Angiography-derived assessment of coronary microcirculatory resistance in patients with suspected myocardial ischaemia and non-obstructive coronary arteries.

BACKGROUND: Myocardial ischaemia with non-obstructive coronary arteries (INOCA) represents a challenging and frequent, but largely underdiagnosed, condition. AIMS: We aimed to investigate the feasibility and diagnostic value of angiography-derived coronary microcirculatory resistance in patients with INOCA syndrome. METHODS: This is an investigator-driven, prospective and blinded study. The diagnostic yield of angiography-derived index of coronary microcirculatory resistance (angio-IMR) was investigated against thermodilution-derived IMR (thermo-IMR) in patients with clinically indicated coronary angiography due to suspected myocardial ischaemia and angiographically normal or non-obstructive coronary arteries. The angio-IMR was derived from resting angiograms (contrast-flow angio-IMR [cAngio-IMR]) by an expert analyst blinded to the thermo-IMR. An independent, blinded, physiology core laboratory analysed the raw intracoronary physiology data and provided the final thermo-IMR values. RESULTS: A total of 104 patients (108 coronary vessels) were analysed after fulfilling predefined inclusion criteria. Most patients were female (67%). Obstructive epicardial disease was angiographically (percent diameter stenosis <50%) and physiologically (fractional flow reserve>0.80) ruled out in all cases. Median thermo-IMR and cAngio-IMR were 16.6 (12.7, 23.0) and 16.8 (12.8, 23.1) units, respectively (median difference -0.31, 95% confidence interval: -1.53 to 1.00; p=0.654). cAngio-IMR showed good correlation (Pearson coefficient 0.76; p<0.001), agreement (mean bias 0.4), discriminatory power (area under the curve from the receiver operator characteristics 0.865; p<0.001) and accuracy (85%), compared to thermo-IMR (≥25 U). CONCLUSIONS: Evaluating coronary microcirculatory resistance in patients with INOCA syndrome using cAngio-IMR is feasible and accurate. By circumventing the need of coronary instrumentation and hyperaemic drugs, this method may facilitate the assessment of coronary microcirculatory resistance in patients with suspected INOCA. CLINICALTRIALS: gov: NCT04827498.

Mortalidad durante la primera hospitalización en una población que inicia diálisis crónica en un hospital general / Mortality during first hospital admission in a population that begins chronic dialysis in a general hospital

Introducción: El Ministerio de Salud del Perú atiende a población que no cuenta con seguro social y carece de un programa nacional de diálisis, por lo que la atención es limitada a hospitales que cuentan con centros de diálisis. Objetivos: Determinar la mortalidad en la primera hospitalización de pacientes incidentes de diálisis en una población sin seguro social. Diseño: Estudio descriptivo. Lugar: Hospital Nacional 2 de Mayo, Lima, Perú. Participantes: Pacientes con enfermedad renal crónica. Intervenciones: Se estudió a los pacientes que iniciaron diálisis desde enero hasta diciembre del 2012. Para describir se utilizó promedios, porcentajes, desviaciones estándar. Principales medidas de resultados: Características clínicas de los pacientes que iniciaron diálisis. Resultados: Se estudió 105 pacientes con edad promedio de 55,5 años; el 62,9% fue hombre. La etiología más frecuente fue la etiología no filiada (39,1%), seguido de la nefropatía diabética (31,4%). El 71,7% no se atendió previamente en este hospital. El 46,7% conoció su diagnóstico de enfermedad renal crónica durante su hospitalización y 75,2% supo que requería diálisis durante su hospitalización. El 80% no había tenido evaluación nefrológica previa, 89% ingresó por emergencia, con una estancia hospitalaria promedio de 16 días. El catéter venoso central transitorio fue el acceso vascular más usado (96,2%). Las principales indicaciones de diálisis fueron: encefalopatía urémica (59,1%) y acidosis metabólica severa (39,1%). El 23,3% falleció durante su primera hospitalización. Conclusiones: El control prediálisis de los pacientes es deficiente. Cerca de un cuarto de ellos muere durante su primera hospitalización.

