Severe Neutropenia at the Time of Implantable Subcutaneous Chest Port Insertion Is Not a Risk Factor for Port Removal at a Tertiary Pediatric Center

Purpose

To determine if severe neutropenia at the time of chest port insertion is a risk factor for port removal and central catheter–associated bloodstream infection (CCABSI) in pediatric patients.

CT Radiation Dose Optimization and Tracking Program at a Large Quaternary-Care Health Care System

PurposeThe authors report the implementation and outcomes of a CT radiation dose optimization and tracking program at a large quaternary-care health care system.MethodsA committee reviewed, optimized, and released standardized imaging protocols for the most common CT examinations across the health system. Volume CT dose index and dose-length product (DLP) diagnostic reference levels (DRLs) were established, with the goal of decreasing the percentage of outliers (CT scans with DLPs greater than the established DRLs) to <5% of tracked CT examinations. Baseline radiation dose data were manually extracted for 5% of total examinations. A semiautomated process to analyze all DLP data was then implemented to monitor outliers.ResultsThe baseline percentage of outliers was slightly higher than 10% for pediatric scans but nearly 26.5% for adult scans. Over the first year, after standardized protocols were distributed, the percentage of outliers decreased for pediatric brain (from 22% to 6%), adult brain (from 23% to 3%), and adult chest (from 22% to 11%) examinations. Over the next 2 years, after the dose-tracking program was implemented, the percentage of outliers decreased for adult (brain, from 3% to 1%; chest, from 11% to 1%; abdomen, from 24% to 1%) and pediatric (brain, from 6% to 2%; chest, from 11% to 0%; abdomen, from 7% to 1%) examinations.ConclusionsThe reported CT protocol optimization and dose-tracking program enabled a sustainable reduction in the proportion of CT examinations being performed above established DRLs from as high as 26% to <1% over a period of 2 years.     

Reducing Wait Time for Lung Cancer Diagnosis and Treatment: Impact of a Multidisciplinary,Centralized Referral Program

Background

A multidisciplinary, centralized referral program was established at our institution in 2014 to reduce delays in lung cancer diagnosis and treatment following diagnostic imaging observed with the traditional, primary care provider–led referral process. The main objectives of this retrospective cohort study were to determine if referral to a Thoracic Triage Panel (TTP): 1) expedites lung cancer diagnosis and treatment initiation; and 2) leads to more appropriate specialist consultation.

Ultrasound-Guided Radiological Placement of Central Venous Port via the Subclavian Vein: A Retrospective Analysis of 500 Cases at a Single Institute

The purpose of this study was to assess the technical success rate and adverse events (AEs) associated with ultrasound (US)-guided radiological placement (RP) of a central venous port (CVP) via the subclavian vein (SCV). Between April 2006 and May 2007, a total of 500 US-guided RPs of a CVP via the SCV were scheduled in 486 cancer patients (mean age ± SD, 54.1 ± 18.1 years) at our institute. Referring to the interventional radiology report database and patients’ records, technical success rate and AEs relevant to CVP placement were evaluated retrospectively. The technical success rate was 98.6% (493/500). AEs occurred in 26 cases (5.2%) during follow-up (range, 1–1080 days; mean ± SD, 304.0 ± 292.1 days). AEs within 24 h postprocedure occurred in five patients: pneumothorax (n = 2), arterial puncture (n = 1), hematoma formation at the pocket site (n = 2), and catheter tip migration into the internal mammary vein (n = 1). There were seven early AEs: hematoma formation at the pocket site (n = 2), fibrin sheath formation around the indwelling catheter (n = 2), and catheter-related infections (n = 3). There were 13 delayed AEs: catheter-related infections (n = 7), catheter detachments (n = 3), catheter occlusion (n = 1), symptomatic thrombus in the SCV (n = 1), and catheter migration (n = 1). No major AEs, such as procedure-related death, air embolism, or events requiring surgical intervention, were observed. In conclusion, US-guided RP of a CVP via the SCV is highly appropriate, based on its high technical success rate and the limited number of AEs.     

Ultrasound and Fluoroscopy-Guided Placement of Central Venous Ports via Internal Jugular Vein: Retrospective Analysis of 1254 Port Implantations at a Single Center

Objective

To assess the technical success and complication rates of the radiologic placement of central venous ports via the internal jugular vein.

Materials and Methods

We retrospectively reviewed 1254 central venous ports implanted at our institution between August 2002 and October 2009. All procedures were guided by using ultrasound and fluoroscopy. Catheter maintenance days, technical success rates, peri-procedural, as well as early and late complication rates were evaluated based on the interventional radiologic reports and patient medical records.

