COVID-19 Pandemic Influence on Medical Oncology Provider Perceptions of Telehealth Video Visits.

PURPOSE: The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a rapid expansion of telehealth use in oncology, a specialty in which prior utilization was low in part because of barriers perceived by providers. Understanding the changing perceptions of medical oncology providers during the pandemic is critical for continued expansion and improvement of telehealth in cancer care. This study was designed to identify medical oncology providers' perceptions of telehealth video visits as influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: We conducted semi-structured interviews with medical oncology providers from November 20, 2020, to January 27, 2021, at the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Thomas Jefferson University, a National Cancer Institute-designated cancer center in an urban, academic health system in Philadelphia, PA. We assessed provider perceptions of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on (1) provider-level comfort and willingness for telehealth, (2) provider-perceived patient comfort and willingness to engage in telehealth, and (3) continued barriers to successful telehealth use. RESULTS: Volunteer and convenience sampling resulted in the participation of 25 medical oncology providers, including 18 physicians and seven advanced practice providers, in semi-structured interviews. Of the 25 participants, 13 (52%) were female and 19 (76%) were White, with an average age of 48.5 years (standard deviation = 12.6). Respondents largely stated an increased comfort level and willingness for use of video visits. In addition, respondents perceived a positive change in patient comfort and willingness, mostly driven by convenience, accessibility, and reduced risk of COVID-19 exposure. However, several reported technologic issues and limited physical examination capability as remaining barriers to telehealth adoption. CONCLUSION: The rapid adoption of telehealth necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic has increased provider-level and provider-perceived patient comfort and willingness to engage in video visits for cancer care. As both providers and patients increasingly accept telehealth across many use cases, future work should focus on further addressing technology and physical examination barriers and ensuring continued reimbursement for telehealth as a routine part of covered care.

Development of the Oncology Opportunity Cost Assessment Tool: Item Generation and Content Validity Testing.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to develop the Oncology Opportunity Cost Assessment Tool (OOCAT), a survey instrument to evaluate the opportunity costs patients experience when seeking medical oncology care. METHODS: Development of the OOCAT involved extensive patient engagement through both focus groups and interviews. First, the study team developed a list of opportunity cost concepts, which included patients' logistical and financial considerations related to seeking care. We conducted focus groups with patients to expand upon this list of concepts, and then developed a set of questions that incorporated all the concepts generated during the focus groups. To refine these questions, we next performed cognitive interviews with another set of patients to ensure content validity and clarity of instrument items, refining the OOCAT iteratively on the basis of feedback. RESULTS: We engaged 23 participants (17 patients and six caregivers) across four focus groups and 17 participants in cognitive interviews. Focus group participants generated 112 concepts, which resulted in an initial OOCAT with 16 questions. Cognitive interviews resulted in modification of 12 questions and addition of two questions (related to coordination of transportation and impact on home responsibilities). The final OOCAT consisted of 18 items examining time requirements for appointments, financial implications of traveling to appointments for the patient and the caregiver, and logistical and quality-of-life challenges associated with traveling for appointments. CONCLUSION: We developed the OOCAT, an instrument designed to evaluate patient-level opportunity costs of seeking medical oncology care. Further studies to validate the OOCAT are underway.

Medical Oncology Patient Perceptions of Telehealth Video Visits.

PURPOSE: Telehealth in medical oncology has expanded secondary to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, quantitative research on medical oncology telehealth use shows conflicting results on patient satisfaction, whereas qualitative data are sparse. Our qualitative study aimed to identify the factors influencing patient acceptability of video visits for medical oncology care before and at the onset of the expansion of telehealth because of the COVID-19 pandemic. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews were conducted between November 2019 and April 2020 with 20 patients who participated in a telehealth visit with a medical oncology provider at Thomas Jefferson University. RESULTS: Of the 20 participants, 13 (65%) were female and 15 (75%) were White, with a mean (standard deviation) age of 60.5 years (11.8). Patients identified convenience, anxiety, COVID-19, and provider preference as positively influencing the acceptability of video visits; however, some patients noted limitations in provider connection, physical examinations, and visit length as disadvantages. Regarding receipt of serious or bad news, some preferred video visits for privacy, immediacy of results, news processing, and family comfort. Others preferred in-person encounters for provider support and the ability to receive written information and in-person referrals. CONCLUSION: Patient-perceived factors influencing general acceptability, appropriateness of serious and bad news delivery, and future uses of telehealth were unique to each individual, but shared common themes. Understanding each patient's perspective of telehealth acceptability and tailoring use to their preferences is critical for continued utilization. Further research is needed to understand and address reasons for lack of telehealth uptake among certain patients.