Introduction: The Health Ministry attends Peruvian population without social security and without a national dialysis program. Attention is limited to a few hospitals with dialysis centers. objectives: To determine mortality in the first hospitalization for dialysis in a population without social security. design: Descriptive study. Setting: Hospital Nacional Dos de Mayo, Lima, Peru. Patients: Patients with chronic renal disease. Interventions: We studied patients who started dialysis from January to December, 2012. We described averages, percentages, standard deviations. Main outcome measures: Clinical characteristics of patients starting dialysis. results: In 105 patients studied mean age was 55.5 years, 62.9% were men. Most common etiology was not determined (39.1%) followed by diabetic nephropathy (31.4%); 71.7% were not previously attended at our hospital; 46.7% knew their diagnosis of chronic kidney disease, 75.2% learned he required dialysis during hospitalization; 80% had no previous nephrology evaluation, 89% was admitted by emergency, with a mean hospital stay of 16 days. Transient central venous catheter was the most used vascular access (96.2%). Main indications for dialysis were uremic encephalopathy (59.1%) and severe metabolic acidosis (39.1%); 23.3% died during their first hospitalization. Conclusions: Patients’ pre dialysis control was poor. About a quarter of them died during their first hospitalization.

Code status discussions at hospital admission are not associated with patient and surrogate satisfaction with hospital care: results from the multicenter hospitalist study.

BACKGROUND: Physicians may avoid code status discussions for fear of decreasing patient or surrogate satisfaction. METHODS: Charts of patients admitted to medical services at 6 university hospitals were reviewed for documentation of a code status discussion in the first 24 hours of admission. Satisfaction with care provided during the hospitalization was assessed by telephone 1 month after discharge. RESULTS: Of the 11 717 patients with 1-month follow-up, 1090 (9.3%) had a code status discussion documented. Patient or surrogate satisfaction did not differ by whether a discussion was documented. The lack of association persisted after adjusting for patient's severity of illness and using propensity adjustment for likelihood of having a discussion. CONCLUSIONS: Discussing code status on admission to the inpatient setting did not affect patient or surrogate satisfaction.

Factors associated with discussion of care plans and code status at the time of hospital admission: results from the Multicenter Hospitalist Study.

BACKGROUND: Hospital admission is a time when patients are sickest and also often encountering an entirely new set of caregivers. As a result, understanding and documenting a patient's care preferences at hospital admission is critically important. OBJECTIVE: To understand factors associated with documentation of care planning discussions in patients admitted to general medical services at 6 academic medical centers. DESIGN: Observational cohort study using data collected during the Multicenter Hospitalist Study, conducted between July 1, 2002 and June 30, 2004. SETTING: Prospective trial enrolling patients admitted to general medicine services at 6 university-based teaching hospitals. PATIENTS: Patients were eligible for this study if they were 18 years of age or older, admitted to a hospitalist or nonhospitalist physician, and able to give informed consent. MEASUREMENTS: Presence of chart documentation that the admitting team had discussed care plans with the patient within the first 24 hours of hospitalization. Notations such as "full code" were not counted as a discussion, whereas notations such as "discussed care wishes and plan with patient" were counted. RESULTS: A total of 17,097 patients over the age of 18 gave informed consent and completed an interview and chart abstraction; of these, 1776 (10.3%) had a code status discussion (CD) documented in the first 24 hours of their admission. Patients with a CD were older (69 years vs. 56 years, P < 0.0001), more often white (52.8% vs. 43.3%, P < 0.0001), and more likely to have cancer (19.8% vs. 11.4%, P < 0.0001), or depression (35.1% vs. 30.9%, P < 0.0001). There was marked variability in CD documentation across sites of enrollment (2.8%-24.9%, P < 0.0001). Despite strong associations seen in unadjusted comparisons, in multivariable models many socioeconomic factors, functional status, comorbid illness, and documentation of a surrogate decision maker were only moderately associated with a CD (adjusted odds ratios all less than 2.0). However, patients' site of enrollment (odds ratios 1.74-5.14) and informal notations describing prehospital care wishes (eg, orders for "do not resuscitate"/"do not intubate;" odds ratios 3.22-11.32 compared with no preexisting documentation) were powerfully associated with CD documentation. Site remained a powerful influence even in patients with no documented prehospital wishes. LIMITATIONS: Our results are derived from a relatively small number of academic sites, and we cannot connect documentation differences to differences in patient outcomes. CONCLUSIONS: Documentation of a CD at admission was more strongly associated with informal documentation of prehospital care wishes and where the patient was hospitalized than legal care planning documents (such as durable power of attorney), or comorbid illnesses. Efforts to improve communication between hospitalists and their patients might target local documentation practices and culture.