Diagnosis of pituitary abscess and treatment via transsphenoidal surgery: experience from 15 cases

ObjectivePituitary abscess is an often misdiagnosed, rare clinical disorder. To improve diagnostic accuracy and the efficacy of surgical and antibiotic therapy for patients with pituitary abscess, herein, we retrospectively reviewed 15 patients who presented with pituitary abscesses from 2005 to 2022.DesignRetrospective study.PatientsFifteen patients underwent transsphenoidal surgery and received antibiotic treatment.MeasurementsComplete details regarding medical history, clinical manifestations, laboratory examinations, imaging studies, and treatment strategies were obtained for all patients.ResultsMost patients presented with hypopituitarism and headaches, while some presented with fever, visual disturbances, and diabetes insipidus (DI). Abscesses showed significant annular enhancement post gadolinium injection. In most patients, pituitary abscess can be cured via microscopic or endoscopic drainage of the abscess followed by antibiotic treatment. Complete cure of pituitary abscess was observed in nine patients, with six cases of prolonged hypopituitarism and only one case of recurrence. Long-term hormone replacement therapy was effective in the postoperative management of hypopituitarism.ConclusionsThe typical manifestations of pituitary abscess include hypopituitarism and headaches; the presence of an enhanced ring at the edge of the mass on contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance images (MRI) is highly suggestive of pituitary abscess. We recommend antibiotic treatment for 4–6 weeks postoperatively, based on the results of bacterial cultures or metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS).     

The landscape of international oral and maxillofacial surgery collaborations from 1996 to 2020: a scoping review of the published literature

The emerging field of global oral and maxillofacial surgery (OMS) aims to improve worldwide access to safe, timely, and affordable OMS care. However, there exists a dearth of literature thoroughly detailing the scope of academic global OMS collaborations between high-income countries (HICs) and low- and/or lower middle-income countries (LICs/LMICs). This scoping review was performed to characterize the landscape of global academic OMS collaborations between HICs and LICs/LMICs. A five-stage methodological framework was used. Academic global OMS collaborations from 1996 to 2020 were identified via an electronic database and grey literature review. A total 1318 articles were identified on December 17, 2020. Following the application of inclusion and exclusion criteria, 71 articles describing 81 unique global OMS academic collaborations were included in the final analysis. The most common HIC was the United States (44.4%); the majority of LIC/LMICs were within Africa (45.8%). Of the total interventions, 89.6% improved LIC/LMIC capacity development, and surgical (43.8%) interventions were the most common. By serving as a central report on current and past academic collaborations in global OMS, this review helps identify areas in need of surgical capacity building, lays the foundation for future research efforts on the topic, and serves as a resource for individuals aiming to become involved in global OMS.     

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.     

Glutamate infusion associated with reduced rises of p-Copeptin after coronary surgery: Substudy of GLUTAMICS II

Background

Glutamate plays a key role for post-ischaemic recovery of myocardial metabolism. According to post hoc analyses of the two GLUTAMICS trials, patients without diabetes benefit from glutamate with less myocardial dysfunction after coronary artery bypass surgery (CABG). Copeptin reflects activation of the Arginine Vasopressin system and is a reliable marker of heart failure but available studies in cardiac surgery are limited. We investigated whether glutamate infusion is associated with reduced postoperative rises of plasma Copeptin (p-Copeptin) after CABG.

Methods

A prespecified randomised double-blind substudy of GLUTAMICS II. Patients had left ventricular ejection fraction ≤0.30 or EuroSCORE II ≥3.0 and underwent CABG ± valve procedure. Intravenous infusion of 0.125 M L-glutamic acid or saline at 1.65 mL/kg/h was commenced 10–20 min before the release of the aortic cross-clamp and then continued for another 150 min P-Copeptin was measured preoperatively and postoperatively on day one (POD1) and day three. The primary endpoint was an increase in p-Copeptin from the preoperative level to POD1. Postoperative stroke ≤24 h and mortality ≤30 days were safety outcomes.

Results

We included 181 patients of whom 48% had diabetes. The incidence of postoperative mortality ≤30 days (0% vs. 2.1%; p = .50) and stroke ≤24 h (0% vs. 3.2%; p = .25) did not differ between the glutamate group and controls. P-Copeptin increased postoperatively with the highest values recorded on POD1 without significant inter-group differences. Among patients without diabetes, p-Copeptin did not differ preoperatively but postoperative rise from preoperative level to POD1 was significantly reduced in the glutamate group (73 ± 66 vs. 115 ± 102 pmol/L; p = .02). P-Copeptin was significantly lower in the Glutamate group on POD1 (p = .02) and POD 3 (p = .02).

Conclusions

Glutamate did not reduce rises of p-Copeptin significantly after moderate to high-risk CABG. However, glutamate was associated with reduced rises of p-Copeptin among patients without diabetes. These results agree with previous observations suggesting that glutamate mitigates myocardial dysfunction after CABG in patients without diabetes. Given the exploratory nature of these findings, they need to be confirmed in future studies.     

