Geriatric Comanagement of Older Vascular Surgery Inpatients Reduces Hospital-Acquired Geriatric Syndromes

ObjectiveThis study evaluates the impact of a novel model of care called Geriatric Comanagement of Older Vascular surgery inpatients on clinical outcomes.Design, Setting, and ParticipantsA pre-post study of geriatric comanagement, comparing prospectively recruited preintervention (February–October 2019) and prospectively recruited postintervention (January–December 2020) cohorts. Consecutively admitted vascular surgery patients age ≥65 years at a tertiary academic hospital in Concord and with an expected length of stay (LOS) greater than 2 days were recruited.InterventionA comanagement model where a geriatrician was embedded within the vascular surgery team and delivered proactive comprehensive geriatric assessment based interventions.MethodsPrimary outcomes of incidence of hospital-acquired geriatric syndromes, delirium, and LOS were compared between groups using univariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses. Prespecified subgroup analysis was performed by frailty status.ResultsThere were 150 patients in the preintervention group and 152 patients in the postintervention group. The postintervention group were more frail [66 (43.4%) vs 45 (30.0%)], urgently admitted [72 (47.4%) vs 56 (37.3%)], and nonoperatively managed [52 (34.2%) vs 33 (22.0%)]. These differences were attributed to the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic during the postintervention phase. The postintervention group had fewer hospital-acquired geriatric syndromes [74 (48.7%) vs 97 (64.7%); P = .005] and reduced incident delirium [5 (3.3%) vs 15 (10.0%); P = .02], in unadjusted and adjusted analyses. Cardiac [8 (5.3%) vs 30 (20.0%); P < .001] and infective complications [4 (2.6%) vs 12 (8.0%); P = .04] were also fewer. LOS was unchanged. Frail patients in the postintervention group experienced significantly fewer geriatric syndromes including delirium.Conclusions and ImplicationsThis is the first prospective study of inpatient geriatric comanagement for older vascular surgery patients. Reductions in hospital-acquired geriatric syndromes including delirium, and cardiac and infective complications were observed after implementing geriatric comanagement. These benefits were also demonstrated in the frail subgroup.     

Analysis of differentially expressed genes in fetal skin of scarless and scar-forming periods of gestational rats

Objective: To study the differences of gene expression between earlier gestational skin and later gestational skin of rats with the aids of single primer amplification (SPA) and high-density oligonucleotide DNA array to understand the molecular mechanism of scarless healing. Methods: Total RNAs were isolated from fetal rat skin of the scarless (E15) and scar-forming (E18) periods of gestation (term =21.5 days). The RNAs from earlier gestational skin (EGS) and later gestational skin (LGS) were both reversely transcribed to cDNAs, then labeled with the incorporation of fluorescent dCTP for preparing the hybridization probes by SPA method. The mixed probes were then hybridized to the oligonucleotide DNA arrays which contained 5 705 probes representing 5 705 rat genes. After highly stringent washing, these DNA arrays were scanned for fluorescent signals to display the differentially expressed genes between the 2 groups of skin. Results: Among 5 705 rat genes, there were 53 genes (0.93%) with differentially expressed levels between EGS and LGS groups, 27 genes, including fibroblast growth factor 2 ( FGF2 ) and follistatin were up-regulated (0.47%) and 26 genes were down-regulated (0.46%) in fetal skin during scarless period versus scar-forming period. Higher expressions of FGF2 and follistatin in EGS than those in LGS were also revealed by RT-PCR method. Conclusions: High-density oligonucleotide DNA array provided a powerful tool for investigating differential gene expression in earlier and later gestational fetal skins. This technology validates that the mechanism of fetal scarless healing is very complicate and the change of many gene expressions is associated with fetal scarless healing.     