Results

A total of 433386 catheter maintenance days (mean, 350 days; range 0-1165 days) were recorded. The technical success rate was 99.9% and a total of 61 complications occurred (5%), resulting in a post-procedural complication rate of 0.129 of 1000 catheter days. Among them, peri-procedural complications within 24 hours occurred in five patients (0.4%). There were 56 post-procedural complications including 24 (1.9%, 0.055 of 1000 catheter days) early and 32 (2.6%, 0.074 of 1000 catheter days) late complications including, infection (0.6%, 0.018 of 10000 catheter days), thrombotic malfunction (1.4%, 0.040 of 1000 catheter days), nonthrombotic malfunction (0.9%, 0.025 of 1000 catheter days), venous thrombosis (0.5%, 0.014 of 1000 catheter days), as well as wound problems (1.1%, 0.032 of 1000 catheter days). Thirty six CVPs (3%) were removed due to complications. Bloodstream infections and venous thrombosis were the two main adverse events prolonging hospitalization (mean 13 days and 5 days, respectively).

Conclusion

Radiologic placement of a central venous port via the internal jugular vein is safe and efficient as evidenced by its high technical success rate and a very low complication rate.     

Shifting Spine Interventional Pain Injections From the Hospital to a Clinic Setting: Increased Efficiency and Decreased Health System Costs

ObjectiveSpine interventional pain injections have dramatically increased in volume in the past three decades. High referral volumes at our institution necessitated using both a hospital-based interventional suite and a clinic-based suite scheduled on a first-come, first-served basis. We sought to determine whether the clinic-based suite provided benefits in efficiency and health system cost in comparison with the hospital suite without compromising quality of care.MethodsTo investigate differences between outpatient procedures performed in hospital-based procedure rooms (HBPRs) and clinic-based procedure rooms (CBPRs), we reviewed all consecutive outpatient spine interventional pain procedures performed by the interventional neuroradiology service over a 12-month period. We analyzed procedure complexity, fluoroscopic times, procedural times, patient wait times, and health system costs for each case, as well as any complications.ResultsOur analysis demonstrated similar procedural complexity between sites with decreased average fluoroscopic time (112 seconds versus 163 seconds, P = .002), procedural time (17 min versus 28 min, P < .001), and wait time (20 min versus 38 min, P < .001) in the CBPR versus the HBPR. In cases without trainee involvement, procedural and wait times were decreased (P < .001, P = .008) with no difference in fluoroscopy time (P = .18). There were no complications at either site. The analysis of cost to the health system demonstrated that procedures in the HBPR cost >14 times the amount to perform than in the CBPR.DiscussionPerforming spine interventional pain procedures in a CBPR adds value by decreasing procedural, fluoroscopic, wait times, and health system cost compared with an HBPR without compromising safety.     

正常人在静态和运动状态下"死腔/潮气"估测值和实测值的比较

目的研究正常人静态及运动状态下死腔/潮气(VD/VT)估测值和实测值的关系.方法23名受试者行心肺运动试验,同步实时测定摄氧量和二氧化碳排出量,分别在运动前及运动高峰时抽取动脉血,根据Bohr的公式,得出VD/VT实测值,同时再用呼气末CO2分压(PetCO2)代替PaCO2,计算VD/VT,得出VD/VT估测值.结果根据病史、体检、肺功能和运动前后的心电图判断23名受试者均为正常受试者.静态时的VD/VT估测值和VD/VT实测值分别为0.359±0.109和0.354±O.106,两者无显著性差异(P=0.710),相关分析显示两者高度相关(r=0.911,P＜0.001).运动高峰时的VD/VT估测值和VD/VT实测值分别为0.234±0.070和0.248±0.094,两者无显著性差异(P=0.748),相关分析表明两者显著相关(r=0.783,P＜0.001).与静态时比较,运动时估测和实测VD/VT均明显下降.结论对于正常成人,无论是在静态或最大运动状态下,可用无创方法计算VD/VT代替VD/VT实测值.     

Development and Implementation of Integrated Radiologist-Speech Pathologist Report for Modified Barium Swallow Study: Experience at a Multi-hospital Single Health Care System

Dysphagia, or a disorder of swallowing, is very common and is reported in 1 out of 25 adults with approximately 1 million new cases per year in the United States alone. This also disproportionately impacts elderly patients, with a prevalence of 17%. Patients with dysphagia may have severe clinical complications such as starvation, dehydration, and airway obstruction- which may further increase mortality. Hence, timely and accurate diagnosis of dysphagia is hence crucial in management considerations. The gold standard for evaluating and diagnosing dysphagia is a modified barium swallow study (MBSS). The study is typically performed as a collaborative effort between a speech language pathologist (SLP) and a radiologist, who bring their individual skill sets to the table. Current MBSS reporting involves separately dictated and interpreted reports from the SLP and radiologist. In this paper, we elucidate our experience in a multi-institutional healthcare system wherein we have devised a single, integrated report for MBSS, which involves collaborative effort between SLP and the radiologist. We weight the advantages and disadvantages of unified reporting, the challenges of implementing it in a large healthcare system, and note how it can help improve efficiency and deliver unified patient care. We hope that this would be a template for other institutions as well as improve standardization of reporting techniques.     

