Evaluation of patient reported outcome measures and costs of managing osteoarthritis of the hip.

The number of hospital admissions for a hip prosthesis increased by more than 91% between 2002 and 2019 in Belgium (1), making it one of the most common interventions in hospitals. The objective of this study is to evaluate patient-report- ed outcomes and hospital costs of hip replacement six months after surgery. Both generic (EQ-5D) and specific (HOOS) PROMs of general hospital patients undergoing hip replacement surgery in 2021 were conducted. The results of these PROMs were then combined with financial and health management data. The mean difference (SD) in QALYs between the preoperative and postoperative phases is 0.20 QALYs (0.32 QALYs). The average cost (SD) of all stays is €4,792 (€1,640). Amongst the five dimensions evaluated in the EQ-5D health questionnaire, the 'pain' dimension seems to be associated with the greatest improvement in quality of life. As regards Belgium, the 26,066 arthroplasties performed in 2020 might constitute a gain of 123,000 years of life in good health. The relationship between QALYs and costs described in this study posits a ratio of €23,960 per year of life gained in good health. Given that in Belgium more than 3% of the hospital healthcare budget is devoted to hip prostheses, it would seem relevant to us to apply PROM tools to the entire patient population to assess treatment effectiveness more broadly, identify patient needs and, also, monitor the quality of care provided.

The aftermath of the Covid-19 crisis in the field of intimacy: How to bounce back and rethink our values?

Human relationships and bonding reconfigure and reinvent themselves over time. For several decades, it has been interesting to note that both the digital dimension and the development of artificial intelligence have played a great evolutionary role in our relational society. There is an accessibility and intensification of social exchanges between internet users (published writings, photos, conversations, conferences… ). Although we access this interplanetary sharing of connection, despite everything the distancing and physical emotional social deprivation between several individuals belonging to a different household can bring significantly high suffering. Moreover, with the Covid-19 crisis, there has also been that fragility of our own personal doubt that will settle psychically in us: the uncertainty will be more intimate, more present and more distressing. If there is exposure to a potentially threatening stimulus as is the case with COVID-19, the exploration of positive or negative resources of survival and that of creativity (psychological capital) will emerge during this first increasedmajor confinement in order to bring non-negligible and bearable psychic responses to possible traumas and episodes of acute stress. However, the goal of this article is to propose a possible understanding of a resilience, thought and mobilized from a systemic approach: The relationship between the individual and his different systems of social, relational and existential belonging.

Ways of preventing surgeon burnout.

In surgical practice, numerous sources of stress (stressors) are unpredictable, two examples being daily workload and postoperative complications. They may help to explain surgeon burnout, of which the prevalence (34 to 53%) has been the subject of many studies. That said, even though assessments are legion, recommended solutions have been few and far between, especially insofar as by nature and training, surgeons are disinclined to interest themselves in burnout, which they are prone to consider as something experienced by "others". The objective of this attempt at clarification is to identify in the literature the strategies put forward in view of avoiding surgeon burnout, and to assess the impact of this phenomenon not only on the surgeon's professional and personal entourage, but also on patient safety. Prevention-based strategies, many of them focused on modifiable stressors, will be detailed.

Understanding stress factors for scrub nurses in the perioperative period: A cross-sectional survey.

PURPOSE OF THE STUDY: To assess the stress factors affecting operating theater nurses during the perioperative period. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The study was conducted as a cross-sectional survey by means of a specifically drawn-up questionnaire based on the data available in the literature. Stress was measured on a 0/100 visual analogue scale (VAS). RESULTS: Six hundred and twelve (612) persons responded. Stress associated with an operation amounted to 31.8; it was higher at the time of the procedure (49.6) and immediately beforehand (39.4), particularly among the least experienced nurses. The most widely represented stress factors were associated with the surgical team (perceived incompetence, lack of confidence), relational problems with regard to the surgeon, and team members' disruptive behavior. By contrast, familiarity with the team or the procedure seemed to shield the nurses from stress. Feelings of stress had a relatively frequent impact on quality of life (33%), family and personal life (26%), with chronic (recurrent or constant) stress symptoms reported among 20% of respondents. CONCLUSION: Among operating theater nurses, stress associated with an operation was particularly strong among the least experienced professionals, when the type of procedure or the other team members were unfamiliar, and in the event of disruptive behavior. Stress factor improvement should be a priority, the objective being to enhance professional and personal quality of life, while better ensuring patient safety.

