Brachytherapy: An emblematic example of extreme hypofractionated regimen

In order to provide more convenient irradiation regimens for patient comfort, radiation facility organization and health expenses, new hypofractionated protocols have been evaluated. Moderately (dose/fraction: 2.3 to 3 Gy), then ultra (dose/fraction: 5.2 to 6.1 Gy) hypofractionated irradiations were first validated. The current question is: is it possible to go forward using extreme hypofractionated regimens (EHR) based on 1 to 3 fractions. Different irradiation techniques are under investigation. However, brachytherapy remains the smartest way to deliver a high dose in a small volume. We report prospective and retrospective study results which evaluated EHR for breast and prostate brachytherapy. While oncological outcome and toxicity profile appear extremely encouraging for low-risk breast cancer after a 1 to 4 fractions (6.25 to 20 Gy/fraction), the use of a single fraction of 19 to 23 Gy appears debatable for prostate cancer. Brachytherapy represents an emblematic example of EHR but longer follow-up and more mature results are awaited in order to specify the right indications and refine the EQD2 calculation method including new biological and technical factors.     

Minimally Invasive Treatments for Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia: Systematic Review and Network Meta-Analysis

PurposeTo review and to compare indirectly the outcomes of minimally invasive therapies for the treatment of lower urinary tract symptoms secondary to benign prostatic hyperplasia.Materials and MethodsA literature search via Medline and Cochrane Central databases was completed for randomized control studies published between January 2000 to April 2020 for the following therapies: Rezum, Urolift, Aquablation, and prostatic artery embolization (PAE). Data on the following variables were included: International prostate symptom score (IPSS), maximum urinary flow rate, quality of life, and postvoid residual (PVR). Standard mean differences between treatments were compared through a meta-analysis using transurethral resection of the prostate (TURP) to assess differences in treatment effect.ResultsThere was no significant difference in outcomes between therapies for IPSS at the 3, 6, and 12-month follow ups. Although outcomes for Rezum were only available out to 3 months, there were no consistently significant differences in outcomes when comparing Aquablation versus PAE versus Rezum. TURP PVR was significantly better than Urolift at 3, 6, and 12 months. No significant differences in minor or major adverse events were noted.ConclusionAlthough significant differences in outcomes were limited, Aquablation and PAE were the most durable at 12 months. PAE has been well studied on multiple randomized control trials with minimal adverse events while Aquablation has limited high quality data and has been associated with bleeding-related complications.     

Atrial fibrillation after cardiac surgery: A systematic review and meta-analysis

ObjectiveNew-onset postoperative atrial fibrillation (POAF) after cardiac surgery is common, with rates up to 60%. POAF has been associated with early and late stroke, but its association with other cardiovascular outcomes is less known. The objective was to perform a meta-analysis of the studies reporting the association of POAF with perioperative and long-term outcomes in patients with cardiac surgery.MethodsWe performed a systematic review and a meta-analysis of studies that presented outcomes for cardiac surgery on the basis of the presence or absence of POAF. MEDLINE, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Library were assessed; 57 studies (246,340 patients) were selected. Perioperative mortality was the primary outcome. Inverse variance method and random model were performed. Leave-one-out analysis, subgroup analyses, and metaregression were conducted.ResultsPOAF was associated with perioperative mortality (odds ratio [OR], 1.92; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.58-2.33), perioperative stroke (OR, 2.17; 95% CI, 1.90-2.49), perioperative myocardial infarction (OR, 1.28; 95% CI, 1.06-1.54), perioperative acute renal failure (OR, 2.74; 95% CI, 2.42-3.11), hospital (standardized mean difference, 0.80; 95% CI, 0.53-1.07) and intensive care unit stay (standardized mean difference, 0.55; 95% CI, 0.24-0.86), long-term mortality (incidence rate ratio [IRR], 1.54; 95% CI, 1.40-1.69), long-term stroke (IRR, 1.33; 95% CI, 1.21-1.46), and longstanding persistent atrial fibrillation (IRR, 4.73; 95% CI, 3.36-6.66).ConclusionsThe results suggest that POAF after cardiac surgery is associated with an increased occurrence of most short- and long-term cardiovascular adverse events. However, the causality of this association remains to be established.     

