Immediate and delayed flap reconstruction have equivalent outcomes and associated costs following soft tissue sarcoma surgery.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Surgical treatment of soft tissue sarcoma (STS) involves wide resection of the tumor, which can necessitate soft tissue reconstruction with local or free tissue flaps. This retrospective study compares cost, surgical and oncologic outcomes between patients undergoing reconstruction with immediate versus delayed flap coverage following STS resection. METHODS: Thirty-four patients who underwent planned flap reconstruction following resection of primary STS were identified retrospectively. Twenty-four (71%) received immediate reconstruction during the index surgery and 10 (29%) underwent planned delayed reconstruction. Preoperative patient-specific metrics, tumor characteristics, and surgical and patient outcomes were collected. Total hospital charges associated with every encounter during the perioperative period were obtained. RESULTS: Patient demographics, comorbidities, tumor metrics, and surgical characteristics were equivalent between groups. Postoperative wound complications, reoperations, readmissions, and disease-specific survival did not differ between cohorts. Costs associated with each reconstruction strategy were equivalent on bivariate and multivariate testing, when accounting for operating room time, hospital length of stay, and reoperation rate. CONCLUSIONS: Our study identifies no significant difference in patient outcome measures or cost between planned immediate and delayed flap reconstruction following STS resection. These results support the implementation of either treatment strategy in keeping with patient-centered, multidisciplinary care principles.

An evidence based conceptual framework for the multifactorial understanding of proximal junctional kyphosis.

Introduction: Adult spinal deformity (ASD) is a debilitating pathology that arises from a variety of etiologies. Spinal fusion surgery is the mainstay of treatment for those who do not achieve symptom relief with conservative interventions. Fusion surgery can be complicated by a secondary deformity termed proximal junctional kyphosis (PJK). Research question: This scoping review evaluates the modern body of literature analyzing risk factors for PJK development and organizes these factors according to a multifactorial framework based on mechanical, tissue or demographic components. Materials and methods: An extensive search of the literature was performed in PubMed and Embase back to the year 2010. Articles were assessed for quality. All risk factors that were evaluated and those that significantly predicted the development of PJK were compiled. The frequency that a risk factor was predictive compared to the number of times it was evaluated was calculated. Results: 150 articles were reviewed. 57.3% of papers were of low quality. 76% of risk factors analyzed were focusing on the mechanical contribution to development of PJK versus only 5% were focusing on the tissue-based contribution. Risk factors that were most frequently predictive compared to how often they were analyzed were Hounsfield Units of vertebrae, UIV disc degeneration, paraspinal muscle cross sectional area and fatty infiltration, ligament augmentation, instrument characteristics, postoperative hip and lower extremity radiographic metrics, and postoperative teriparatide supplementation. Discussion and conclusion: This review finds a multifactorial framework accounting for mechanical, patient and tissue-based risk factors will improve the understanding of PJK development.

Interdisciplinary Approach to Expedited Outpatient Gastrostomy Tube Placement in Head and Neck Cancer Patients: A Single Center Retrospective Study.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVE: Treatment for head and neck cancer (HNC) can lead to decreased oral intake which often requires gastrostomy tube (g-tube) placement to provide nutritional support. A multidisciplinary team (MDT) consisting of interventional radiology (IR), HNC oncology and surgery, nutrition, and speech language pathology departments implemented an expedited outpatient g-tube placement pathway to reduce hospital stays and associated costs, initiate feeds sooner, and improve communication between care teams. This single center study investigates differences in complications, time to procedure and costs savings with implementing this pathway. METHODS: 142 patients with HNC who underwent elective image guided g-tube placement by IR from 2015 to 2022 were identified retrospectively. 52 patients underwent the traditional pathway, and 90 patients underwent the expedited pathway. Patient demographics, procedure characteristics, periprocedural costs and 90-day complication rates were collected and compared statistically. RESULTS: The 90-day complication rate was comparable between groups (traditional=32.7%; expedited=22.2%; p-value=0.17). The expedited pathway decreased the time from consult to procedure by 11.1 days (95% CI 7.6 - 14.6; p < 0.001) and decreased charge per procedure by $2940 (95% CI $989-$4891; p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: A MDT for the treatment of patients with HNC successfully provided enteral nutrition support faster, with fewer associated costs, and in a more patient centered approach than previously done at this institution.

Radiographic outcomes and complications of anterior column realignment (ACR): a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Anterior Column Realignment (ACR) was introduced to serve as a powerful segmental kyphosis correction technique in minimally invasive Adult Spinal Deformity (ASD) surgery. Releasing the Anterior Longitudinal Ligament (ALL) and annulus allows opening of the disc space to accommodate hyperlordotic cages. The overall safety and efficacy of ACR has been difficult to determine due to the heterogenicity of surgical techniques, complications reporting, and a paucity of published studies leading to preliminary and controversial conclusions. PURPOSE: To determine the efficacy and complications rates associated with ACR. STUDY DESIGN: Systematic review. METHODS: We queried the MEDLINE, Google Scholar, and EMBASE databases for all literature related to ACR procedure with a publication cutoff start date of January 1, 2010. This systematic review was performed utilizing the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. nonEnglish, nonhuman, case reports and review article publications were excluded. RESULTS: A total of 298 studies were identified. Following screening of title, abstract, and full text, 16 articles were included in the review with a total 756 patients. All the studies included in this systematic review were retrospective case series with a level of evidence IV. Ten studies reported ACR-related complications, with an average rate of 27.2%. The rate of reoperations was reported in 5 studies, for which the average reoperation rate was 9.5%. Cage Subsidence (CS) occurred in 13.7%, Proximal Junctional Kyphosis (PJK) in 12.2%, neurologic injury in 7.3%, and Proximal Junctional Failure (PJF) in 2.7%. The vascular injury rate was 0.5%, with bowel perforation and ureteric injury occurring in 0.2%. For the Patient Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs) and radiological outcome analysis we excluded studies with less than 12 months follow up leaving 8 studies eligible for the analysis. There was a significant improvement of both local Motion Segment Angle (MSA) and Intra Discal Angle (IDA) with a mean segmental correction of 20° lordosis in the 3 studies that reported these parameters. CONCLUSION: Based on the limited data available in this systematic review, the ACR technique has significant ability to restore and, when needed, correct the local segmental intervertebral angulation and thereby influencing the overall regional and global sagittal alignment. The associated risk of vascular, bowel, and nerve injury did not seem to be significantly higher in this review than other alternative lumbar interbody fusion techniques. Additional higher quality studies, including a consensus for reporting complications is required to reach definitive conclusions regarding its possible associated risks.