Improving Prenatal Diagnosis of Coarctation of the Aorta

Background

The purpose of the study was to evaluate the association between fetal echocardiographic measurements and the need for intervention (primary coarctation repair, staged coarctation repair, or catheter intervention) in prenatally diagnosed coarctation of the aorta.

Development of a Simulation-Based Mastery Learning Curriculum for Breaking Bad News

Introduction

Physician communication impacts patient outcomes. However, communication skills, especially around difficult conversations, remain suboptimal, and there is no clear way to determine the validity of entrustment decisions. The aims of this study were to 1) describe the development of a simulation-based mastery learning (SBML) curriculum for breaking bad news (BBN) conversation skills and 2) set a defensible minimum passing standard (MPS) to ensure uniform skill acquisition among learners.

Influence of Prior Psychiatric Disorders on the Treatment Course of Gynaecological Cancer – A Nationwide Cohort Study

Aims

To examine the influence of pre-existing psychiatric disorder on the choice of treatment in patients with gynaecological cancer.

Stress Testing Versus CT Angiography in Patients With Diabetes and Suspected Coronary Artery Disease

Background

The optimal noninvasive test (NIT) for patients with diabetes and stable symptoms of coronary artery disease (CAD) is unknown.

Maximizing Breast Cancer Therapy with Awareness of Potential Treatment-Related Blood Disorders

In this review we summarize the impact of the various modalities of breast cancer therapy coupled with intrinsic patient factors on incidence of subsequent treatment-induced myelodysplasia and acute myelogenous leukemia (t-MDS/AML). It is clear that risk is increased for patients treated with radiation and chemotherapy at younger ages. Radiation is associated with modest risk, whereas chemotherapy, particularly the combination of an alkylating agent and an anthracycline, carries higher risk and radiation and chemotherapy combined increase the risk markedly. Recently, treatment with granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), but not pegylated G-CSF, has been identified as a factor associated with increased t-MDS/AML risk. Two newly identified associations may link homologous DNA repair gene deficiency and poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitor treatment to increased t-MDS/AML risk. When predisposing factors, such as young age, are combined with an increasing number of potentially leukemogenic treatments that may not confer large risk singly, the risk of t-MDS/AML appears to increase. Patient and treatment factors combine to form a biological cascade that can trigger a myelodysplastic event. Patients with breast cancer are often exposed to many of these risk factors in the course of their treatment, and triple-negative patients, who are often younger and/or BRCA positive, are often exposed to all of them. It is important going forward to identify effective therapies without these adverse associated effects and choose existing therapies that minimize the risk of t-MDS/AML without sacrificing therapeutic gain.

Implications for Practice

Breast cancer is far more curable than in the past but requires multimodality treatment. Great care must be taken to use the least leukemogenic treatment programs that do not sacrifice efficacy. Elimination of radiation and anthracycline/alkylating agent regimens will be helpful where possible, particularly in younger patients and possibly those with homologous repair deficiency (HRD). Use of colony-stimulating factors should be limited to those who truly require them for safe chemotherapy administration. Further study of a possible leukemogenic association with HRD and the various forms of colony-stimulating factors is badly needed.

     

Ospemifene plus fractional CO2 laser: a powerful strategy to treat postmenopausal vulvar pain

Abstract

This study is a single-center, retrospective analysis of postmenopausal women presenting with dyspareunia and vulvar pain, aiming to evaluate relative effectiveness of vestibular CO₂ laser therapy as a treatment. Three monthly sessions of laser were performed to each patient and thereafter a three-months follow-up was stablished. A total number of 72 patients undergoing vestibular laser treatment were recruited from patient files in the period between 2016 and 2018. Among these, 39 women also received a concomitant treatment with ospemifene (60?mg/day) during the study period. There was a statistically significant reduction of all the symptoms in both groups up to the three month follow-up. Regarding dryness and dyspareunia, the relief tent to be more prominent in the ospemifene?+?laser group at all follow-ups and remained statistically significant at three-month follow-up. Specifically, vestibular dryness was significantly lower in the ospemifene?+?laser group compared with the laser treatment group (?87% vs???34%, respectively), and the vestibular health score started declining faster in the ospemifene?+?laser group. Although, additional research is needed to understand the mechanism of action, our data shows that a combination regimen of laser and ospemifene may improve clinical effectiveness for long-term treatment of symptoms associated with the under-recognized genitourinary syndrome of menopause.     

The technological imperative in tuberculosis care and prevention in Vietnam

ABSTRACT

A monocausal bacteriological understanding of infectious disease orients tuberculosis control efforts towards antimicrobial interventions. A bias towards technological solutions can leave multistranded public health and social interventions largely neglected. In the context of globalising biomedical approaches to infectious disease control, this ethnography-inspired review article reflects upon the implementation of rapid diagnostic technology in low- and middle-income countries. Fieldwork observations in Vietnam provided a stimulus for a critical review of the global rollout of tuberculosis diagnostic technology. To address local needs in tuberculosis control, health managers in resource-poor settings are readily cooperating with international donors to deploy novel diagnostic technologies throughout national tuberculosis programme facilities. Increasing investment in new diagnostic technologies is predicated on the supposition that these interventions will ameliorate disease outcomes. However, suboptimal treatment control persists even when accurate diagnostic technologies are available, suggesting that promotion of singular technological solutions can distract from addressing systemic change, without which disease susceptibility, propagation of infection, detection gaps, diagnostic delays, and treatment shortfalls persist.     

Are Medicare's Nursing Home Compare Ratings Accurate Predictors of 90-Day Complications,Readmission, and Bundle Cost for Patients Undergoing Primary Total Joint Arthroplasty?

Background

Nursing Home Compare (NHC) ratings, created and maintained by Medicare, are used by both hospitals and consumers to aid in the skilled nursing facility (SNF) selection process. To date, no studies have linked NHC ratings to actual episode-based outcomes. The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether NHC ratings are valid predictors of 90-day complications, readmission, and bundle costs for patients discharged to an SNF after primary total joint arthroplasty (TJA).

Clinical pharmacokinetics and pharmacogenetics of tamoxifen and endoxifen

Introduction: Tamoxifen dominates the anti-estrogenic therapy in the early and metastatic breast cancer setting. Tamoxifen has a complex metabolism, being mainly metabolized by CYP2D6 into its 30–100 times more potent metabolite, endoxifen. Recently, a phase I study in which endoxifen as an orally z-endoxifen hydrochloride has been successfully evaluated.

Areas covered: the principal pharmacogenetic and non-genetic differences in the pharmacology of tamoxifen and endoxifen are evaluated. To this end, references from PubMed, Embase or Web of Science, among others, were reviewed As non-genetic factors, important differences and similarities such age, or adherence to tamoxifen therapy are comprehensively illustrated. Additionally, since CYP2D6 genotypes are considered the main limitation of tamoxifen, many studies have investigated the association between the worsened clinical outcomes in patients with non-functional CYP2D6 genotypes. In this review, an overview of the research on this field is presented. Also, a summary describing the literature about individualizing tamoxifen therapy with endoxifen concentrations and its limitations is listed.

Expert opinion: z-endoxifen hydrochloride is only investigated in the metastatic setting, still more research is required before its place in therapeutics is known. Similarly, monitoring tamoxifen efficacy based on endoxifen concentrations might not be overall recommended due to the limited evidence available.