A quality improvement study on avoidable stressors and countermeasures affecting surgical motor performance and learning.

OBJECTIVE: To explore how the 2 most important components of surgical performance--speed and accuracy-are influenced by different forms of stress and what the impact of music is on these factors. BACKGROUND: On the basis of a recently published pilot study on surgical experts, we designed an experiment examining the effects of auditory stress, mental stress, and music on surgical performance and learning and then correlated the data psychometric measures to the role of music in a novice surgeon's life. METHODS: Thirty-one surgeons were recruited for a crossover study. Surgeons were randomized to 4 simple standardized tasks to be performed on the SurgicalSIM VR laparoscopic simulator (Medical Education Technologies, Inc, Sarasota, FL), allowing exact tracking of speed and accuracy. Tasks were performed under a variety of conditions, including silence, dichotic music (auditory stress), defined classical music (auditory relaxation), and mental loading (mental arithmetic tasks). Tasks were performed twice to test for memory consolidation and to accommodate for baseline variability. Performance was correlated to the brief Musical Experience Questionnaire (MEQ). RESULTS: Mental loading influences performance with respect to accuracy, speed, and recall more negatively than does auditory stress. Defined classical music might lead to minimally worse performance initially but leads to significantly improved memory consolidation. Furthermore, psychologic testing of the volunteers suggests that surgeons with greater musical commitment, measured by the MEQ, perform worse under the mental loading condition. CONCLUSIONS: Mental distraction and auditory stress negatively affect specific components of surgical learning and performance. If used appropriately, classical music may positively affect surgical memory consolidation. It also may be possible to predict surgeons' performance and learning under stress through psychological tests on the role of music in a surgeon's life. Further investigation is necessary to determine the cognitive processes behind these correlations.

Spindle Cell Metaplastic Breast Carcinoma with Leiomyoid Differentiation: A Case Report.

BACKGROUND: Metaplastic carcinoma of the breast is a rare but distinct entity within the group of undifferentiated invasive carcinomas. This entity accounts for less than 0.5% of all breast cancers and contains elements of epithelial (ductal), mesenchymal, and intermediate forms of differentiation. Of these metaplastic carcinomas, there have been reports of chondroid, squamous, osseous, and spindle differentiation. CASE REPORT: We describe the clinical course of a 52-year-old female patient with an unusual histopathology of a spindle cell carcinoma of the breast, discuss the literature, and recommend an approach to diagnosis and treatment. The patient initially presented to an outside hospital with a rapidly growing breast mass that was originally diagnosed as a malignant phylloides tumor. She presented 11 months after the primary treatment with a local subcutaneous relapse. She later developed a local relapse of her metaplastic carcinoma in the chest wall. Extensive histopathological analysis lead to the diagnosis of a spindle cell metaplastic breast carcinoma with leiomyoid differentiation, which has not been described previously. CONCLUSIONS: Overlap in morphology can lead to a misinterpretation or underdiagnosis of metaplastic carcinomas. However, the prognosis is similar to more common types of breast adenocarcinoma.