L’évaluation des pratiques professionnelles dans les pays francophones : l’expérience belge

Evaluation of professional practice in medicine falls in the framework of a wider evaluation of the quality of care and the return on the financial and human resources used by the Social Security. In Belgium, this action began in 1993. It involves accreditation of physicians, and this is now based on three principal criteria: medical practice criteria (especially the minimal threshold of patients contacts), continuing medical education (learning activities with accumulation of a minimum number of credit points), and an evaluation of medical practice (participation in meetings with a local medical evaluation group). This accreditation is not obligatory, but it is encouraged by non-negligible financial incentives for accredited physicians (increased consultation fees, and an annual contractual indemnity). On the other hand, the physicians who are responsible for the organization of the accreditation decisions carry out their responsibility without being paid, which together with the administrative workload makes the system rather slow.     

Évaluations clinique et économique de la bivalirudine au cours des procédures d’angioplasties coronaires

Bivalirudin, with provisional GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor use allows the same protection against ischemic complications while reducing the hemorrhagic complications compared with the systematic association of a GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor plus heparin (The Randomized Evaluation in PCI Linking Angiomax to Reduced Clinical Events-2 [Replace-2]). In clinical practice, the use of heparin is not systematically associated with a GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor. That's why we studied the clinical and economic interest of bivalirudin only versus heparin (UFH) only. Opened pragmatic monocentric study carried out in 2007. We made a chronological matching: for each patient treated with bivalirudin, we included the next patient with the same clinical presentation treated with unfractionated heparin. Ninety-two patients were included (46 in each group). The need for a GP IIb/IIIa inhibitor during the PCI was not significantly different between the two groups (p = 0.11). No major hemorrhagic complications were observed in the two groups. Prevalence of ecchymosis was not significantly different: 22 % in the UFH group versus 13 % in the bivalirudin group (p = 0.27). The average troponin level the next day was significantly higher in the bivalirudin group (p = 0,049), although the change in troponin levels before and after the procedure was similar in the two groups. The average cost by patient of anticoagulation by bivalirudin and HNF is very different, respectively 473 ± 150 and 51 ± 146 € (p = 0.0001). Bivalirudin can be an interesting alternative for patients with a high risk of having complications. But considering its cost this therapy must be used only for selected patients.     

Validation de la reproductibilité de la mesure de la surface de l’orifice régurgitant par planimétrie dans l’insuffisance aortique : une étude préliminaire d’échocardiographie trans-œsophagienne tridimensionnelle

Background

Aortic regurgitation is mainly evaluated by trans-thoracic echocardiography using multi-parametric qualitative and semi quantitative tools. All those parameters can fail to meet expectations, resulting in an imperfect diagnostic reliability and assessment of aortic regurgitation severity can be challenging.

Objectives

We sought to evaluate feasibility and intra- and inter-observer reproducibility of aortic regurgitant orifice area measured by planimetry with tridimensional trans-esophageal echocardiography on patients with at least grade 2/4 aortic regurgitation.

Patients and methods

Consecutive patients with at least grade 2/4 aortic regurgitation measured by trans-thoracic echocardiography and referred for trans-esophageal echocardiography for any reason were included. Planimetric reconstructions of regurgitant orifice area were studied and reproducibility indexes between senior and junior observers were calculated.

Results

Twenty-three patients were included in this study. Intra- and inter-observer reproducibility were excellent with an ICC of 0.95 [0.88–0.98], P < 0.0001 and 0.91 [0.79–0.96], P < 0.0001, respectively. Mean length of the measurement was 6.6 ± 0.9 min [CI95% 6.23–7.01].

Conclusion

Planimetric measurement of the aortic regurgitant orifice using tridimensional trans-esophageal echocardiography seems to be feasible and has great intra- and inter-observer reproducibility. Reconstruction durations were compatible with a daily use. There is a need now to investigate the reliability of this measurement as compared with the reference technique.