Journal of the American College of Surgeons
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Current guidelines recommend excisional/complete biopsy for melanoma diagnosis, owing to high rates of residual disease found at wide local excision (WLE) after partial biopsy techniques. We sought to determine any survival disadvantage associated with the presence of residual invasive melanoma in the WLE after diagnosis with a partial biopsy technique. ⋯ Survival in patients with primary melanoma does not appear to be worse in patients who undergo a partial biopsy technique and are later found to have residual invasive tumor in the WLE specimen.
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Diaphragmatic hernia repair is a common operation performed at all types of hospitals. The variation in costs and repeat episodes of care after this operation is not known. ⋯ There is nearly a 2-fold variation in the cost of a diaphragmatic hernia repair across hospitals. Most of the variation occurs during the index surgical encounter and not for repeat encounters during the first postoperative year. As bundled payment models mature, hospitals and payers will need to target this variation to ensure cost-efficiency.
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Understanding drivers of persistent surgical disparities remains an important area of cancer care delivery and policy. The degree to which clinician linkages contribute to disparities in access to quality colorectal cancer surgery is unknown. Using hospital surgical volume as a proxy for quality, the study team evaluated how clinician linkages impact access to colorectal cancer surgery at high-volume hospitals (HVHs). ⋯ Patients of clinicians with linkages to HVHs are more likely to have their colorectal cancer operations at these hospitals. These findings suggest that policy interventions targeting clinician relationships are an important step in providing equitable surgical care.
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Among the goals of prospectively implemented post-hepatectomy care pathways was a focus on patient-centric opioid reduction. We sought to evaluate the impact of pathway implementation on opioid volumes in the last 24-hour period and discharge prescriptions. ⋯ Implementation of post-hepatectomy care pathways was associated with a 50% reduction in last 24-hour OME, which, combined with a standardized discharge calculation, was associated with an overall 75% reduction in discharge opioid volumes and tripled opioid-free discharges. These data suggest that no-cost, reproducible pathways can be considered in abdominal operations with similar incisions/length of stay to decrease variation in opioid dosing while prioritizing patient-centric opioid needs.
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Current studies evaluating outcomes for open, laparoscopic, and robotic inguinal hernia repair, in general, include small numbers of robotic cases and are not powered to allow a direct comparison of the 3 approaches to repair. ⋯ In patients undergoing initial elective inguinal hernia repair, rates of hernia recurrence are low independent of surgical approach. Both robotic and laparoscopic approaches demonstrate rates of early postoperative morbidity and recurrence similar to those for the open approach. The robotic approach is associated with longer operative time than either laparoscopic or open repair.