Assessment of the Wisconsin Criteria at a Level I Trauma Center.

ABSTRACT: The Wisconsin Criteria was developed for physicians evaluating facial trauma to determine the likelihood of facial fractures. Subsequent studies have not consistently validated these criteria. This study seeks to validate the Wisconsin Criteria and determine its utility in predicting operative facial fractures.Retrospective chart review of the trauma database registry at a Level I Trauma Center was conducted from September 2011 to May 2019. Adult patients who had a complete facial examination by otolaryngology or plastic surgery as well as a head computed tomography scan completed, were included. Fisher exact test was utilized for statistical analysis ( P < 0.05) and positive predictive value, and negative predictive value (NPV) were calculated with a 95% confidence interval.After screening, 546 patients met eligibility, 448 had at least 1 finding of the Wisconsin Criteria, and 472 patients had facial fractures. The sensitivity of the Wisconsin Criteria for determining the presence of a facial fracture was 86.23%, the specificity was 44.59%, and the NPV was 33.67% ( P < .0001). Malocclusion was the criterion most specific in determining if a facial fracture was present (98.65%), and Glasgow Coma Score < 14 was the least specific (67.57%).The Wisconsin Criteria did aid in the identification of facial fractures in trauma patients with a comparable sensitivity, higher specificity, and much lower NPV than originally described. Further investigation should be done to validate the criteria in other large trauma centers.

Variations in Postoperative Management of Pediatric Open-Vault Craniosynostosis.

ABSTRACT: Craniosynostosis is the premature fusion of 1 or more of the calvarial sutures causing a secondary distortion of the skull shape due to lack of growth perpendicular to the fused suture and compensatory overgrowth parallel to the suture. Open vault craniosynostosis repair requires extensive dissection and reshaping of the skull and can be associated with significant pain, commonly undervalued, and underreported in the pediatric cohort. Although there is an extensive body of literature focusing on the operative treatment of craniosynostosis, there is little consensus about optimal postoperative management protocols, including pain control regimens. The purpose of this study was to assess variation in immediate postoperative management protocols within the United States. A Qualtrics-based survey was submitted to all 112 American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association-approved craniofacial teams regarding their routine postoperative management protocol. Nineteen responses were obtained. All surgeons reported routine post-op intensive care unit stay. Mean overall length of stay was 3.5 days. Pain control agents included acetaminophen (100%), intravenous opioids (95%), oral opioids (79%), and ketorolac (53%). Eighty-eight percent of surgeons reported utilizing vital signs and observational parameters for pain assessment with 47% reporting the use of a formal pain scale. Sixty-three percent of those surveyed used a drain, 88% used a foley catheter, 75% used postoperative prophylactic antibiotics, and 75% routinely used arterial line monitoring postoperatively. The results of this survey will be the basis for future direction in understanding the efficacy of differing management protocols and further study of pain management in the pediatric craniosynostosis population.

Self-Perceived Oral Symptoms Associated with Nicotine Replacement Therapy.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to evaluate the experience of specific oral and dental symptoms or side effects as reported by patients following the use of nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) products. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The study involved paper-based confidential survey questionnaires accessible for a period of 8 months to patients attending the School of Dentistry Dental Clinic, Griffith University, Australia. This study recorded demography, smoking history, NRT use history, and specific oral and systemic symptoms. The data was assessed and grouped into three divisions: those with no history of NRT use, current and former users of NRT, and current users of NRT. RESULTS: Current users of NRT reported a statistically significantly higher incidence of all oral symptoms and increased incidence of systemic symptoms, as compared to those with no history of NRT use. There was no statistically significant difference between current and former users of NRT for almost all symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: A correlative relationship has been observed between the use of NRT products and patients' reported oral symptoms. This study showed a statistically significantly higher incidence of oral symptoms in current and former NRT users. The reported oral side effects and compounding risk profiles show an imperative need for further research into nicotine replacement therapy products' impact on oral health status and treatment outcomes in dental patients using NRT.