Facing coagulation disorders after acute trauma.

Facing coagulation disorders after acute trauma. PROBLEMS/OBJECTIVES: Trauma is the leading cause of mortality for persons between one and 44 years of age, essentially due to bleeding complications. METHODOLOGY: We screened the PubMed, Scopus and Cochrane Library databases, using specific keywords. Only publications in English were considered. MAIN RESULTS: The pathophysiology of trauma-induced coagulopathy (TIC) is complex and includes the classic "lethal triad" (i.e., haemodilution, acidosis, hypothermia) but may also include activation of protein C, endothelial and platelet dysfunction, and fibrinogen depletion. The time between trauma and treatment of the resultant massive bleeding should be as short as possible using techniques for rapid control of bleeding and avoiding aggravating factors (hypothermia, metabolic acidosis and hypocalcaemia). If given within three hours of injury, tranexamic acid (TXA) reduces all causes of mortality in trauma patients and reduces transfusion requirements. In a bleeding patient, crystalloids are preferred to colloids and the ratio of fresh frozen plasma to packed red blood cells should be at least 1:2. Damage control surgery (DCS) should be considered for patients who present with, or are at risk for developing, the "lethal triad", multiple life-threatening injuries or shock, and in mass casualty situations. DCS can also aid in the evaluation of the extent of tissue injuries and the control of haemorrhage and infection. Finally, there is currently no evidence of the added value of laboratory assays in the management of TIC. CONCLUSIONS: TIC appears quickly after trauma and should be anticipated and detected as soon as possible. TXA plays a central role in the management of such patients. Each institution should establish a local algorithm for the management of bleeding patients.

Anesthesia for adult rigid bronchoscopy.

Rigid bronchoscopy under general anesthesia enables performing diagnostic and/or therapeutic procedures in the tracheobronchial tree. This technique is characterized by specific technical problems, insofar as the anesthesiologist and the operators share the same space, namely the airway. Several potential complications (hemorrhage inside the airway, threat to ventilation ...) may arise. These challenges render the ability to use the variable available techniques essential, as well as knowledge of the complications they could entail, and the ability to rapidly solve them. General anesthesia is usually total intravenous anesthesia, using short acting agents. Ventilation can be spontaneous, but more often insured using high-frequency jet ventilation. The hospital infrastructure and staff must have the expertise to perform this particular procedure, in order to limit the complication rate.

Rapid exclusion of the diagnosis of immune HIT by AcuStar HIT and heparin-induced multiple electrode aggregometry.

BACKGROUND: Accurate diagnosis of heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT) is essential but remains challenging. We have previously demonstrated, in a retrospective study, the usefulness of the combination of the 4Ts score, AcuStar HIT and heparin-induced multiple electrode aggregometry (HIMEA) with optimized thresholds. OBJECTIVES: We aimed at exploring prospectively the performances of our optimized diagnostic algorithm on suspected HIT patients. The secondary objective is to evaluate performances of AcuStar HIT-Ab (PF4-H) in comparison with the clinical outcome. METHODS: 116 inpatients with clinically suspected immune HIT were included. Our optimized diagnostic algorithm was applied to each patient. Sensitivity, specificity, negative predictive value (NPV), positive predictive value (PPV) of the overall diagnostic strategy as well as AcuStar HIT-Ab (at manufacturer's thresholds and at our thresholds) were calculated using clinical diagnosis as the reference. RESULTS: Among 116 patients, 2 patients had clinically-diagnosed HIT. These 2 patients were positive on AcuStar HIT-Ab, AcuStar HIT-IgG and HIMEA. Using our optimized algorithm, all patients were correctly diagnosed. AcuStar HIT-Ab at our cut-off (>9.41 U/mL) and at manufacturer's cut-off (>1.00 U/mL) showed both a sensitivity of 100.0% and a specificity of 99.1% and 90.4%, respectively. CONCLUSION: The combination of the 4Ts score, the HemosIL® AcuStar HIT and HIMEA with optimized thresholds may be useful for the rapid and accurate exclusion of the diagnosis of immune HIT.

