Surgical stress response in robot-assisted versus laparoscopic surgery for colon cancer (SIRIRALS): randomized clinical trial.

BACKGROUND: Evidence for the routine use of robotic technology and its impact on short-term outcomes in colon cancer surgery is lacking. The aim of this study was to compare the surgically induced systemic stress response and clinical and patient-reported outcomes for patients undergoing robot-assisted or laparoscopic colon cancer surgery. METHODS: In this double-blinded superiority RCT completed between August 2021 and March 2023, patients with stage 1-3 colon cancer were randomized in a 1 : 1 ratio to undergo either robot-assisted or laparoscopic colon cancer surgery. The primary outcome was changes in the systemic stress response, characterized by C-reactive protein expression in the first three postoperative days. Secondary outcomes were intraoperative and postoperative complications and patient-reported outcomes. The latter included quality of recovery-15 and pain intensity using a visual analogue scale. RESULTS: In total, 128 patients were screened for potential inclusion in this study; 50 patients (25 in the robot-assisted group and 25 in the laparoscopic group) were included in the final follow-up and analysis. The postoperative C-reactive protein response was higher on the first postoperative day in the laparoscopic group (mean difference = 19.88 mg/l, 95% c.i. 3.89-35.86; P = 0.045). No statistically significant differences were noted for C-reactive protein expression on the second and third postoperative days. CONCLUSION: Adopting robot-assisted surgery for stage 1-3 colon cancer is associated with a reduction in the surgical stress response. REGISTRATION NUMBER: NCT04687384 (http://www.clinicaltrials.gov).

HemiCAP Knee Implants: Mid- to Long-Term Results.

PURPOSE: The aim of the study was to investigate the long-term outcomes of the Focal Femoral Condyle Resurfacing Prosthesis (HemiCAP) using clinical and radiographic assessments, and to evaluate the revision and survival rates. METHODS: Clinical evaluation was performed in those not revised and was able to participate. This was a prospective single-center cohort study of HemiCAP patients with 7 to 10 years of clinical and radiographic follow-up. The clinical examination included the Knee Society Score (KSS) and visual analogue scale (VAS) score. The radiographic examination included the Kellgren-Lawrence (KL) grade. Survival was estimated by Kaplan-Meier survival analysis, and potential risk factors for revision was evaluated by a regression analysis. RESULTS: Of the 62 patients with 64 HemiCAP prostheses, 37 were HemiCAP condyle, 11 HemiCAP PF, and 16 HemiCAP Wave; 27 (42%) were revised-HemiCAP condyle 17 (42%), HemiCAP PF 4 (36%), HemiCAP Wave 6 (37%), and 1 died. Examinations were performed on 31 patients (86%). When compared with the preoperative data, there were significant increases in the KSS objective (mean = 51.5, standard deviation [SD] = 5.9 vs. mean =94.2, SD = 5.0) and function (mean = 51.0, SD = 6.2 vs. mean = 93.7, SD = 4.8) scores, a decrease in the VAS score (mean = 7.1, SD = 0.7 vs. mean = 2.7, SD = 1.7) and a decrease in the KL lateral score (mean = 1.1, SD = 0.3 vs. mean = 0.6, SD = 0.6). The mean follow-up was 7.3 years (SD 1.4) with minimum 4.2 years and maximum 10.2 years. No failures occurred in the series beyond 5 years. CONCLUSIONS: As hypothesized, we found good clinical and radiographic outcomes, and for those patients who did not require revisions, there were long-term improvements in disability and function. This suggests that patient selection is a key element to successfully applying these devices in clinical practice.

Predictive validity of the CriSTAL tool for short-term mortality in older people presenting at Emergency Departments: a prospective study.

ABSTRACT: To determine the validity of the Australian clinical prediction tool Criteria for Screening and Triaging to Appropriate aLternative care (CRISTAL) based on objective clinical criteria to accurately identify risk of death within 3 months of admission among older patients. METHODS: Prospective study of ≥ 65 year-olds presenting at emergency departments in five Australian (Aus) and four Danish (DK) hospitals. Logistic regression analysis was used to model factors for death prediction; Sensitivity, specificity, area under the ROC curve and calibration with bootstrapping techniques were used to describe predictive accuracy. RESULTS: 2493 patients, with median age 78-80 years (DK-Aus). The deceased had significantly higher mean CriSTAL with Australian mean of 8.1 (95% CI 7.7-8.6 vs. 5.8 95% CI 5.6-5.9) and Danish mean 7.1 (95% CI 6.6-7.5 vs. 5.5 95% CI 5.4-5.6). The model with Fried Frailty score was optimal for the Australian cohort but prediction with the Clinical Frailty Scale (CFS) was also good (AUROC 0.825 and 0.81, respectively). Values for the Danish cohort were AUROC 0.764 with Fried and 0.794 using CFS. The most significant independent predictors of short-term death in both cohorts were advanced malignancy, frailty, male gender and advanced age. CriSTAL's accuracy was only modest for in-hospital death prediction in either setting. CONCLUSIONS: The modified CriSTAL tool (with CFS instead of Fried's frailty instrument) has good discriminant power to improve prognostic certainty of short-term mortality for ED physicians in both health systems. This shows promise in enhancing clinician's confidence in initiating earlier end-of-life discussions.