% ( P < .001), and 1.3% vs 6.9% ( P = .007), respectively. In the BTX group, 2 patients (7%) were hospitalized during follow-up compared with 10 (33%) in the placebo group ( P = .02).
Conclusion
Injection of BTX into epicardial fat pads in patients undergoing CABG resulted in a sustained and substantial reduction in atrial tachyarrhythmia incidence and burden during 3-year follow-up, accompanied by reduction in hospitalizations.

Hot Topics: Anesthesiology Should Look to Neuroscience and Nociception

jackiewe Hot Topics in Research, Neurology, Surgery

Multimodal General Anesthesia: Theory and Practice
Brown EN, Pavone KJ, Naranjo M. Multimodal general anesthesia: Theory and practice. Anesthesia & Analgesia. http://dx.doi.org/10.1213/ANE.0000000000003668
Balanced general anesthesia, the most common management strategy used in anesthesia care, entails the administration of different drugs together to create the anesthetic state. Anesthesiologists developed this approach to avoid sole reliance on ether for general anesthesia maintenance. Balanced general anesthesia uses less of each drug than if the drug were administered alone, thereby increasing the likelihood of its desired effects and reducing the likelihood of its side effects. To manage nociception intraoperatively and pain postoperatively, the current practice of balanced general anesthesia relies almost exclusively on opioids. While opioids are the most effective antinociceptive agents, they have undesirable side effects. Moreover, overreliance on opioids has contributed to the opioid epidemic in the United States. Spurred by concern of opioid overuse, balanced general anesthesia strategies are now using more agents to create the anesthetic state. Under these approaches, called “multimodal general anesthesia,” the additional drugs may include agents with specific central nervous system targets such as dexmedetomidine and ones with less specific targets, such as magnesium. It is postulated that use of more agents at smaller doses further maximizes desired effects while minimizing side effects. Although this approach appears to maximize the benefit-to-side effect ratio, no rational strategy has been provided for choosing the drug combinations. Nociception induced by surgery is the primary reason for placing a patient in a state of general anesthesia. Hence, any rational strategy should focus on nociception control intraoperatively and pain control postoperatively. In this Special Article, we review the anatomy and physiology of the nociceptive and arousal circuits, and the mechanisms through which commonly used anesthetics and anesthetic adjuncts act in these systems. We propose a rational strategy for multimodal general anesthesia predicated on choosing a combination of agents that act at different targets in the nociceptive system to control nociception intraoperatively and pain postoperatively. Because these agents also decrease arousal, the doses of hypnotics and/or inhaled ethers needed to control unconsciousness are reduced. Effective use of this strategy requires simultaneous monitoring of antinociception and level of unconsciousness. We illustrate the application of this strategy by summarizing anesthetic management for 4 representative surgeries.

Hot Topics: Opioids Overprescribed After Joint and Spine Surgery

jackiewe Hot Topics in Research, Pharmaceutical Sciences, Rheumatology, Surgery

Opioid Oversupply After Joint and Spine Surgery: A Prospective Cohort Study
Bicket MC, White E, Pronovost PJ, Wu CL, Yaster M, Alexander GC. Opioid oversupply after joint and spine surgery: A prospective cohort study. Anesth Analg. 2018. doi: 10.1213/ANE.0000000000003364.
BACKGROUND: Many patients receive prescription opioids at hospital discharge after surgery, yet little is known regarding how often these opioids go unused. We estimated the prevalence of unused opioids, use of nonopioid analgesics, and storage and disposal practices after same-day and inpatient surgery.
METHODS: In this prospective cohort study at a large, inner-city tertiary care hospital, we recruited individuals ≥18 years of age undergoing elective same-day or inpatient joint and spine surgery from August to November 2016. Using patient surveys via telephone calls, we assessed patient-reported outcomes at 2-day, 2-week, 1-month, and 6-month intervals, including: (1) stopping opioid treatment and in possession of unused opioid pills (primary outcome), (2) number of unused opioid tablets reported after stopping opioids, (3) use of nonopioid pain treatments, and (4) knowledge and practice regarding safe opioid storage and disposal.
RESULTS: Of 141 eligible patients, 140 (99%) consented (35% taking preoperative opioids; mean age 56 years [standard deviation 16 years]; 47% women). One- and 6-month follow-up was achieved for 115 (82%) and 110 patients (80%), respectively. Among patients who stopped opioid therapy, possession of unused opioids was reported by 73% (95% confidence intervals, 62%-82%) at 1-month follow-up and 34% (confidence interval, 24%-45%) at 6-month follow-up. At 1 month, 46% had ≥20 unused pills, 37% had ≥200 morphine milligram equivalents, and only 6% reported using multiple nonopioid adjuncts. Many patients reported unsafe storage and failure to dispose of opioids at both 1-month (91% and 96%, respectively) and 6-month (92% and 47%, respectively) follow-up.
CONCLUSIONS: After joint and spine surgery, many patients reported unused opioids, infrequent use of analgesic alternatives, and lack of knowledge regarding safe opioid storage and disposal. Interventions are needed to better tailor postoperative analgesia and improve the safe storage and disposal of prescription opioids.

Hot Topics: Customized 3-D Models Effectively Train Children’s Surgeons

jackiewe Hot Topics in Research, Pediatrics, Surgery

Patient-specific 3D models aid planning for triplane proximal femoral osteotomy in slipped capital femoral epiphysis
Cherkasskiy L, Caffrey JP, Szewczyk AF, et al. Patient-specific 3D models aid planning for triplane proximal femoral osteotomy in slipped capital femoral epiphysis. J Child Orthop. 2017;11(2):147-153. https://doi.org/10.1302/1863-2548-11-170277.
Purpose
Slipped capital femoral epiphysis (SCFE) can result in a complex three-dimensional (3D) deformity of the proximal femur. A three-plane proximal femoral osteotomy (TPFO) has been described to improve hip mechanics. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the benefits of using 3D print technology to aid in surgical planning.
Patients and Methods
Fifteen children treated with TPFO for symptomatic proximal femoral deformity due to SCFE were included in this study. Ten patients were treated by a single surgeon with (model group, n = 5) or without (no-model group, n = 5) a 3D model for pre-operative planning, and compared with patients treated by two senior partners without the use of a model (senior group, n = 5) to evaluate for a learning curve. Peri-operative data including patient body mass index (BMI), surgical time and fluoroscopy time were recorded.
Results
Children in all three groups had similar BMIs at the time of the TPFO. Post-operative radiographic parameters were equally improved in all three groups. On average, surgical time decreased by 45 minutes and 38 minutes, and fluoroscopy time decreased by 50% and 25%, in the model group compared with the no-model and senior groups, respectively.
Conclusions
Patient-specific 3D models aid in surgical planning for complex 3D orthopaedic deformities by enabling practice of osteotomies. Results suggest that 3D models may decrease surgical time and fluoroscopy time while allowing for similar deformity correction. These models may be especially useful to overcome steep learning curves for complex procedures or in trainee education through mock surgical procedures.