Medical Oncology Professionals' Perceptions of Telehealth Video Visits.

Importance: Telehealth has emerged as a means of improving access and reducing cost for medical oncology care; however, use by specialists prior to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic still remained low. Medical oncology professionals' perceptions of telehealth for cancer care are largely unknown, but are critical to telehealth utilization and expansion efforts. Objective: To identify medical oncology health professionals' perceptions of the barriers to and benefits of telehealth video visits. Design, Setting, and Participants: This qualitative study used interviews conducted from October 30, 2019, to March 5, 2020, of medical oncology health professionals at the Thomas Jefferson University Hospital, an urban academic health system in the US with a cancer center. All medical oncology physicians, physicians assistants, and nurse practitioners at the hospital were eligible to participate. A combination of volunteer and convenience sampling was used, resulting in the participation of 29 medical oncology health professionals, including 20 physicians and 9 advanced practice professionals, in semistructured interviews. Main Outcomes and Measures: Medical oncology health professionals' perceptions of barriers to and benefits of telehealth video visits as experienced by patients receiving cancer treatment. Results: Of the 29 participants, 15 (52%) were women and 22 (76%) were White, with a mean (SD) age of 48.5 (12.0) years. Respondents' perceptions were organized using the 4 domains of the National Quality Forum framework: clinical effectiveness, patient experience, access to care, and financial impact. Respondents disagreed on the clinical effectiveness and potential limitations of the virtual physical examination, as well as on the financial impact on patients. Respondents also largely recognized the convenience and improved access to care enabled by telehealth for patients. However, many reported concern regarding the health professional-patient relationship and their limited ability to comfort patients in a virtual setting. Conclusions and Relevance: Medical oncology health professionals shared conflicting opinions regarding the barriers to and benefits of telehealth in regard to clinical effectiveness, patient experience, access to care, and financial impact. Understanding oncologists' perceptions of telehealth elucidates potential barriers that need to be further investigated or improved for telehealth expansion and continued utilization; further research is ongoing to assess current perceptions of health professionals and patients given the rapid expansion of telehealth during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Operative management in Bariatric Acute abdomen (OBA) Survey: long-term complications of bariatric surgery and the emergency surgeon's point of view.

BACKGROUND: The number of bariatric procedures is increasing worldwide. No consensus or guidelines about the emergency management of long-term complications following bariatric surgery are currently available. The aim of this study is to investigate by a web survey how an emergency surgeon approaches this unique group of patients in an emergency medical scenario and to report their personal experience. METHOD: An international web survey was sent to 197 emergency surgeons with the aim to collect data about emergency surgeons' experience in the management of patients admitted in the emergency department for acute abdominal pain after bariatric surgery. The survey was conceived as a questionnaire composed by 26 (multiple choice and open) questions and approved by a steering committee. RESULTS: One hundred seventeen international emergency surgeons decided to join the project and answered to the web survey with a response rate of 59.39%. CONCLUSIONS: The aim of this WSES web survey was to highlight the current management of patients previously submitted to bariatric surgical procedures by ES. Emergency surgeons must be mindful of postoperative bariatric surgery complications. CT scan with oral intestinal opacification may be useful in making a diagnosis if carefully interpreted by the radiologist and the surgeon. In case of inconclusive clinical and radiological findings, when symptoms fail to improve, surgical exploration for bariatric patients presenting acute abdominal pain, by laparoscopy if expertise is available, is mandatory in the first 12-24 h, to have good outcomes and decrease morbidity rate.