基于标准化患者法评价四川农村基层医生两种慢性病诊断准确性及其影响因素

目的 运用标准化患者法评估四川农村地区基层医生不稳定型心绞痛和2型糖尿病两种慢性病诊断准确性现状,探讨基层医生两种慢性病诊断准确性的主要影响因素,为提升基层医生两种慢性病诊断准确性提供科学依据。方法 采用多阶段随机整群抽样方法,抽取四川省自贡市5个区/县50个乡镇100个村为研究现场,以调查当日在岗的全科及内科医生作为研究对象。共进行两轮数据采集,第1轮采集样本乡镇卫生院和村卫生室医生的基本信息;第1轮调查完成1个月后,运用标准化患者法开展第2轮调查,收集农村基层医生对不稳定型心绞痛和2型糖尿病诊断结果信息。运用Logistic回归分析农村基层医生不稳定型心绞痛和2型糖尿病诊断准确性的影响因素。结果 共纳入172名农村基层医生,完成186次标准化患者访问,正确诊断率为48.39%。其中不稳定型心绞痛的正确诊断率为18.68%(17/91),2型糖尿病的正确诊断率为76.84%(73/95)。Logistic回归分析显示,具有执业医师资质的农村基层医生更有可能做出正确诊断(OR=4.857,95%CI=1.076~21.933,P=0.040)。农村基层医生在诊断过程中涉及的必要问诊和检查条目越多,做出正确诊断的概率越高(OR=1.627,95%CI=1.065~2.485,P=0.024)。与不稳定型心绞痛相比,农村基层医生对2型糖尿病做出正确诊断的可能性更高(OR=6.306,95%CI=3.611~11.013,P<0.001)。结论 四川农村基层医生不稳定型心绞痛和2型糖尿病诊断准确性整体较差,建议以基层医生慢性病诊断过程质量改善为突破口,提升基层医生执业水平,进而提高慢性病诊断准确性。     

Midterm Outcomes of Angioplasty for Pediatric Renovascular Hypertension

PurposeTo evaluate the midterm outcomes of percutaneous transluminal renal angioplasty (PTRA) for pediatric renovascular hypertension (RVH).Materials and MethodsThe clinical data of patients who underwent PTRA for RVH in the authors’ hospital from 2012 to 2019 were retrospectively analyzed. Postprocedural blood pressure, glomerular filtration rate (GFR) of the affected kidney, restenosis, and complications were closely monitored.ResultsPTRA was performed in a total of 30 children (20 boys and 10 girls), with a mean age of 7.3 years ± 0.7 (range, 40 days to 13.9 years) and a mean weight of 25.0 kg ± 2.3 (range, 3.4–53 kg). The median follow-up period was 26.5 months (range, 1 month to 7.5 years). Technical success was achieved in 26 (86.7%) of the 30 patients. Restenosis developed in 3 patients (10.0%). Only 1 patient underwent stent implantation, and the stent fractured 8 months later, requiring further intervention. There were no other complications. In terms of clinical benefit of blood pressure control after the initial PTRA procedure, 15 patients (50%) were cured and 7 patients (23.3%) showed improvement. There was no significant difference in the etiology, lesion location, and lesion length between patients with clinical benefit and failure (P = .06, P = .202, and P = .06, respectively). GFR of the affected kidney was significantly improved from 19.9 mL/min ± 11.2 to 38.1 mL/min ± 11.9 at the 6-month follow-up after PTRA (P < .001).ConclusionsThe overall results of PTRA for pediatric RVH caused by different etiologies are promising. PTRA not only provided a clinical benefit of blood pressure control in 73.3% of the patients but also significantly improved the function of the affected kidney.     

Retrograde inspection vs standard forward view for the detection of colorectal adenomas during colonoscopy: A back-to-back randomized clinical trial

