Survival in patients with medullary thyroid cancer after less than the recommended initial operation.

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: We aimed to evaluate the disease specific-survival (DSS) of patients with Medullary Thyroid Cancer (MTC) confined to the central neck based on the extent of the initial operation. METHODS: This retrospective review of patients with MTC from the SEER registry from 2004 to 2012 excluded patients with lateral neck involvement or distant metastases. RESULTS: The cohort (n = 766) included 85(11%) less than total thyroidectomies (TT), 212(28%) TT alone, and 469(61%) TT with lymph node excision. Mean tumor size was similar (2.2cm for

Genetic Testing for Adrenal Tumors-What the Contemporary Surgeon Should Know.

Surgical diseases of the adrenal gland include pheochromocytoma/paraganglioma, primary hyperaldosteronism, Cushing syndrome, and adrenocortical carcinoma. These conditions may be associated with familial syndromes, and genetic testing is available and recommended in most. For adrenal surgeons to be familiar with these syndromes and know when to consider referral for genetic counseling and genetic testing is important. Identification of patients with familial syndromes allows for the detection and screening of associated syndromic neoplasms, guides surgical planning and operative approach, influences recurrence and malignancy risk assessment, aids in the development of a postoperative surveillance plan, and determines the need for screening family members.

Design of a Novel Online, Modular, Flipped-classroom Surgical Curriculum for East, Central, and Southern Africa.

Objective: We describe a structured approach to developing a standardized curriculum for surgical trainees in East, Central, and Southern Africa (ECSA). Summary Background Data: Surgical education is essential to closing the surgical access gap in ECSA. Given its importance for surgical education, the development of a standardized curriculum was deemed necessary. Methods: We utilized Kern's 6-step approach to curriculum development to design an online, modular, flipped-classroom surgical curriculum. Steps included global and targeted needs assessments, determination of goals and objectives, the establishment of educational strategies, implementation, and evaluation. Results: Global needs assessment identified the development of a standardized curriculum as an essential next step in the growth of surgical education programs in ECSA. Targeted needs assessment of stakeholders found medical knowledge challenges, regulatory requirements, language variance, content gaps, expense and availability of resources, faculty numbers, and content delivery method to be factors to inform curriculum design. Goals emerged to increase uniformity and consistency in training, create contextually relevant material, incorporate best educational practices, reduce faculty burden, and ease content delivery and updates. Educational strategies centered on developing an online, flipped-classroom, modular curriculum emphasizing textual simplicity, multimedia components, and incorporation of active learning strategies. The implementation process involved establishing thematic topics and subtopics, the content of which was authored by regional surgeon educators and edited by content experts. Evaluation was performed by recording participation, soliciting user feedback, and evaluating scores on a certification examination. Conclusions: We present the systematic design of a large-scale, context-relevant, data-driven surgical curriculum for the ECSA region.

Impact of potassium iodide on thyroidectomy for Graves' disease: Implications for safety and operative difficulty.

BACKGROUND: Potassium iodide often is prescribed prior to thyroidectomy for Graves' disease, but the effect of potassium iodide on the ease and safety of thyroidectomy for Graves' is largely unknown. METHODS: We conducted a prospective, cohort study of patients with Graves' disease undergoing thyroidectomy. For the first 8 months, no patients received potassium iodide; for the next 8 months, potassium iodide was added to the preoperative protocol for all patients. Outcomes included operative difficulty (based on the Thyroidectomy Difficulty Scale) and complications. RESULTS: We included a total of 31 patients in the no potassium iodide group and 28 in the potassium iodide group. According to the Thyroidectomy Difficulty Scale, gland vascularity decreased in the potassium iodide group (mean score 2.6 vs 3.3, P = .04), but there were no differences in friability, fibrosis, or size of the thyroid or in overall difficulty of operation (P = not significant for all). Despite similar operative difficulty, patients prescribed potassium iodide were less likely to experience transient hypoparathyroidism (7% vs 26%, P = .018) and transient hoarseness (0% vs 16%, P = .009) compared with the no potassium iodide group. CONCLUSION: Potassium iodide administration decreases gland vascularity, but does not change the overall difficulty of thyroidectomy. Preoperative use of potassium iodide solution was, however, associated with less transient hypoparathyroidism and transient hoarseness, suggesting that potassium iodide improves the safety of thyroidectomy for Graves' disease.