A Spinal Cord Astrocytoma and Its Concurrent Osteoblastic Metastases at the Time of the Initial Diagnosis: a Case Report and Literature Review

Bone metastasis from a spinal cord astrocytoma has been reported only twice in the English medical literature. It is generally known that bone metastasis is found after the initial diagnosis with/without intervening surgery rather than being found at the time of the diagnosis of astrocytoma. The purpose of this article is to report for the first time a case of concurrent bone metastasis from a spinal cord astrocytoma at the time of diagnosing the spinal cord astrocytoma.     

Frequency of Discordance between Facet Joint Activity on Technetium Tc99m Methylene Diphosphonate SPECT/CT and Selection for Percutaneous Treatment at a Large Multispecialty Institution

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE:The clinical impact of facet joint bone scan activity is not fully understood. The hypothesis of this study is that facet joints targeted for percutaneous treatment in clinical practice differ from those with reported activity on technetium Tc99m methylene diphosphonate SPECT/CT.MATERIALS AND METHODS:All patients with a technetium Tc99m methylene diphosphonate SPECT/CT scan of the lumbar or cervical spine who underwent subsequent percutaneous facet joint steroid injection or comparative medial branch blocks at our institution between January 1, 2008, and February 19, 2013, were identified. Facet joints with increased activity were compared with those treated. A chart review characterized the clinical reasons for treatment discrepancies.RESULTS:Of 74 patients meeting inclusion criteria, 52 (70%) had discrepant imaging findings and treatment selection of at least 1 facet joint, whereas 34 patients (46%) had a side (right vs left) discrepancy. Only 92 (70%) of 132 facet joints with increased activity were treated, whereas 103 (53%) of 195 of treated facet joints did not have increased activity. The most commonly documented clinical rationale for discrepancy was facet joint activity that was not thought to correlate with clinical findings, cited in 18 (35%) of 52 patients.CONCLUSIONS:Facet joints undergoing targeted percutaneous treatment were frequently discordant with those demonstrating increased technetium Tc99m methylene diphosphonate activity identified by SPECT/CT at our institution, in many cases because the active facet joint(s) did not correlate with clinical findings. Further prospective double-blinded investigations of the clinical significance of facet joint activity by use of technetium Tc99m methylene diphosphonate SPECT/CT and comparative medial branch blocks are needed.

Clinical examination and anatomic imaging do not reliably identify specific painful facet joints.^1–3 Prior studies suggest that technetium Tc99m methylene diphosphonate (^99mTc MDP) bone scan activity can predict if a facet joint is painful and if there will be a positive response to percutaneous intervention targeted specifically to active facet joints.^4–6 These prior studies used strict treatment of every facet joint with increased radiotracer activity on bone scan,^4–6 concluding that ^99mTc MDP SPECT can decrease the number of treated facet joints.⁴ However, those results can only be applicable if this is used in clinical practice and is feasible. Moreover, these studies did not incorporate CT scan for facet joint localization, use comparative medial branch blocks for diagnosis, include clearly blinded patients and proceduralists, or examine the impact of ^99mTc MDP bone scan results in actual clinical practice. Such shortcomings limit the conclusions of these prior reports and indicate the need for further examination of the clinical usefulness of ^99mTc MDP facet joint activity. In addition, evaluation of the impact of imaging in actual practice is important because the efficacy demonstrated in clinical studies often does not translate into true clinical effectiveness when the ideal rigorous methods of the efficacy study are no longer applied.⁷ That is, the effect of real-life variables such as clinical findings suggesting facet joint pain on a specific side or level and the variability of physician experience and philosophy should be evaluated to confirm or refute the impact of controlled studies on actual clinical practice and to identify areas in need of future investigation.In our anecdotal experience, the specific facet joints referred for percutaneous facet joint intervention are sometimes widely discordant from those with reported activity on ^99mTc MDP SPECT/CT. Specifically, we have seen some patients with suspected facetogenic pain where the ^99mTc MDP SPECT/CT scan does not seem to demonstrate concordant facet joint activity in the location or even on the side of pain. We have also observed that many facet joints with bone scan activity do not seem to correlate with a clinical facet joint pain syndrome. However, the concordance of facet joint bone scan activity and targeted facet joint treatment in actual clinical practice is not well described. Furthermore, the clinical rationale for imaging-procedural discrepancy is not known.The hypothesis of this study is that facet joints that are targeted for percutaneous treatment in clinical practice differ from those with reported activity on ^99mTc MDP SPECT/CT scans.     

