The clinical outcomes of imaging modalities for surgical management Cushing's disease - A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Introduction: Cushing's disease presents major diagnostic and management challenges. Although numerous preoperative and intraoperative imaging modalities have been deployed, it is unclear whether these investigations have improved surgical outcomes. Our objective was to investigate whether advances in imaging improved outcomes for Cushing's disease. Methods: Searches of PubMed and EMBASE were conducted. Studies reporting on imaging modalities and clinical outcomes after surgical management of Cushing's disease were included. Multilevel multivariable meta-regressions identified predictors of outcomes, adjusting for confounders and heterogeneity prior to investigating the effects of imaging. Results: 166 non-controlled single-arm studies were included, comprising 13181 patients over 44 years.The overall remission rate was 77.0% [CI: 74.9%-79.0%]. Cavernous sinus invasion (OR: 0.21 [CI: 0.07-0.66]; p=0.010), radiologically undetectable lesions (OR: 0.50 [CI: 0.37-0.69]; p<0.0001), previous surgery (OR=0.48 [CI: 0.28-0.81]; p=0.008), and lesions ≥10mm (OR: 0.63 [CI: 0.35-1.14]; p=0.12) were associated with lower remission. Less stringent thresholds for remission was associated with higher reported remission (OR: 1.37 [CI: 1.1-1.72]; p=0.007). After adjusting for this heterogeneity, no imaging modality showed significant differences in remission compared to standard preoperative MRI.The overall recurrence rate was 14.5% [CI: 12.1%-17.1%]. Lesion ≥10mm was associated with greater recurrence (OR: 1.83 [CI: 1.13-2.96]; p=0.015), as was greater duration of follow-up (OR: 1.53 (CI: 1.17-2.01); p=0.002). No imaging modality was associated with significant differences in recurrence.Despite significant improvements in detection rates over four decades, there were no significant changes in the reported remission or recurrence rates. Conclusion: A lack of controlled comparative studies makes it difficult to draw definitive conclusions. Within this limitation, the results suggest that despite improvements in radiological detection rates of Cushing's disease over the last four decades, there were no changes in clinical outcomes. Advances in imaging alone may be insufficient to improve surgical outcomes. Systematic Review Registration: https://www.crd.york.ac.uk/PROSPERO/, identifier CRD42020187751.

Characterization of patients with idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus using natural language processing within an electronic healthcare record system.

OBJECTIVE: Idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) is an underdiagnosed, progressive, and disabling condition. Early treatment is associated with better outcomes and improved quality of life. In this paper, the authors aimed to identify features associated with patients with iNPH using natural language processing (NLP) to characterize this cohort, with the intention to later target the development of artificial intelligence-driven tools for early detection. METHODS: The electronic health records of patients with shunt-responsive iNPH were retrospectively reviewed using an NLP algorithm. Participants were selected from a prospectively maintained single-center database of patients undergoing CSF diversion for probable iNPH (March 2008-July 2020). Analysis was conducted on preoperative health records including clinic letters, referrals, and radiology reports accessed through CogStack. Clinical features were extracted from these records as SNOMED CT (Systematized Nomenclature of Medicine Clinical Terms) concepts using a named entity recognition machine learning model. In the first phase, a base model was generated using unsupervised training on 1 million electronic health records and supervised training with 500 double-annotated documents. The model was fine-tuned to improve accuracy using 300 records from patients with iNPH double annotated by two blinded assessors. Thematic analysis of the concepts identified by the machine learning algorithm was performed, and the frequency and timing of terms were analyzed to describe this patient group. RESULTS: In total, 293 eligible patients responsive to CSF diversion were identified. The median age at CSF diversion was 75 years, with a male predominance (69% male). The algorithm performed with a high degree of precision and recall (F1 score 0.92). Thematic analysis revealed the most frequently documented symptoms related to mobility, cognitive impairment, and falls or balance. The most frequent comorbidities were related to cardiovascular and hematological problems. CONCLUSIONS: This model demonstrates accurate, automated recognition of iNPH features from medical records. Opportunities for translation include detecting patients with undiagnosed iNPH from primary care records, with the aim to ultimately improve outcomes for these patients through artificial intelligence-driven early detection of iNPH and prompt treatment.

Gathering Global Perspectives to Establish the Research Priorities and Minimum Data Sets for Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy: Sampling Strategy of the First Round Consensus Surveys of AO Spine RECODE-DCM.

STUDY DESIGN: Survey. INTRODUCTION: AO Spine Research Objectives and Common Data Elements for Degenerative Cervical Myelopathy (AO Spine RECODE-DCM) is an international initiative that aims to accelerate knowledge discovery and improve outcomes by developing a consensus framework for research. This includes defining the top research priorities, an index term and a minimum data set (core outcome set and core data elements set - core outcome set (COS)/core data elements (CDE)). OBJECTIVE: To describe how perspectives were gathered and report the detailed sampling characteristics. METHODS: A two-stage, electronic survey was used to gather and seek initial consensus. Perspectives were sought from spinal surgeons, other healthcare professionals and people with degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM). Participants were allocated to one of two parallel streams: (1) priority setting or (2) minimum dataset. An email campaign was developed to advertise the survey to relevant global stakeholder individuals and organisations. People with DCM were recruited using the international DCM charity Myelopathy.org and its social media channels. A network of global partners was recruited to act as project ambassadors. Data from Google Analytics, MailChimp and Calibrum helped optimise survey dissemination. RESULTS: Survey engagement was high amongst the three stakeholder groups: 208 people with DCM, 389 spinal surgeons and 157 other healthcare professionals. Individuals from 76 different countries participated; the United States, United Kingdom and Canada were the most common countries of participants. CONCLUSION: AO Spine RECODE-DCM recruited a diverse and sufficient number of participants for an international PSP and COS/CDE process. Whilst PSP and COS/CDE have been undertaken in other fields, to our knowledge, this is the first time they have been combined in one process.