Transcatheter arterial embolization versus surgery for refractory non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding: a meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Nowadays, very few patients with non-variceal upper gastrointestinal bleeding fail endoscopic hemostasis (refractory NVUGIB). This subset of patients poses a clinical dilemma: should they be operated on or referred to transcatheter arterial embolization (TAE)? OBJECTIVES: To carry out a systematic review of the literature and to perform a meta-analysis of studies that directly compare TAE and surgery in patients with refractory NVUGIB. MATERIALS AND METHODS: We searched PubMed, Ovid MEDLINE, and Embase. A combination of the MeSH terms "gastrointestinal bleeding"; "gastrointestinal hemorrhage"; "embolization"; "embolization, therapeutic"; and "surgery" were used (("gastrointestinal bleeding" or "gastrointestinal hemorrhage") and ("embolization" or "embolization, therapeutic") and "surgery")). The search was performed in June 2018. Studies were retrieved and relevant studies were identified after reading the study title and abstract. Bibliographies of the selected studies were also examined. Statistical analysis was performed using RevMan software. Outcomes considered were all-cause mortality, rebleeding rate, complication rate, and the need for further intervention. RESULTS: Eight hundred fifty-six abstracts were found. Only 13 studies were included for a total of 1077 patients (TAE group 427, surgery group 650). All selected papers were non-randomized studies: ten were single-center and two were double-center retrospective comparative studies, while only one was a multicenter prospective cohort study. No comparative randomized clinical trial is reported in the literature.Mortality. Pooled data (1077 patients) showed a tendency toward improved mortality rates after TAE, but this trend was not statistically significant (OD = 0.77; 95% CI 0.50, 1.18; P = 0.05; I 2 = 43% [random effects]). Significant heterogeneity was found among the studies.Rebleeding rate. Pooled data (865 patients, 211 events) showed that the incidence of rebleeding was significantly higher for patients undergoing TAE (OD = 2.44; 95% CI 1.77, 3.36; P = 0.41; I 2 = 4% [fixed effects]).Complication rate. Pooling of the data (487 patients, 206 events) showed a sharp reduction of complications after TAE when compared with surgery (OD = 0.45; 95% CI 0.30, 0.47; P = 0.24; I 2 = 26% [fixed effects]).Need for further intervention. Pooled data (698 patients, 165 events) revealed a significant reduction of further intervention in the surgery group (OD = 2.13; 95% CI 1.21, 3.77; P = 0.02; I 2 = 56% [random effects]). A great degree of heterogeneity was found among the studies. CONCLUSIONS: The present study shows that TAE is a safe and effective procedure; when compared to surgery, TAE exhibits a higher rebleeding rate, but this tendency does not affect the clinical outcome as shown by the comparison of mortality rates (slight drift toward lower mortality for patients undergoing TAE). The present study suggests that TAE could be a viable option for the first-line therapy of refractory NVUGIB and sets the foundation for the design of future randomized clinical trials. LIMITATIONS: The retrospective nature of the majority of included studies leads to selection bias. Furthermore, the decision of whether to proceed with surgery or refer to TAE was made on a case-by-case basis by each attending surgeon. Thus, external validity is low. Another limitation involves the variability in etiology of the refractory bleeding. TAE techniques and surgical procedure also differ consistently between different studies. Frame time for mortality detection differs between the studies. These limitations do not impair the power of the present study that represents the largest and most recent meta-analysis currently available.

Mortality Rate and Antibiotic Resistance in Complicated Diverticulitis: Report of 272 Consecutive Patients Worldwide: A Prospective Cohort Study.

