Heart-Rate Variability Correlates to Choroidal Thickness in Central Serous Chorioretinopathy.

Purpose: Patients with central serous chorioretinopathy (CSC) have previously been shown to have a lower heart rate variability (HRV), implying a lower vagal tone. Vagal tone alters mineralocorticoids, which in turn affect the thickness of the choroid. Since increased choroidal thickness is characteristic of CSC, we wanted to investigate its correlation with HRV. Patients and Methods: In this case-control study, 21 acute CSC patients and 31 healthy controls were included. Diagnosis was confirmed by optical coherence tomography (OCT) and retinal examination. HRV was evaluated following accepted standards. Outcome measures were chosen beforehand as follows: Standard deviation of N-N intervals (SDNN), root mean square of successive differences (RMSDD), low frequency/high frequency ratio (LF/HF ratio), and standard deviation ratio from commonly used Poincare plot (SD2/SD1 ratio). Choroidal thickness was measured using OCT directly under the foveola. Results: Patients and healthy controls did not differ in health and medical characteristics in addition to CSC disease. Choroidal thickness was greatest in patients with CSC (mean±SD: 342±80 µm) compared to controls (235±60 µm, p<0.0001). A correlation was observed between LF/HF ratio and choroidal thickness in patients with CSC (Pearson correlation 0.63, p=0.02), where the CSC group had a lower LF/HF ratio (Median 2.39 ms2, IQR: 1.2-4.34 ms2) compared to controls (Median 1.2 ms2, IQR: 0.9-2.4 ms2, p=0.06) and SD2/SD1 ratio (CSC 0.59±0.2 vs controls 0.74±0.3, p=0.06). Conclusion: We found a correlation between the thickness of the choroid and the HRV-measured LF/HF ratio in patients with CSC and showed a borderline significant reduction in HRV measurements in patients with CSC. The data imply that vagal alterations exist in patients with CSC. Due to the low n, this should be considered as a pilot study. Further studies are warranted to elucidate mechanisms and validate findings.

High Parenteral Support Volume Is Associated With Reduced Quality of Life Determined by the Short-Bowel Syndrome Quality of Life Scale in Nonmalignant Intestinal Failure Patients.

BACKGROUND: Aim was to investigate the association between quality of life (QoL), bowel anatomy, and the need for home parenteral support (HPS) volume in patients with nonmalignant short-bowel syndrome (SBS) and intestinal failure (IF). METHODS: The SBS-QoL scale was used in a cross-sectional study of 95 nonmalignant SBS-IF patients. Sum QoL scores (0: best, 170: worst) were calculated. Patients were defined as having a small bowel (≤200 cm), and patients with jejunostomy or ileostomy were subclassified based on functional small-bowel length (cm) into 4 anatomy subgroups: 1a-1d (0-49, 50-99, 100-149, 150-200 cm, respectively). Multiple linear regression analyses explored associations between QoL, patient groups, and HPS volume, adjusting for age, sex, body mass index, and education. RESULTS: Complete data were obtained from 60 patients. HPS volume was associated with a worse SBS-QoL score (L/d, ß = 7.91; SE = 3.90; P = .048), but male sex associated with improvement (ß = -26.28; SE = 11.06; P = .021). No differences in sum QoL were seen between the benign SBS-IF subgroups 1a-d (P = .210). Multivariate regression analyses showed that patients with a small-bowel stoma, a small-bowel length <50 cm was associated with a significantly worse/higher SBS-QoL score compared with a length >50 cm. CONCLUSION: In patients with benign SBS-IF, high HPS volume was associated with poor QoL. Also, jejunostomy or ileostomy with small-bowel length <50 cm was associated with impaired QoL. These findings support rehabilitation strategies that reduce fecal losses and decrease HPS needs.

Cystectomy for bladder cancer in Denmark during the 2006-2013 period.

INTRODUCTION: The treatment of bladder cancer has been centralised in Denmark, and only five departments are licensed to perform radical cystectomy (RC). The purpose of this nationwide study was to evaluate perioperative mortality, length of post-operative hospital stay (LOS) and readmissions related to time course, surgical technique and number of RCs performed. METHODS: Patients were identified from the Danish National Hospital Register. We included all patients who had a RC performed because of bladder cancer in the period 2006-2013. RESULTS: A total of 1,857 RCs were performed, 81% of which were open and 19% were robot-assisted operations. Median LOS ranged 8-15 days, with the minimum LOS at the end of period. Readmission within 30 days occurred in 35% of patients. For patients operated with open technique, the readmission rate was 32% versus 45% for robot-assisted surgery. The 30-day mortality was 1.3% of which 1.5% occurred after open and 0.6% after robot-assisted RC. CONCLUSIONS: The study shows an increase in the number of RCs performed and a decrease in LOS during the study period. Furthermore, the study reveals a significant uptake of robot-assisted RC without obvious demonstrable benefits in terms of LOS and readmissions, but with a slightly lower mortality. Selection criteria for robot-assisted RC as well as data on tumour stage and preoperative co-morbidities are not available; therefore, interdepartmental comparison is not possible. However, these nationwide data suggest room for improvement through integration of the fast-track methodology combined with optimisation of surgical technique. FUNDING: none. TRIAL REGISTRATION: not relevant.

Onabotulinum toxin a (botox®) in the treatment of neurogenic bladder overactivity.

Botulinum toxin (BT) is a potent presynaptic neuromuscular blocking agent which induces selective, reversible muscle weakness for months when injected intramuscularly. During recent years BT has revolutionized the treatment of previously intractable symptoms of detrusor overactivity. Based on a systematic search of the PubMed database, a review of the current literature on the use of onabotulinum toxin A (Botox®) in the treatment of neurogenic detrusor overactivity is presented. Onabotulinum toxin A proved to be highly effective in the majority of studies, even though a wide range of injection techniques and dosages were described. The onset of the effect usually appeared before 2 weeks, and reached a peak within 2-6 weeks, with the clinical effect being maintained for approximately 6-8 months, or even longer. Depending on the dose, a number of patients developed high residual volume and clean intermittent self/helper catheterization (CIC) may become necessary. Only a few side effects were described, and intravesical onabotulinum toxin A injection seems to be well tolerated. However, details on injection technique, dose interval between injections, etc. are still under debate and only a few randomized, placebo controlled studies have been published.