BACKGROUND The adenoma detection rate(ADR) is inversely associated with the incidence of interval colorectal cancer and serves as a benchmark quality criterion during screening colonoscopy. However, adenoma miss rates reach up to 26% and studies have shown that a second inspection of the right colon in retroflected view(RFV) can increase ADR.AIM To assess whether inspection of the whole colon in RFV compared to standard forward view(SFV) can increase ADR.METHODS Patients presenting for screening or surveillance colonoscopy were invited to participate in this randomized controlled trial and randomized into two arms. In RFV arm colonoscopy was initially performed with SFV, followed by a second inspection of the whole colon in RFV. In the SFV arm first withdrawal was performed with SFV, followed by a second inspection of the whole colon again with SFV. Number, size and morphology of polyps found during first and second inspection in each colonic segment were recorded and all polyps were removed and sent for histopathology in separate containers.RESULTS Two hundred and five patients were randomly assigned to the RFV(n = 101) and SFV(n = 104) arm. In the RFV arm, both polyp detection rate(PDR) and ADR were increased under second inspection in RFV(PDR 1~(st) SFV: 39.8%, PDR 2~(nd)RFV: 46.6%; ADR 1~(st) SFV: 35.2%, ADR 2~(nd) RFV: 42%). Likewise, in the SFV arm,PDR and ADR were increased under second inspection(PDR 1~(st) SFV: 37.5%, PDR 2~(nd) SFV: 46.6%; ADR 1~(st) SFV: 34.1%, ADR 2~(nd)SFV: 44.3%) with no significant differences in ADR and PDR between the SFV and RFV arm. Mean number of adenomas per patient(APP) was increased in the RFV and SFV(APP RFV arm: 1~(st) SFV: 1.71; 2~(nd) RFV: 2.38; APP SFV arm: 1~(st) SFV: 1.83, 2~(nd)SFV:2.2). The majority of adenomas additionally found during second inspection in RFV or in SFV were located in the transverse and left-sided colon and were 5 mm in size.CONCLUSION Second inspection of the whole colon leads to increased adenoma detection with no differences between SFV and RFV. Hence, increased detection is most likely a feature of the second inspection itself but not of the inspection mode.     

2013-2017年我国四种恶性肿瘤住院费用水平及结构变动度分析

背景　恶性肿瘤给家庭、社会带来了沉重的医疗、经济负担，极易导致部分家庭“因病致贫”或放弃治疗，目前相关研究多集中于单一病种、分散地域的研究，仍缺乏对于全国范围与多病种恶性肿瘤住院费用变化及结构构成的考量。目的　分析2013-2017年我国4种恶性肿瘤住院费用水平以及影响住院费用的主要项目和结构变动情况，为控制医疗费用上涨、深化新医改提供参考依据。方法　本研究数据来源于《2014中国卫生和计划生育统计年鉴》《2015中国卫生和计划生育统计年鉴》《2016中国卫生和计划生育统计年鉴》《2017中国卫生和计划生育统计年鉴》以及《2018中国卫生健康统计年鉴》，样本跨度为2013-2017年。统计“30种疾病人均住院费用”中的胃恶性肿瘤、肺恶性肿瘤、食管恶性肿瘤以及膀胱恶性肿瘤的数据，4种恶性肿瘤的人均住院费用包括药费、检查费、治疗费、手术费和手术材料费。2019年4-8月，采用结构变动度法分析我国2013-2017年4种恶性肿瘤的住院费用的结构变动情况〔结构变动值（VSV）、结构变动度（DSV）、结构变动贡献率〕。结果　2013-2017年，4种恶性肿瘤的人均住院费用逐年上升，其中胃恶性肿瘤的人均住院费用始终最高，且肺恶性肿瘤的人均住院费用上升幅度最大。2013-2017年，在4种恶性肿瘤住院各项费用的占比中，药费占比最高且总体逐年下降。从4种恶性肿瘤住院各项费用的实际变化来看，药费在2013-2014年有所上升，2014-2017年逐年下降；检查费在2013-2014年下降，2014-2017年缓慢上升；手术费与手术材料费在2013-2017年逐年上升。2013-2017年，在4种恶性肿瘤住院各项费用中均是药费的VSV最大；4种恶性肿瘤药费、检查费的VSV均呈负向变化，手术费和手术材料费的VSV均呈正向变化，治疗费的VSV增减均不明显。2013-2017年，4种恶性肿瘤住院费用的DSV从大到小依次为肺恶性肿瘤、胃恶性肿瘤、食管恶性肿瘤、膀胱恶性肿瘤。2013-2017年，4种恶性肿瘤住院各项费用中均是药费的结构变动贡献率最大，治疗费的结构变动贡献率最小；除药费外，胃恶性肿瘤、肺恶性肿瘤住院各项费用中均是手术材料费和手术费的结构变动贡献率次之，食管恶性肿瘤住院各项费用中手术费、检查费的结构变动贡献率次之，膀胱恶性肿瘤住院各项费用中检查费、手术材料费的结构变动贡献率次之。结论　2013-2017年我国4种恶性肿瘤手术费的结构变动贡献率虽然较为理想，但药费、治疗费仍是住院费用结构的重点调整对象；同时为有效降低恶性肿瘤的人均住院费用，应当加强控制手术材料费与检查费；而胃恶性肿瘤与肺恶性肿瘤患者的疾病经济负担严重，若要缓解应加强疾病的早期预防与住院费用管控。