Back so soon? Is early recurrence of papillary thyroid cancer really just persistent disease?

BACKGROUND: Papillary thyroid carcinoma has excellent survival, yet recurrence remains a challenge. We sought to determine the proportion of reoperations performed for persistent, rather than truly recurrent, disease. METHODS: We conducted a retrospective review of a prospectively maintained database. Patients with papillary thyroid carcinoma who underwent reoperation for disease from 2000-2016 were included. We defined recurrence as disease that developed after a patient had an undetectable thyroglobulin and a negative ultrasonography within 1 year of operation. RESULTS: A total of 69 patients underwent 92 reoperations. On initial pathology, mean tumor size was 2.6 cm, 51% were multifocal, and 42% had extrathyroidal extension. Half (46%) of the patients underwent a central/lateral neck dissection at the initial operation, and 77% were treated with postoperative radioactive iodine. The median time to first reoperation was 21 months (range, 1-292), and 42% occurred within 1 year. Only 3 operations met criteria for true "recurrence," while 71 operations were categorized as persistent disease. CONCLUSION: Many reoperations for papillary thyroid carcinoma are for management of persistent disease. More than half of the patients required reoperation within the first 2 years, which suggests strongly that improvements in the preoperative assessment and adequacy of initial operative therapy need to be made to improve the care of patients with thyroid cancer.

Effects of Implementation of Lung Cancer Screening at One Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

BACKGROUND: Lung cancer screening recommendations have been developed, but none are focused on veterans. We report the results of the lung cancer screening program at our Veterans Affairs medical center and compare them with historic results. METHODS: All veterans between 55 and 74 years who were current smokers or quit within the past 15 years and had at least a 30-pack-year smoking history were invited to receive an annual low-dose chest CT scan beginning in December 2013. Demographics, CT scan results, and pathologic data of screened patients were recorded retrospectively. Overall results during the screening period were compared with results in veterans who received diagnoses from January 2011 to December 2013 (prescreening period). RESULTS: From December 2013 through December 2014 (screening period), 1,832 patients obtained a screening CT scan. Their mean age was 65 years. A lung nodule was present in 439 of 1,832 patients (24%). Lung cancer was diagnosed in 55 of 1,832 screened patients (3.0%). During the prescreening period, 37% of every lung cancer detected at our center (30 of 82) was stage I or stage II. After implementation of the screening program that percentage rose to 60% (52 of 87; P < .01). During the screening period, 55 of the 87 diagnosed lung cancers (63%) were detected through the screening program. The number of lung cancers detected per month rose from 2.4 to 6.7 after implementation of the screening program (P < .01). CONCLUSIONS: Implementation of lung cancer screening in the veteran population leads to detection of an increased number and proportion of early-stage lung cancers. Lung cancer screening in veterans may also increase the rate of lung cancer diagnoses in the immediate postimplementation period.

Use of white blood cell count and negative appendectomy rate.

BACKGROUND: Despite increased utilization of laboratory, radiologic imaging, and scoring systems, negative appendectomy (NA) rates in children remain above 3% nationwide. We reviewed the clinical data of patients undergoing appendectomy to further reduce our NA rate. METHODS: A retrospective review was conducted of all appendectomies performed for suspected appendicitis at a tertiary children's hospital during a 42-month period. Preoperative clinical, laboratory, and radiographic data were collected. Variables absent or normal in more than half of NAs were further analyzed. Receiver operating characteristic curves were constructed for continuous variables by using appropriate cutoff points to determine sensitivity and false-positive rates. The results were validated by analyzing the 12 months immediately after the establishment of these rules. RESULTS: Of 847 appendectomies performed, 22 (2.6%) had a pathologically normal appendix. The only variables found to be normal in more than half of NAs were white blood cell (WBC) count (89%) and neutrophil count (79%). A receiver operating characteristic curve indicates that using WBC cutoffs of 9000 and 8000 per µL yielded sensitivities of 92% and 95%, respectively, and reduction in NA rates by 77% and 36%, respectively. Results observed in the subsequent 12 months confirmed these expected sensitivities and specificities. CONCLUSIONS: Absence of an elevated WBC count is a risk factor for NA. Withholding appendectomy for WBC counts <9000 and 8000 per µL reduces the NA rate to 0.6% and 1.2%, respectively. Missed true appendicitis in patients with normal WBC counts can be mitigated by a trial of observation in those presenting with early symptom onset.