Ageing influences the effect of pre-hypoxic administration of clonidine, an alpha2-adrenoceptor agonist, on post-hypoxic vasomotricity.

In a previous study, we showed that clonidine, an α2-adrenoceptor agonist, administered prior to hypoxia improves post-hypoxic contractility (PC) and endothelium-dependent dilatation (PED) in isolated young rat aortas. These effects were not investigated in old rats. Ageing influences vascular physiology and modifies the response to vasoactive drugs. Some drugs, such as simvastatin, improve endothelial function, a pivotal component of vascular homeostasis. This study intends to investigate the effect of pre-hypoxic clonidine administration on post-hypoxic vasomotricity in old rats with or without simvastatin. Isolated aortic rings from young and old rats were submitted to hypoxia/reoxygenation (20 min/40 min). For each aorta ring from one rat, clonidine (10⁻5 M) was administered in two randomised baths and washed out before hypoxia; two other baths constituted the control group. In some experiments, the old rats were treated with simvastatin (10 mg x kg⁻¹ x day⁻¹) 3 days prior to hypoxia. PED and PC were assessed in all baths. Clonidine enhances PED in young rats (p<0.001) but decreases it in old rats (p=0.038). In young rats, clonidine improves PC (p<0.001), but this effect is not present in old rats (p=0.339). Without endothelium, clonidine does not influence PC in young rats (p= 0.687) but decreases it in old rats (p<0.001). In the simvastatin group, clonidine improves PED (p<0.001) but does not influence PC (p=0.203). In young rats, clonidine increases PED and PC, while it decreases PED and does not influence PC in old rats. With simvastatin, clonidine improves PED but does not influence PC.

Early and late parameters describing the offset of neuromuscular blockade are highly intercorrelated.

BACKGROUND: Neuromuscular blocking agents have always shown wide inter-individual variability when it comes to their duration of action. This prevents clinicians from anticipating the evolution of the neuromuscular block for any given patient. With this study, we aimed to assess the nature of the relationships existing between different time course parameters used to describe paralysis onset and offset. METHODS: Sixty American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score III-IV anaesthetised patients were randomised to receive a single equipotent dose (2ED95) of either rocuronium, mivacurium or atracurium. We used acceleromyography to monitor neuromuscular transmission. We described the relationships between the time-interval measurements of: onset, the first response (T1) reappearance, T1 25% of control, train-of-four ratio 0.25 and 0.75. Pearson correlation coefficients were calculated. RESULTS: We found no significant relationships between onset and any of the four parameters used to describe the offset. On the other hand, we showed strong and highly significant linear relationships between all the parameters describing the offset for each of the muscle relaxants studied (correlation coefficients ranging from 0.850 to 0.992). CONCLUSIONS: We evidenced strong linear correlations between the four offset time course parameters of spontaneous recovery after a single neuromuscular blocking agents (NMBAs) bolus. Such relationships open up new clinical perspectives concerning quantitative neuromuscular transmission monitoring: the scope of individual valuable anticipation of the patient's recovery.

Anesthesia and cerebral apoptosis.

General anesthetics interact with targets at the cellular and molecular levels. They have the potential to induce changes in the body and the brain. Usually, these interactions are thought to be short lasting. In contrast, recent evidences suggest that alcohol, a toxic sharing many mechanisms with general anesthetics, induces long term effect at these levels. This is particularly evident in the period of synaptogenesis during which alcohol can induce excessive cerebral apoptosis (histopathologic changes) in juvenile animal models. Even if the vast majority of our patients seems to completely restore homeostasis after general anesthesia, we don't know if the changes induced at the brain level in animal models exist in human. This article intends to supply biological, pharmacological and experimental basis for a possible long term effect of general anesthetics on the human developing brain.

Installation of the hand influences acceleromyography measurement. A comparison with mechanomyography during neuromuscular recovery.

