Accuracy of Time to Treatment Initiation Data in Musculoskeletal Soft Tissue Sarcoma.

Background: Time to treatment initiation (TTI) is a quality metric in cancer care. The purpose of this study is to determine the accuracy of TTI data from a single cancer center registry that reports to the National Cancer Database (NCDB) for sarcoma diagnoses. Methods: A retrospective analysis of a single Commission on Cancer (CoC)-accredited cancer center's tumor registry between 2006 and 2016 identified 402 patients who underwent treatment of a musculoskeletal soft tissue sarcoma and had TTI data available. Registry-reported TTI was extracted from the tumor registry. Effective TTI was manually calculated by medical record review as the number of days from the date of tissue diagnosis to initiation of first effective treatment. Effective treatment was defined as oncologic surgical excision or initiation of radiation therapy or chemotherapy. Registry-reported TTI and effective TTI values were compared for concordance in all patients. Results: In the entire cohort, 25% (99/402) of patients had TTI data discordance, all related to surgical treatment definition. For patients with a registry-reported value of TTI = 0 days, 74% (87/118) had a diagnostic surgical procedure coded as their first treatment event, with 73 unplanned incomplete excision procedures and 14 incisional biopsies. In these patients, effective TTI was on average 59 days (P < 0.001). For patients with a registry-reported value of TTI >0 days, only 4% (12/284) had discordant TTI values. Conclusions: Nearly three-fourths of patients with a registry-reported value of TTI = 0 days in a large, CoC-accredited cancer center registry had a diagnostic procedure coded as their first treatment event, though their effective treatment had not yet started. These data suggest that TTI is likely longer than what is reported to the NCDB. Redefinition of what constitutes surgical treatment should be considered to improve the accuracy of data used in measuring TTI in sarcoma.

Preoperative Magnetic Resonance Imaging Offers Questionable Clinical Utility, Delays Time to Hip Arthroscopy, and Lacks Cost-Effectiveness in Patients Aged ≤40 Years With Femoroacetabular Impingement Syndrome: A Retrospective 5-Year Analysis.

PURPOSE: To assess the clinical utility of preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and quantify the delay in surgical care for patients aged ≤40 years undergoing primary hip arthroscopy with history, physical examination, and radiographs concordant with femoroacetabular impingement syndrome (FAIS). METHODS: From August 2015 to December 2020, 1,786 consecutive patients were reviewed from the practice of 1 fellowship-trained hip arthroscopist. Inclusion criteria were FAIS, primary surgery, and age ≤40 years. Exclusion criteria were MRI contraindication, reattempt of conservative management, or concomitant periacetabular osteotomy. After nonoperative treatment options were exhausted and a surgical plan was established, patients were stratified by those who presented with versus without MRI. Those without existing MRI received one, and any deviations from the surgical plan were noted. All preoperative MRIs were compared with office evaluation and intraoperative findings to assess agreement. Demographic data, Hip Disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (HOOS)-Pain, and time from office to MRI or arthroscopy were recorded. RESULTS: Of the patients indicated by history, physical examination, and radiographs alone (70% female, body mass index 24.8 kg/m2, age 25.9 years), 198 patients presented without MRI and 934 with MRI. None of the 198 had surgical plans altered after MRI. Patients in both groups had MRI findings demonstrating anterosuperior labral tears that were visualized and repaired intraoperatively. Mean time from office to arthroscopy for patients without MRI versus those with was 107.0 ± 67 and 85.0 ± 53 days, respectively (P < .001). Time to MRI was 22.8 days. No difference between groups was observed among the 85% of patients who surpassed the HOOS-Pain minimal clinically important difference (MCID). CONCLUSION: Once indicated for surgery based on history, physical examination, and radiographs, preoperative MRI did not alter the surgical plan for patients aged ≤40 years with FAIS undergoing primary hip arthroscopy. Moreover, preoperative MRI delayed time to arthroscopy. The necessity of routine preoperative MRI in the young primary FAIS population should be challenged.

Predicting the Need for Surgical Intervention Prior to First Encounter for Individuals With Knee Complaints: A Novel Approach.