Machine learning in clinical diagnosis,prognostication, and management of acute traumatic spinal cord injury (SCI): A systematic review

BackgroundMachine learning has been applied to improve diagnosis and prognostication of acute traumatic spinal cord injury. We investigate potential for clinical integration of machine learning in this patient population to navigate variability in injury and recovery.Materials and methodsWe performed a systematic review using PRISMA guidelines through PubMed database to identify studies that use machine learning algorithms for clinical application toward improvements in diagnosis, management, and predictive modeling.ResultsOf the 132 records identified, a total of 13 articles met inclusion criteria and were included in final analysis. Of the 13 articles, 5 focused on diagnostic accuracy and 8 were related to prognostication or management of traumatic spinal cord injury. Across studies, 1983 patients with spinal cord injury were evaluated with most classifying as ASIA C or D. Retrospective designs were used in 10 of 13 studies and 3 were prospective. Studies focused on MRI evaluation and segmentation for diagnostic accuracy and prognostication, investigation of mean arterial pressure in acute care and intraoperative settings, prediction of ambulatory and functional ability, chronic complication prevention, and psychological quality of life assessments. Decision tree, random forests (RF), support vector machines (SVM), hierarchical cluster tree analysis (HCTA), artificial neural networks (ANN), convolutional neural networks (CNN) machine learning subtypes were used.ConclusionsMachine learning represents a platform technology with clinical application in traumatic spinal cord injury diagnosis, prognostication, management, rehabilitation, and risk prevention of chronic complications and mental illness. SVM models showed improved accuracy when compared to other ML subtypes surveyed. Inherent variability across patients with SCI offers unique opportunity for ML and personalized medicine to drive desired outcomes and assess risks in this patient population.     

早期左侧乳腺癌保乳术后大分割放疗同期瘤床加量的安全性及心脏亚结构剂量评估的重要性研究

背景与目的： 早期乳腺癌保乳术后辅助大分割放疗已被指南推荐,但大分割放疗同期瘤床加量是否可行目前尚无定论。本随机对照研究对大分割同期瘤床加量和常规分割同期瘤床加量两种放疗计划的心脏剂量学参数和心超指标等进行比较,以评估前者在心脏毒性方面的安全性。方法： 纳入复旦大学附属中山医院2017年3月—2018年3月收治的符合入组标准的早期乳腺癌保乳术后左侧乳腺癌患者40例,随机分为两组,20例制定大分割同期瘤床加量放疗计划（全乳放疗剂量4 005 cGy/15次,同期瘤床加量至4 500 cGy/15次）,20例制定常规分割同期瘤床加量放疗计划（全乳放疗剂量5 000 cGy/25次,同期瘤床加量至6 000 cGy/25次）,比较两组患者的心脏剂量学参数和心脏超声检查指标,剂量学参数包括全心脏、左心室、右心室、右室游离壁、室间隔和冠状动脉左前降支（left anterior descending,LAD）的平均剂量（D_mean）以及各结构受到5~35 Gy照射的相对体积分数（V_{5 Gy}~V_{35 Gy}）。心超随访指标包括主动脉根部直径、左房内径、左室舒张末内径、左室收缩末内径、室间隔厚度、左室后壁厚度、肺动脉收缩压、左室射血分数、E峰、A峰、E峰减速时间（E-peak deceleration time,DT）、E、A、E/A和S波峰值。此外,对两组放疗后乳房的美容效果也进行评估。结果： 大分割组和常规分割组全心脏的D_mean分别为（471.86±170.54）和（733.07±79.11）cGy（P<0.05）,全心脏的V_{20 Gy}为（3.63±1.74）%和（8.43±0.74）%（P <0.05）,V_{30 Gy}为（1.55±1.15）%和（4.48±1.01）%（P<0.05）,LAD的D_mean分别为（1 250.17±600.33）和（1 847.20±933.23）cGy（P>0.05）,左心室的D_mean分别（908.64±865.60）和（946.93±116.13）cGy（P>0.05）,右心室的D_mean分别为（590.37±197.99）和（905.73±180.82）cGy（P<0.05）,右室游离壁的D_mean分别为（939.40±284.23）和（1 597.30±446.31）cGy（P <0.05）,室间隔的D_mean分别为（637.49±248.19）和（988.60±159.77）cGy（P<0.05）。随访1年,大分割组与常规分割组相比,心超指标均在正常区间,差异均无统计学意义（P>0.05）。两组美容效果也无显著差异（P>0.05）。结论： 大分割同期瘤床加量放疗计划较常规分割计划可以显著降低全心脏和部分心脏亚结构的受照剂量,随访1年心超指标无异常,临床采用本研究所用的剂量分割方式是安全可行的。仅限制全心脏剂量无法有效保护LAD,建议勾画心脏亚结构并单独限制剂量以更好地保护心脏。     

The magnitude and progress of lean body mass,fat-free mass,and skeletal muscle mass loss following bariatric surgery: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Postbariatric loss of muscle tissue could negatively affect long-term health due to its role in various bodily processes, such as metabolism and functional capacity. This meta-analysis aimed to unravel time-dependent changes in the magnitude and progress of lean body mass (LBM), fat-free mass (FFM), and skeletal muscle mass (SMM) loss following bariatric surgery. A systematic literature search was conducted in Pubmed, Embase, and Web of Science. Fifty-nine studies assessed LBM (n = 37), FFM (n = 20), or SMM (n = 3) preoperatively and ≥1 time points postsurgery. Random-effects meta-analyses were performed to determine pooled loss per outcome parameter and follow-up time point. At 12-month postsurgery, pooled LBM loss was ?8.13 kg [95%CI ?9.01; ?7.26]. FFM loss and SMM loss were ?8.23 kg [95%CI ?10.74; ?5.73] and ?3.18 kg [95%CI ?5.64; ?0.71], respectively. About 55% of 12-month LBM loss occurred within 3-month postsurgery, followed by a more gradual decrease up to 12 months. Similar patterns were seen for FFM and SMM. In conclusion, >8 kg of LBM and FFM loss was observed within 1-year postsurgery. LBM, FFM, and SMM were predominantly lost within 3-month postsurgery, highlighting that interventions to mitigate such losses should be implemented perioperatively.