Robot-Assisted vs Laparoscopic Right Hemicolectomy in Octogenarians

ObjectiveWith increasing age, there is greater need for right-sided colonic resections than its left-sided counterparts. Older age is associated with limited physical and functional status, which carries greater operative risk. Improvements in robotic surgery questions its role, especially in older adults, compared with laparoscopy. The objective is to investigate whether robotic right hemicolectomy (RRH) is as safe and effective as laparoscopic right hemicolectomy (LHR) in octogenarians (age >80 years).DesignRetrospective cross-sectional analysis.Settings and ParticipantsOctogenarians who underwent elective RRH and LRH by the Tweed Colorectal Group over 5 years.MethodsComplications within 30 days, age, gender, smoking status, immunocompromised status, presence of diabetes, American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) physical status score, preoperative Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group (ECOG) performance status, mFI-5 (modified frailty index), operative time, method of anastomosis, postoperative length of stay (LOS), need for rehabilitation, and short-term oncologic data using the TNM criteria were compared using univariate and multivariate analysis.ResultsSeventy-eight elective patients were included. LRH and RRH groups had similar median ages, gender distribution, and comorbidities. Across the entire cohort, 61.5% had no 30-day complications. RRH had nonsignificantly shorter operative time but significantly shorter LOS (5 vs 8 days) and fewer minor complications (24.5% vs 34.5%). Major complications and overall complications were not significantly different between the groups. Lower ASA and ECOG status were associated with lower complication rates across both groups. Oncologic resection outcomes were similar for both approaches.Conclusions and ImplicationsRRH does not confer an increased risk of complications compared to LRH in the octogenarians and may be a viable alternative in the field of minimally invasive surgery for older patients. Future research should focus on intracorporeal anastomoses, as it is a potential confounder leading to the shorter inpatient LOS shown in our robotic group.     

Interdisciplinary Protocol for Surgery in Older Persons: Development and Implementation

As the population ages, more older adults will undergo surgical procedures, and common physiologic changes can raise the risk for surgical complications while increasing morbidity and mortality. In conjunction with the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program, we piloted a comprehensive and interdisciplinary assessment and intervention protocol for perioperative care for patients aged ≥75 years undergoing elective general, gynecology-oncologic, and orthopedic surgery. The intervention included screening tools for cognitive, functional, and nutritional deficits, a Geriatric Nurse Champion on each inpatient surgical unit, and an interdisciplinary Geriatric Surgery Quality Committee. Our intervention group was compared to surgical patients during the same time period 1 year prior to the intervention, and the groups were well matched in demographics and comorbidities. The intervention group had significantly higher rates of advance care plan documentation in analysis of all patients (P < .001) and in subgroup analysis of those 85 and older (P = .006). The preintervention group had less postoperative delirium compared to the postintervention group but it was not significant and there was no difference in length of stay between groups. Various explanations for the minimal impact of the protocol exist: small sample size, presence of other hospital initiatives to reduce pressure ulcer and delirium, and clinician’s awareness of project planning that led to incorporating ideas prior to official implementation. Future research implementing this protocol in naïve and/or underperforming institutions may demonstrate a greater effect. Larger sample size as well as implementation in other surgical fields may reveal a significant impact. However, if additional study does not reveal a meaningful impact of a comprehensive geriatric assessment for surgical patients, then consideration must be made regarding unrecognized factors in surgical care for older adults or perhaps that factors cannot be mitigated in older adults because they are intrinsically a higher surgical risk.     

多技术联合治疗泛耐药菌感染性创面临床疗效分析

【摘要】 目的 分析湿润烧伤膏、纳米银医用抗菌敷料、自体微粒皮种植等多技术联合治疗泛耐药菌感染性创面的临床效果。方法 给予2017年1月至2019年12月北京市丰台区中医医院 (北京市丰台区南苑医院) 收治的 13 例泛耐药菌感染性创面患者采用湿润烧伤膏、纳米银医用抗菌敷料、自体微粒皮种植等多技术联合治疗,观察治疗效果。结果 13例患者中除1例患者放弃治疗、2例患者因多器官功能衰竭死亡外,其余10例患者创面分别于治疗第35～240天完全愈合;创面愈合后随访6个月,所有患者愈后皮肤均生长良好,可见浅表性瘢痕。结论 湿润烧伤膏、纳米银医用抗菌敷料、自体微粒皮种植等多技术联合治疗泛耐药菌感染性创面,可明显改善细菌耐药情况,促进创面愈合,疗效确切,临床应用价值较高。