BACKGROUND: Orthopaedic complaints, particularly those relating to the knee, are some of the most common conditions that bring patients to the hospital. Many patients bypass their primary care physician to seek the care of an orthopaedic surgeon without referral, leaving the surgeon to manage an increasingly large number of patients, many of whom will never require surgery. PURPOSE: To develop a brief questionnaire that can be administered via phone/web at the time of appointment request to predict an individual patient's probability of requiring surgical intervention. STUDY DESIGN: Case-control study; Level of evidence, 3. METHODS: All patients (N = 1307) seeking an appointment for a new knee-related complaint completed a branching-logic questionnaire. A retrospective chart review was conducted following the conclusion of each patient's episode of care to determine whether surgery was recommended. Logistic regression models were used to predict the risk of surgery based on triage question responses, basic demographics (age, sex), and laterality (unilateral vs bilateral). The ability of the models to discriminate between those who did and did not receive a surgical recommendation was measured with a concordance index. RESULTS: The model provided a high level of discrimination between surgical and nonsurgical cases (concordance index, 0.69). Recent injury with inability to walk and no recent injury with no pain were both associated with an increased probability of receiving a recommendation of surgical intervention as compared with patients who reported pain without recent injury (odds ratio [OR]: 3.51 [P < .001] and 2.78 [P = .008], respectively). A unilateral complaint was associated with needing surgical intervention (OR, 4.52 [P < .001]). Age had a significant nonlinear relationship with odds of needing of surgery, with middle-aged patients (range, 20-50 years) having the greatest odds. CONCLUSION: The current model, which utilizes demographic questions and portions of a routine history alone, was able to accurately identify individuals who are most likely (up to 65% probability) and least likely (<5% probability) to need knee surgery. This model can quickly and easily conduct triage at the time of appointment request to ensure that patients with the highest likelihood of receiving a recommendation for surgical intervention are seen by surgical providers, while those who are unlikely to receive such a recommendation can be seen by nonsurgical providers.

Arthroplasty studies with greater than 1000 participants: analysis of follow-up methods.

BACKGROUND: The use of patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) has become a mainstay of orthopedic joint arthroplasty research. Large studies with >1000 participants are vital to orthopedic research, as they allow for comprehensive multivariable analysis. Achieving high follow-up rates minimizes potential response bias. Maintaining adequate follow-up rates becomes more challenging as sample size increases. We aimed to systematically review the present literature to determine the follow-up rates of large cohorts/registries of total joint arthroplasty patients and to identify factors associated with successful collection of PROMs. METHODS: A comprehensive literature search of PubMed, EMBASE, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials was conducted according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) guidelines. Inclusion criteria were: ≥1000 participants, ≥6 months of postoperative follow-up, and use of validated PROMs postoperatively. RESULTS: Of 720 abstracts screened, 21 studies met inclusion criteria. Only 2 studies reported achieving a PROM follow-up rate ≥80%, but neither collected PROMs preoperatively. The median rate of follow-up was 70%, and the median number of patients was 2970. Only 38% (8 of 21) of studies collected baseline PROMs prior to surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Very few studies in the present literature have collected validated PROMs on ≥1000 patients with ≥80% follow-up; these parameters are conducive to comprehensive multivariable analysis, while maintaining study validity and avoiding follow-up bias. Federal funding and a central coordinating site may be helpful in achieving follow-up in studies of this magnitude. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Level III, systematic review of studies with Level of Evidence I-III.

A smart decision: smartphone use for operative data collection in arthroscopic shoulder instability surgery.

OBJECTIVE: This study tested validity, accuracy, and efficiency of the Orthopaedic Minimal Data Set Episode of Care (OME) compared with traditional operative report in arthroscopic surgery for shoulder instability. As of November 2017, OME had successfully captured baseline data on 97% of 18 700 eligible cases. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study analyzes 100 cases entered into OME through smartphones by 12 surgeons at an institution from February to October 2015. A blinded reviewer extracted the same variables from operative report into a separate database. Completion rates and agreement were compared. They were assessed using raw percentages and McNemar's test (with continuity correction). Agreement between nominal variables was assessed by unweighted Cohen's kappa and a concordance correlation coefficient measured agreement between continuous variables. Efficiency was assessed by median time to complete. RESULTS: Of 37 variables, OME demonstrated equal or higher completion rates for all but 1 and had significantly higher capture rates for 49% (n = 18; P < .05). Of 33 nominal variables, raw proportional agreement was ≥0.90 for 76% (n = 25). Raw proportional agreement was perfect for 15% (n = 5); no agreement statistic could be calculated due to a single variable in operative note and OME. Calculated agreement statistic was substantial or better (κ > 0.61) for 51% (n = 17) for the 33 nominal variables. All continuous variables assessed (n = 4) demonstrated poor agreement (concordance correlation coefficient <0.90). Median time for completing OME was 103.5 (interquartile range, 80.5-151) seconds. CONCLUSIONS: The OME smartphone data capture system routinely captured more data than operative report and demonstrated acceptable agreement for nearly all nominal variables, yet took <2 minutes to complete on average.

Prospective Evaluation of the Patient Acceptable Symptom State to Identify Clinically Successful Anterior Cruciate Ligament Reconstruction.

