The impact of music, play, and pet therapies in managing pain and anxiety in paediatric patients in hospital: a rapid systematic review.

Background: Hospitalized children face pain and anxiety associated with the environment and procedures. Objective: This review aimed to assess the impact of music, play, pet and art therapies on pain and anxiety in hospitalized paediatric patients. RCTs assessing the impact of music, play, pet, and/or art therapies on pain and/or anxiety in hospitalized paediatric patients were eligible. Methods: Database searching and citation screening was completed to identify studies. A narrative synthesis was used to summarize study findings and certainty of evidence was assessed using GRADE. Of the 761 documents identified, 29 were included spanning music (n = 15), play (n = 12), and pet (n = 3) therapies. Results: A high certainty of evidence supported play in reducing pain and moderate certainty for music and pet. A moderate certainty of evidence supported music and play in reducing anxiety. Conclusion: Complementary therapies utilized alongside conventional medical treatment may mitigate pain and anxiety in hospitalized paediatric patients.

Suspected immune checkpoint inhibitor-induced pulmonary sarcoid reaction in metastatic renal cell carcinoma.

We present the case of a 50-year-old male patient with metastatic clear cell renal cell carcinoma (mRCC) who developed a diffuse pulmonary opacification and lymphadenopathy during nivolumab maintenance therapy. This was diagnosed as presumed sarcoid granulomatous inflammatory reaction secondary to immunotherapy, which resolved with holding off therapy and the nivolumab was resumed.

Myelin water fraction decrease in individuals with chronic mild traumatic brain injury and persistent symptoms.

The diffuse and continually evolving secondary changes after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) make it challenging to assess alterations in brain-behaviour relationships. In this study we used myelin water imaging to evaluate changes in myelin water fraction (MWF) in individuals with chronic mTBI and persistent symptoms and measured their cognitive status using the NIH Toolbox Cognitive Battery. Fifteen adults with mTBI with persistent symptoms and twelve age, gender and education matched healthy controls took part in this study. We found a significant decrease in global white matter MWF in patients compared to the healthy controls. Significantly lower MWF was evident in most white matter region of interest (ROIs) examined including the corpus callosum (separated into genu, body and splenium), minor forceps, right anterior thalamic radiation, left inferior longitudinal fasciculus; and right and left superior longitudinal fasciculus and corticospinal tract. Although patients showed lower cognitive functioning, no significant correlations were found between MWF and cognitive measures. These results suggest that individuals with chronic mTBI who have persistent symptoms have reduced MWF.

Atypical Somatic Symptoms in Adults With Prolonged Recovery From Mild Traumatic Brain Injury.

Somatization may contribute to persistent symptoms after mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). In two independently-recruited study samples, we characterized the extent to which symptoms atypical of mTBI but typical for patients suffering from somatization (e.g., gastrointestinal upset, musculoskeletal, and cardiorespiratory complaints) were present in adult patients with prolonged recovery following mTBI. The first sample was cross-sectional and consisted of mTBI patients recruited from the community who reported ongoing symptoms attributable to a previous mTBI (n = 16) along with a healthy control group (n = 15). The second sample consisted of patients with mTBI prospectively recruited from a Level 1 trauma center who had either good recovery (GOSE = 8; n = 32) or poor recovery (GOSE < 8; n = 29). In all participants, we evaluated atypical somatic symptoms using the Patient Health Questionnaire-15 and typical post-concussion symptoms with the Rivermead Post-Concussion Symptom Questionnaire. Participants with poor recovery from mTBI had significantly higher "atypical" somatic symptoms as compared to the healthy control group in Sample 1 (b = 4.308, p < 0.001) and to mTBI patients with good recovery in Sample 2 (b = 3.169, p < 0.001). As would be expected, participants with poor outcome in Sample 2 had a higher burden of typical rather than atypical symptoms [t (28) = 4.750, p < 0.001, d = 0.88]. However, participants with poor recovery still reported atypical somatic symptoms that were significantly higher (1.4 standard deviations, on average) than those with good recovery. Our results suggest that although "typical" post-concussion symptoms predominate after mTBI, a broad range of somatic symptoms also frequently accompanies mTBI, and that somatization may represent an important, modifiable factor in mTBI recovery.