Acceleromyography is commonly used to monitor perioperative neuromuscular blockade and to prevent residual neuromuscular blockade at the time of tracheal extubation. However, there are problems associated with this method, such as obtaining stable values, particularly beneath the surgical fields. We compared TOF ratios obtained on both hands simultaneously using on one side mechanomyography and on the other acceleromyography, installed in four different ways: the hand simply lying on a board, fingers fixed with tape, use of the hand adaptor or the TOF-tube. Further to maintaining free thumb movement, the TOF-tube improves feasibility of acceleromyography by reducing the measurement variability while retaining accuracy.

CD3-T cell receptor modulation is selectively induced in CD8 but not CD4 lymphocytes cultured in agar.

The CD3-T cell receptor (TcR) complex is central to the immune response. Upon binding by specific ligands, internalized CD3-TcR molecules increase, and either T cell response or unresponsiveness may ensue depending on the triggering conditions. Using semi-solid agar culture, we have shown previously that quiescent CD4 but not CD8 lymphocytes generate clonal colonies under phytohaemagglutinin stimulation. Here we have demonstrated that the agar induces selective CD3-TcR modulation in the CD8 and not in the CD4 subset. CD8 lymphocytes preactivated in liquid culture and recultured in agar with exogenous recombinant interleukin-2 generate colonies with a modulated CD3-TcR surface expression. The peptides composing the CD3-TcR complex are synthesized in CD8 colonies as well as in CD4; however, the CD3 gamma chain is phosphorylated at a higher level in CD8 colonies. A component of the agar polymer, absent in agarose, appears to be the ligand that induces differential CD3-TcR modulation in the CD8 subset. In contrast to agar culture, CD8 colonies can be derived from quiescent CD8 lymphocytes in agarose. These CD8 colonies express unmodulated CD-TcR. CD3-TcR modulation with anti-CD3 monoclonal antibody prior to culturing in agarose inhibits the colony formation. We conclude that given triggering conditions can result in both CD3-TcR modulation and inhibition of the proliferative response selectively in the CD8 lymphocyte subset and not in the CD4.

Polymerase chain reaction (PCR) amplification demonstrates the absence of human T-cell lymphotrophic virus (HTLV)-I specific pol sequences in peripheral T-cell lymphomas.

HTLV-I seronegative patients in nonendemic areas have been described with T-cell proliferations the DNA of which contains specific HTLV-I viral sequences. We have looked for the presence of HTLV-I DNA sequences in 27 HTLV-I seronegative patients with peripheral T-cell lymphomas, distinct from adult T-cell leukemia (ATL), and four HTLV-I seropositive patients, three with an ATL and one with a tropical spastic paraparesis. Using HTLV-I pol specific primers, the genomic DNA from peripheral blood mononuclear cells and lymph nodes massively infiltrated by tumor cells was analyzed by the enzymatic gene amplification procedure. In contrast to the peripheral blood lymphocytes from the four HTLV-I seropositive patients, the peripheral T-cell lymphoma samples did not harbor HTLV-I pol sequences. The data show that the detection of HTLV-I nucleotide sequences by the polymerase chain reaction correlates with serologic analysis in this series.

Hepatosplenic T-cell lymphoma: sinusal/sinusoidal localization of malignant cells expressing the T-cell receptor gamma delta.

Peripheral T-cell lymphomas consist of a clinically heterogeneous group of malignant disorders whose immunophenotype usually corresponds to that of normal mature T cells. We describe and correlate the clinical, histopathologic, phenotypic, and genotypic findings in two patients with malignant lymphoma presenting with hepatosplenic disease. The morphologic pattern of lymphoma was that of a sinusal/sinusoidal infiltration in spleen, marrow, and liver. This morphologic characteristic was associated with the presence of a productive clonal rearrangement of the T-cell receptor (TCR) delta gene. Lymphoma cells expressed a CD3-TCR-gamma delta- phenotype. They were also double negative (ie, CD4-CD8-) and lacked the CD5 and CD7 antigens. In one patient, tumor progression was associated with phenotypic changes that resulted in a CD3-TCR-gamma delta- phenotype with the same delta-gene rearrangement as initially. These observations suggest the existence of a new type of peripheral T-cell lymphoma characterized by its hepatosplenic presentation, and by the sinusal/sinusoidal tropism and the TCR-gamma delta phenotype of the malignant cells.