BACKGROUND: The length of most patient-reported outcome measures creates significant response burden, which hampers follow-up rates. The Patient Acceptable Symptom State (PASS) is a single-item, patient-reported outcome measure that asks patients to consider all aspects of life to determine whether the state of their joint is satisfactory; this measure may be viable for tracking outcomes on a large scale. HYPOTHESIS: The PASS question would identify clinically successful anterior cruciate ligament reconstruction (ACLR) at 1-year follow-up with high sensitivity and moderate specificity. We defined "clinically successful" ACLR as changes in preoperative to postoperative scores on the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS) pain subscale and the KOOS knee-related quality of life subscale in excess of minimal clinically important difference or final KOOS pain or knee-related quality of life subscale scores in excess of previously defined PASS thresholds. STUDY DESIGN: Cohort study (diagnosis); Level of evidence, 2. METHODS: Patients enrolled in a prospective longitudinal cohort completed patient-reported outcome measures immediately before primary ACLR. At 1-year follow-up, patients completed the same patient-reported outcome measures and answered the PASS question: "Taking into account all the activity you have during your daily life, your level of pain, and also your activity limitations and participation restrictions, do you consider the current state of your knee satisfactory?" RESULTS: A total of 555 patients enrolled in our cohort; 464 were eligible for this study. Of these, 300 patients (64.7%) completed 1-year follow-up, of whom 83.3% reported satisfaction with their knee after surgery. The PASS question demonstrated high sensitivity to identify clinically successful ACLR (92.6%; 95% CI, 88.4%-95.6%). The specificity of the question was 47.1% (95% CI, 35.1%-59.5%). The overall agreement between the PASS and our KOOS-based criteria for clinically successful intervention was 81.9%, and the kappa value indicated moderate agreement between the two methods (κ = 0.44). CONCLUSION: The PASS question identifies individuals who have experienced clinically successful ACLR with high sensitivity. The limitation of the PASS is its low specificity, which we calculated to be 47.1%. Answering "no" to the PASS question meant that a patient neither improved after surgery nor achieved an acceptable final state of knee health. The brevity, interpretability, and correlation of the PASS question with significant improvements on various KOOS subscales make it a viable option in tracking ACLR outcomes on a national or global scale.

Factores de riesgo genéticos y no genéticos asociados con la esquizofrenia / Genetic and Nongenetic Risk Factors Associated with Schizophrenia

Introducción: la esquizofrenia se encuentra entre las enfermedades psiquiátricas más severas, su prevalencia media en la población adulta con independencia de la raza o el país de origen se sitúa en torno al 1%. El municipio de Holguín presenta un número importante de pacientes. Objetivo: determinar si existe agregación de la enfermedad al identificar la contribución de factores genéticos y describir el comportamiento de factores ambientales: antecedentes prenatales y perinatales, el nivel socio-económico y el funcionamiento familiar, asociados con la esquizofrenia. Métodos: se realizó un estudio de 30 casos y 60 controles para determinar si existe agregación familiar en la esquizofrenia. El universo de estudio estuvo constituido por el total de individuos en el área de salud con el diagnóstico de esquizofrenia y antecedentes patológicos familiares de esta enfermedad. La información se recogió por medio de la entrevista. Resultados: se evidenció que existe agregación familiar de la enfermedad en las familias estudiadas; los familiares de primer grado constituyeron los más afectados. Predominó el antecedente de desnutrición materna (22 casos para el 50,0% y 26 controles para el 38,2%) así como, el bajo peso al nacer (con 17 casos para el 30,8% y 18 para el 26,4% en los controles), que es significativo. El nivel socio-económico no fue significativo. Se demostró una fuerte asociación entre este factor de riesgo y la enfermedad en las familias disfuncionales que fueron las más frecuentes (19 en los casos para el 63,3%). Conclusiones: la contribución de los factores genéticos fue determinante al predominar en las familias de primer grado afectadas, también es importante la influencia de los factores no genéticos y todo ello demuestra la necesidad de crear estrategias dirigidas al asesoramiento de las familias en riesgo de padecer esta enfermedad.

Introduction: Schizophrenia is among the most severe psychiatric disorders, the mean disease prevalence in the adult population is around 1%, without considering the race or country of study. The municipality of Holguín reports a significant number of patients. Objective: to determine whether aggregation of the disease when identifying the genetic factors as well as to describe the behavior of environmental factors (prenatal and perinatal history, socio-economic level and family functioning) associated with schizophrenia. Methods: an analytical study of 30 cases and 60 control patients to determine whether familial aggregation for schizophrenia. The study group consisted of the total number of individuals in the health area with a diagnosis of schizophrenia and pathological family history of this disease. The information was collected through an interview. Results: the results showed that there was familial aggregation of the disease in the studied families, the first-degree relatives were the most affected ones. There was a predominance of maternal malnutrition history (22 cases for 50.0% and 26 controls for 38.2%) and the low birth weight with 17 cases for 30.8% and 18 of them for 26.4% in). The socioeconomic level was not significant. The results showed the strong association between this risk factor and the disease in dysfunctional families (19 cases to 63.3%). Conclusiones: the genetic factors was determinant and nongenetic factors showed the need for strategies aimed at counseling families at risk for this disease.