Background: Complicated diverticulitis (CD) is a common problem for surgeons. In treating it, as a general principle, every verified source of infection should be controlled. Supplementary antimicrobial management involves a delicate balance of optimizing empirical therapy while reducing unnecessary antibiotic use. The necessity to know the most frequent infecting pathogens and their spectra of resistance is becoming pivotal. The aim of this study was to determine the microbiologic profile of complicated intra-abdominal infections (IAIs) secondary to CD, to analyze the role of empirical antimicrobial therapy, and to describe the clinical aspects of CD worldwide. Material and Methods: The study derives from two multicenter prospective observational studies: CIAO (Complicated Intra-Abdominal infection Observational study) and CIAOW (Complicated Intra-Abdominal infection Observational World" study). The aim of the study was to analyze the intra-abdominal bacteriology in complicated diverticulitis and its relation to the clinical outcome. Results: The 272 patients had a mean/median age of 66.3 ± 14.9 (standard deviation; SD) and 69 (range 18-99). Patients >70 years old totaled 122 (44.9%). Conditions at admission were sepsis in 113 patients (41.5%) and severe sepsis and septic shock in 37 (13.6%) and 21 (7.7%), respectively; and localized peritonitis in 148 patients (54.4%), whereas in 124 (45.6%), the condition was generalized. Some 94 patients (34.6%) experienced a delay in initial intervention (>24 h). The mean and median duration of antimicrobial therapy were 12.3 ± 8.7 (standard deviation) and 10 (range 1-59) days. A total of 162 patients (59.6%) obtained adequate empirical antibiotic therapy, and 96 patients (35.3%) were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU). The 30-day mortality rate was 12.1%. A total of 311 bacteria were isolated: 136 (43.7%) gram-negative, 76 (24.4%) gram-positive, 22 (7%) fungi, and 77 (24.7%) anaerobes. Of the 363 bacteria isolated, 22 (7%) were drug resistant. Four of these infections (22.2%) were health-care-associated and 18 (5.7%) community-acquired. By univariable analysis, the only statistically significant factor associated with resistant bacteria was inadequacy of the empirical antimicrobial therapy (p = 0.004). The factors associated with death were delay in initial intervention (p = 0.006) and ICU admission because of severe sepsis on admission (p = 0.004). Conclusion: Early source control is mandatory to reduce the mortality rate in complicated diverticulitis. Effective empirical antimicrobial agent therapy is necessary to reduce resistance and improve the clinical outcome.

Acute appendicitis: Epidemiology, treatment and outcomes- analysis of 16544 consecutive cases.

AIM: To investigate the epidemiology, treatment and outcomes of acute appendicitis (AA) in a large population study. METHODS: This is a retrospective cohort study derived from the administrative dataset of the Bergamo district healthcare system (more than 1 million inhabitants) from 1997 to 2013. Data about treatment, surgery, length of stay were collected. Moreover for each patients were registered data about relapse of appendicitis and hospital admission due to intestinal obstruction. RESULTS: From 1997 to 2013 in the Bergamo district we collected 16544 cases of AA, with a crude incidence rate of 89/100000 inhabitants per year; mean age was 24.51 ± 16.17, 54.7% were male and the mean Charlson's comorbidity index was 0.32 ± 0.92. Mortality was < 0.0001%. Appendectomy was performed in 94.7% of the patients and the mean length of stay was 5.08 ± 2.88 d; the cumulative hospital stay was 5.19 ± 3.36 d and 1.2% of patients had at least one further hospitalization due intestinal occlusion. Laparoscopic appendectomy was performed in 48% of cases. Percent of 5.34 the patients were treated conservatively with a mean length of stay of 3.98 ± 3.96 d; the relapse rate was 23.1% and the cumulative hospital stay during the study period was 5.46 ± 6.05 d. CONCLUSION: The treatment of acute appendicitis in Northern Italy is slowly changing, with the large diffusion of laparoscopic approach; conservative treatment of non-complicated appendicitis is still a neglected option, but rich of promising results.

Advanced gastric cancer: What we know and what we still have to learn.

Gastric cancer is a common neoplastic disease and, more precisely, is the third leading cause of cancer death in the world, with differences amongst geographic areas. The definition of advanced gastric cancer is still debated. Different stadiating systems lead to slightly different stadiation of the disease, thus leading to variations between the single countries in the treatment and outcomes. In the present review all the possibilities of treatment for advanced gastric cancer have been analyzed. Surgery, the cornerstone of treatment for advanced gastric cancer, is analyzed first, followed by an investigation of the different forms and drugs of chemotherapy and radiotherapy. New frontiers in treatment suggest the growing consideration for intraperitoneal administration of chemotherapeutics and combination of traditional drugs with new ones. Moreover, the necessity to prevent the relapse of the disease leads to the consideration of administering intraperitoneal chemotherapy earlier in the therapeutical algorithm.