Implementation of Electronic Patient-Reported Outcomes in Routine Cancer Care at an Academic Center: Identifying Opportunities and Challenges.

PURPOSE: Electronic patient-reported outcomes (ePROs) can help clinicians proactively assess and manage their patients' symptoms. Despite known benefits, there is limited adoption of ePROs into routine clinical care as a result of workflow and technologic challenges. This study identifies oncologists' perspectives on factors that affect integration of ePROs into clinical workflows. METHODS: We conducted semistructured qualitative interviews with 16 oncologists from a large academic medical center, across diverse subspecialties and cancer types. Oncologists were asked how they currently use or could imagine using ePROs before, during, and after a patient visit. We used an inductive approach to thematically analyze these qualitative data. RESULTS: Results were categorized into the following three main themes: (1) selection and development of ePRO tool, (2) contextual drivers of adoption, and (3) patient-facing concerns. Respondents preferred diagnosis-based ePRO tools over more general symptom screeners. Although they noted information overload as a potential barrier, respondents described strong data visualization and ease of use as facilitators. Contextual drivers of oncologist adoption include identifying target early adopters, incentivizing uptake through use of ePRO data to support billing and documentation, and emphasizing benefits for patient care and efficiency. Respondents also indicated the need to focus on patient-facing issues, such as patient response rate, timing of survey distribution, and validity and reliability of responses. DISCUSSION: Respondents identified several barriers and facilitators to successful uptake of ePROs. Understanding oncologists' perspectives is essential to inform both practice-level implementation strategies and policy-level decisions to include ePROs in alternative payment models for cancer care.

Can You Trust What You Watch? An Assessment of the Quality of Information in Aesthetic Surgery Videos on YouTube.

BACKGROUND: Videos on YouTube can be posted without regulation or content oversight. Unfortunately, many patients use YouTube as a resource on aesthetic surgery, leading to misinformation. Currently, there are no objective assessments of the quality of information on YouTube about aesthetic surgery. METHODS: YouTube was queried for videos about the 12 most common aesthetic surgical procedures, identified from the 2015 American Society of Plastic Surgeons procedural statistics between May and June of 2016. The top 25 results for each search term were scored using the modified Ensuring Quality Information for Patients criteria based on video structure, content, and author identification. Average Ensuring Quality Information for Patients score, view count, and video duration were compared between authorship groups. RESULTS: A total of 523 videos were graded after excluding duplicates. The mean modified Ensuring Quality Information for Patients score for all videos was 13.1 (SE, 0.18) of a possible 27. The videos under the search "nose reshaping" had the lowest mean score of 10.24 (SE, 0.74), whereas "breast augmentation" had the highest score of 15.96 (SE, 0.65). Physician authorship accounted for 59 percent of included videos and had a higher mean Ensuring Quality Information for Patients score than those by patients. Only three of the 21 search terms had a mean modified Ensuring Quality Information for Patients score meeting criteria for high-quality videos. CONCLUSIONS: The information contained in aesthetic surgery videos on YouTube is low quality. Patients should be aware that the information has the potential to be inaccurate. Plastic surgeons should be encouraged to develop high-quality videos to educate patients.

Team Stress and Adverse Events during Neonatal Tracheal Intubations: A Report from NEAR4NEOS.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to examine the association between team stress level and adverse tracheal intubation (TI)-associated events during neonatal intubations. STUDY DESIGN: TIs from 10 academic neonatal intensive care units were analyzed. Team stress level was rated immediately after TI using a 7-point Likert scale (1 = high stress). Associations among team stress, adverse TI-associated events, and TI characteristics were evaluated. RESULT: In this study, 208 of 2,009 TIs (10%) had high stress levels (score < 4). Oxygenation failure, hemodynamic instability, and family presence were associated with high stress level. Video laryngoscopy and premedication were associated with lower stress levels. High stress level TIs were associated with adverse TI-associated event rates (31 vs. 16%, p < 0.001), which remained significant after adjusting for potential confounders including patient, provider, and practice factors associated with high stress (odds ratio: 1.90, 96% confidence interval: 1.36-2.67, p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: High team stress levels during TI were more frequently reported among TIs with adverse events.