A comparison of the military entrance processing station screening audiogram with the Defense Occupational and Environmental Health Readiness System reference audiogram at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, in 2000

BACKGROUND: The Department of Defense Hearing Conservation Program requires that a reference audiogram be performed at initial entry training (IET), before noise exposure. In the Army, only Fort Sill, home of the field artillery, and Fort Benning, home of the infantry, are in compliance. All military applicants receive a screening audiogram at a military entrance processing station (MEPS) to qualify for service. This audiogram does not meet the Defense Occupational and Environmental Health Readiness System-Hearing Conservation (DOEHRS-HC) standard. Nevertheless, it has been proposed that the MEPS screen be used as the reference because of limited resources and time during IET medical in-processing. METHODS: A total of 11,816 individual reference audiograms performed at Fort Sill 95th Adjutant General Recruit Reception Center in 2000 were identified in the DOEHRS-HC database. Results of the MEPS screening audiograms were found for 11,311 (96%) of these individuals. The two audiograms were compared by frequency and ear and by using the two Department of Defense criteria for threshold shift. RESULTS: A total of 14.49% (95% confidence interval, 14.48-14.50%) of audiograms using the three-frequency average difference and 23.19% (95% confidence interval, 23.18-23.20%) using the four-frequency difference in either ear demonstrated a threshold shift. The mean difference in intensity between the two audiograms ranged from 5 to 12 dB and varied by frequency and ear, with the greatest differences being seen at 500 and 6,000 kHz and in the left ear, compared with the right ear. The mean threshold level was higher for each frequency in the DOEHRS-HC audiogram, compared with the MEPS audiogram. CONCLUSIONS: Approximately 15% of soldiers at Fort Sill in 2000 showed a clinically significant threshold difference between their MEPS screening and the DOEHRS-HC baseline audiogram. Methodological variations in testing and interval noise-induced hearing loss could account for these differences. The results do not support the use of the MEPS screening audiogram as the reference audiogram. Compliance with the Hearing Conservation Program in the Army would require either improving MEPS testing to DOEHRS-HC standards or performing baseline audiograms at all five IET sites.     

The UK, health and peace-building: the mysterious disappearance of Health as a Bridge for Peace

The problem of how to build peace in post-conflict societies continues to loom large for governments and development agencies worldwide. This article examines the involvement of the UK development community in the creation of the World Health Organization's 'Health as a Bridge for Peace' (HBP) programme. It argues that the new development policy context brought in by the United Kingdom Labour administration in 1997 appeared to provide fertile ground for health-sector initiatives such as these to become an important part of the UK's peace-building strategy, but that HBP in fact failed to take root. The role of individuals, the changing departmental focus of the Department for International Development (DFID), its relationship with WHO, and the absence of persuasive evidence for the efficacy of HBP are highlighted as being crucial in explaining the policy's mysterious disappearance.     

Relative risks for squamous intraepithelial lesions detected by the Papanicolaou test among Air Force and Army beneficiaries of the Military Health Care System

Squamous cell carcinoma of the uterine cervix typically has a curable precancerous phase of 5 to 10 years, during which the Papanicolaou (Pap) test can often detect characteristic cytologic features. The records of 126,024 Pap tests from January 1994 through June 1999 were reviewed. The distribution of cervical dysplasia was unequally distributed between age and military relationship groups, with younger women and active duty women being at increased relative risk for squamous intraepithelial lesions.     

Volume MRI and MRSI techniques for the quantitation of treatment response in brain tumors: Presentation of a detailed case study

Patients with primary brain tumors may be considered for several different treatments during the course of their disease. Assessments of disease progression and response to therapy are typically performed by visual interpretation of serial MRI examinations. Although such examinations provide useful morphologic information, they are unable to reliably distinguish active tumor from radiation necrosis. This poses a particular problem in the assessment of response to localized radiation therapies such as gamma knife radiosurgery. In this paper, we present methodology for evaluating changes in tissue morphology and metabolism based on serial volumetric MRI and magnetic resonance spectroscopic imaging (MRSI) examinations. Registration and quantitative analysis of these data provide measurements of the temporal and spatial distributions of gadolinium enhancement and of N-acetylasparate, choline, creatine, and lactate/lipid. The key features of this approach and the potential clinical benefits are illustrated by a detailed analysis of six serial MRI/MRSI examinations and three serial 1-[F-18] fluoro-2-deoxy-D-glucose (FDG) positron emission tomography (PET) studies on a patient with a recurrent anaplastic astrocytoma.