Articles: cations.
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Review
The Underestimated Significance of Conditioning in Placebo Hypoalgesia and Nocebo Hyperalgesia.
Placebo and nocebo effects are intriguing phenomena in pain perception with important implications for clinical research and practice because they can alleviate or increase pain. According to current theoretical accounts, these effects can be shaped by verbal suggestions, social observational learning, and classical conditioning and are necessarily mediated by explicit expectation. In this review, we focus on the contribution of conditioning in the induction of placebo hypoalgesia and nocebo hyperalgesia and present accumulating evidence that conditioning independent from explicit expectation can cause these effects. ⋯ Because only few studies have investigated clinical samples, the picture seems less clear when it comes to patient populations with chronic pain. However, conditioning appears to be a promising means to optimize treatment. In order to get a better insight into the mechanisms of placebo and nocebo effects in pain and the possible benefits of conditioning compared to explicit expectation, future studies should carefully distinguish both methods of induction.
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Review
Patient-derived organoid models help define personalized management of gastrointestinal cancer.
The prognosis of patients with different gastrointestinal cancers varies widely. Despite advances in treatment strategies, such as extensive resections and the addition of new drugs to chemotherapy regimens, conventional treatment strategies have failed to improve survival for many tumours. Although promising, the clinical application of molecularly guided personalized treatment has proven to be challenging. This narrative review focuses on the personalization of cancer therapy using patient-derived three-dimensional 'organoid' models. ⋯ High-throughput drug screening on organoids, combined with next-generation sequencing, proteomic analysis and other state-of-the-art molecular diagnostic methods, can shape cancer treatment to become more effective with fewer side-effects.
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Multicenter Study
Infectious Surgical Complications are Not Dichotomous: Characterizing Discordance Between Administrative Data and Registry Data.
To characterize reasons for discordance between administrative data and registry data in the determination of postoperative infectious complications. ⋯ With a goal of improving existing mechanisms for measuring surgical quality, definitions for the occurrence of a postoperative complication need to be developed and applied consistently. Progress toward this goal will enable patients and payers to better take advantage of recent advances in healthcare data transparency.
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The optimal extent of groin completion lymph node dissection (CLND) (inguinal or ilioinguinal dissection) in patients with melanoma is controversial. The aim of this study was to evaluate whether the extent of groin CLND after a positive sentinel node biopsy (SNB) is associated with improved outcome. ⋯ There was no significant difference in recurrence pattern and survival rates between patients undergoing inguinal or ilioinguinal dissection after a positive SNB, even after stratification for a positive CLND result. An inguinal dissection is a safe first approach as CLND in patients with a positive SNB.