What Do NICU Fellows Identify as Important for Achieving Competency in Neonatal Intubation?

BACKGROUND: Tracheal intubation (TI) is one of the most important interventions for the stabilization of critically ill neonates. Competency in airway management is essential for neonatal fellows. No studies have assessed which educational models, techniques, or instructions are perceived by neonatal fellows as the most beneficial for achieving competency in TI. OBJECTIVES: This study identifies which factors are considered most helpful in achieving intubation competency. METHOD: This was a mixed-method study. Semi-structured phone interviews addressed training experience for neonatal intubation. Through qualitative analysis, common themes were identified. RedCap electronic surveys and procedure logs were used to assess procedural experience. RESULTS: Forty-two fellows from 5 programs completed phone interviews. Fellows recalled 6-10 intubation attempts before fellowship. Independent statements related to achieving intubation competency were analyzed and coded into 5 main themes (Procedure, Practice, Perceptual Environment, Personnel, and Preparation). A large proportion of the statements focused on the use of video laryngoscopy. CONCLUSIONS: The themes identified by neonatal-perinatal medicine (NPM) fellows as being the most beneficial in achieving proficiency in neonatal TI are categorized as "The 5 Ps." Careful review of these themes may be utilized to develop validated curriculums that enhance the teaching of TI and optimize the achievement of TI competency among NPM fellows.

Opioid Sparing in Cleft Palate Surgery.

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to determine whether intraoperative acetaminophen was able to decrease opioid consumption, pain scores, and length of stay while increasing oral intake in cleft palate surgery. DESIGN/SETTING/PATIENTS: One hundred consecutive patients with cleft palate who underwent a von Langenbeck or 2-flap palatoplasty and intravelar veloplasty at a tertiary medical center by the 2 senior authors from 2010 to 2015 were reviewed. INTERVENTIONS: Three intraoperative treatment groups were analyzed: intravenous (IV) acetaminophen, per rectal (PR) acetaminophen, and no acetaminophen. All patients received long-acting local anesthesia infiltration before incision. Additionally, all patients were admitted overnight and given weight-based per oral (PO) acetaminophen and oxycodone and IV morphine as needed based on pain scores. OUTCOMES MEASURED: The study outcomes included pain scores, opioid requirement, length of stay, and oral intake. RESULTS: The treatment groups were comprised of 40 patients who received IV acetaminophen, 22 PR acetaminophen, and 35 none. Concerning demographic data, there was no statistical difference between treatment groups. There was no statistically significant difference for opioid intake, although both IV and PR acetaminophen groups had decreased pain scores ( P = .029). There was no difference in oral intake ( P = .13) or length of stay ( P = .31) between treatment groups. CONCLUSION: In this study, intraoperative administration of acetaminophen was associated with decreased pain scores, but no opioid-sparing effect. As other studies have shown an opioid-sparing effect with postoperative acetaminophen, we recommend withholding the intraoperative dose and beginning therapy in the immediate postoperative period.

Central vasopressin V1A receptor blockade alters patterns of cellular activation and prevents glucocorticoid habituation to repeated restraint stress exposure.

Our previous experiments implicated a role for the arginine vasopressin (AVP) V1A receptor subtype in mediating the normal decline (habituation) of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis responses to repeated restraint exposure. To explore pathways mediating the endogenous effects of central AVP on stress HPA axis habituation, here we compared cellular (Fos) and hormone responses in male rats receiving chronic icv infusion of vehicle or a V1A receptor antagonist that began 7 d before stress testing, continued through the duration of acute and repeat restraint exposure. As a group, rats with V1A antagonism displayed a modest reduction in ACTH habituation, whereas the decline in corticosterone was completely prevented. V1A antagonized rats also showed reduced evidence of habituated Fos responses in the paraventricular nucleus of the hypothalamus, medial amygdala, and within the anterior division of the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. Based on these cellular and neuroendocrine responses, we then examined whether repeated restraint is reflected by changes in V1A receptor binding. Relative to stress naïve animals, repeatedly exposed rats showed lower levels of V1A binding in the dentate gyrus of the hippocampus, thalamus and central amygdala, but higher levels in the septum and anterior BST. Taken together, these findings suggest that AVP may act within multiple targets to regulate the normal decline in stress-induced drive to the HPA axis, and that this may involve the net of V1A receptor stimulatory and inhibitory influences on neuroendocrine habituation.

