Journal of the American College of Surgeons
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Observational Study
Coronary Artery Calcification and Risk of Cardiac Complication in Geriatric Trauma Population.
Better means of identifying patients with increased cardiac complication (CC) risk is needed. Coronary artery calcification (CAC) is reported on routine chest CT scans. We assessed the correlation of CAC and CCs in the geriatric trauma population. ⋯ CAC as reported on chest CT scans demonstrates a significant correlation with CC and should warrant additional cardiac monitoring.
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Noninvasive, precision monitoring of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) treatment efficacy would greatly facilitate personalized therapy and improve patient outcomes. We hypothesize that quantifying methylated circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) can be used to effectively monitor HCC burden without the need for biopsy. ⋯ These findings indicate that ctDNA methylation scores can effectively evaluate changes in tumor burden without the need for tumor biopsy.
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Variability in operating room supply cost is a modifiable cause of suboptimal resource use and low value of care (outcomes vs cost). This study describes implementation of a quality improvement intervention to decrease operating room supply costs. ⋯ An automated, sustainable quality improvement intervention was associated with decreased operating room supply costs and increased value of care.
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In-house calls contribute to loss of sleep and surgeon burnout. Although acknowledged to have an opportunity cost, home call is often considered less onerous, with minimal effects on sleep and burnout. We hypothesized home call would result in impaired sleep and increased burnout in acute care surgeons. ⋯ Home call is deleterious to sleep and burnout. Even home call without calls or returns to the hospital is associated with burnout. Internal assessments locally should incorporate frequency of calls and returns to the hospital when creating call schedules. Repeated nights of home call can result in cumulative sleep debt, with adverse effects on health and well-being.
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We hypothesized that iterative revisions of our original 2016 risk-stratified pancreatectomy clinical pathways would be associated with decreased 90-day perioperative costs. ⋯ Three iterative risk-stratified pancreatectomy clinical pathway refinements were associated with a 32% global period cost savings, driven by reduced index hospitalization costs. This successful learning health system model could be externally validated at other institutions performing abdominal cancer surgery.