Postnatal blockade of androgen receptors or aromatase impair the expression of stress hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis habituation in adult male rats.

Sex steroid hormones during development permanently alter, or organize, the brain and behavior, while during adulthood they act to reversibly modulate, or activate, physiology and behavior. Testosterone exerts both organizational and activational effects on the magnitude of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis response to acute stress. What has never been approached is how testosterone can organize habituation of the HPA axis, in which stress induced elevations in ACTH and corticosterone release decline over repeated exposures to the same stimulus. In the current study we examined HPA responses to repeated psychogenic stress in 65-day-old, adult male rats that received subcutaneous capsules containing the antiandrogen flutamide or the aromatase inhibitor 1,4,6-androstatriene-3,17-dione (ATD), introduced within 12h of birth and removed on day 21 of weaning. An additional group of castrated, adult male rats were used to differentiate organizational from activational effects of testosterone. All treatment groups displayed smaller declines in ACTH in response to repeated restraint compared to control animals. Remarkably, the normal decline in corticosterone failed to occur in flutamide- and ATD-treated animals. By contrast, males that were castrated as adults showed a significant reduction in corticosterone after repeated stress. Taken together, these findings underscore an organizing influence of both androgen receptors and estrogen conversion on HPA habituation to repeated psychogenic stress, which appears to occur independent of the activational effects of testosterone.

Phase I study of CT-2103, a polymer-conjugated paclitaxel, and carboplatin in patients with advanced solid tumors.

PURPOSE: The primary objective of this study was to determine the maximum tolerated dose (MTD) of CT-2103 (poly L-glutamic acid-paclitaxel) in combination with carboplatin in patients with histologically proven solid tumors that were either refractory to conventional treatment or for which no conventional therapy was available. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Twenty-two adult patients with advanced solid tumors were treated in this dose escalation study. Patients were treated every 21 days with CT-2103 at 175, 210, 225, or 250 mg/m2 (doses expressed as units of conjugated-paclitaxel) via 10-20 minute intravenous (IV) infusion, followed one hour later with carboplatin administered at AUC 5 or 6 via 30 minute IV infusion. No prophylaxis for hypersensitivity was administered with initial treatment. Doses were administered every 21 days until progressive disease or dose-limiting toxicity (DLT) was observed. Toxicity was evaluated using NCI Common Toxicity Criteria for Adverse Events v2.0 (CTCAE v2.0); response to treatment was evaluated using Response Criteria in Solid Tumors (RECIST). RESULTS: The MTD was determined to be 225 mg/m2. DLTs observed at 250 mg/m2 were neutropenia and thrombocytopenia. No hypersensitivity reactions were observed. Three patients achieved partial responses (PR). Fifteen patients received at least 3 cycles of treatment without observation of progressive disease. Median survival time was 5.9 months. Patients that demonstrated partial responses were all ovarian cancer patients that had previously failed paclitaxel therapy. The only Grade 4, nonhematologic treatment-related toxicity was febrile neutropenia. Grade 4 neutropenia (9 patients) was observed across all dose groups. Twelve patients developed thrombocytopenia (Grade 3/4) while receiving combination therapy. All had resolution of thrombocytopenia with discontinuation of carboplatin, suggesting that carboplatin, and not CT-2103, contributed mainly to platelet toxicity. CONCLUSION: CT-2103 administered at 225 mg/m2 every 21 days in combination with carboplatin administered at AUC 6 has a manageable safety profile in patients with solid tumors; further clinical investigation is recommended, especially in patients with ovarian or non-small cell lung cancer.