Suction forces generated by passive bile bag drainage on a model of post-subdural hematoma evacuation.

BACKGROUND: Passive drainage systems are commonly used after subdural hematoma evacuation but there is a dearth of published data regarding the suction forces created. We set out to quantify the suction forces generated by a passive drainage system. METHOD: We created a model of passive drainage after subdural hematoma evacuation. We measured the maximum suction force generated with a bile bag drain for both empty drain tubing and fluid-filled drain tube causing a siphoning effect. We took measurements at varying heights of the bile bag to analyze if bile bag height changed suction forces generated. RESULTS: An empty bile bag with no fluid in the drainage tube connected to a rigid, fluid-filled model creates minimal suction force of 0.9 mmHg (95% CI 0.64-1.16 mmHg). When fluid fills the drain tubing, a siphoning effect is created and can generate suction forces ranging from 18.7 to 30.6 mmHg depending on the relative position of the bile bag and filled amount of the bile bag. The suction forces generated are statistically different if the bile bag is 50 cm below, level with or 50 cm above the experimental model. CONCLUSION: Passive bile bag drainage does not generate significant suction on a fluid-filled rigid model if the drain tubing is empty. If fluid fills the drain tubing then siphoning occurs and can increase the suction force of a passive bile bag drainage system to levels comparable to partially filled Jackson-Pratt bulb drainage.

Rosai-Dorfman disease presenting as a breast mass and enlarged axillary lymph node mimicking malignancy: a case report and review of the literature.

Rosai-Dorfman disease (also called sinus histiocytosis with massive lymphadenopathy) involves lymph nodes or lymph nodes with extranodal sites. We present a unique case of a patient presenting with a breast mass and axillary lymphadenopathy, mimicking malignancy clinically and radiographically. Core needle biopsies of the breast and axillary lymph node showed histologic features concerning the lymphoma. However, excisional biopsy specimen demonstrated characteristic features of Rosai-Dorfman disease. The disease recurred locally 6 months later in the same breast, 1 month later in the contralateral breast, and 11 month later in the subcutaneous tissue of left flank. A review of the literature of Rosai-Dorfman disease involving the breast is also presented.

Review of psychiatric comorbidities and their associations with opioid use in elective lumbar spine surgery.

The opioid epidemic is an ongoing concern in the United States and efforts to ameliorate this crisis are underway on multiple fronts. Opiate use is an important consideration for patients undergoing lumbar spine surgery with concurrent psychiatric diagnoses and more information is needed regarding the factors involved in these patients. That information may help guide opioid prescribing practices for individual patients with certain psychiatric conditions that are undergoing these procedures. This study was done to identify psychiatric conditions that are associated with preoperative and postoperative opioid use in this cohort of veteran patients undergoing elective lumbar spine surgery.A 3 month preoperative and 3 month postoperative chart review was conducted on 25 patients per year who underwent elective lumbar spine surgery over a 16-year period at the Veterans Affairs Nebraska-Western Iowa Healthcare Center (n = 376 after exclusion criteria applied). The association between psychiatric comorbidities and use of opioids during the 90-day period after surgery was assessed using a linear model that adjusted for surgical type, opioid use prior to surgery, and other relevant comorbidities.Patients are more likely to use opioids preoperatively if they have major depression (P = .02), hepatitis C (P = .01), or musculoskeletal disorders (P = .04). PTSD (P = .02) and lumbar fusion surgery (P < .0001) are associated with increased postoperative use, after adjusting for preoperative use and other comorbidities.Certain psychiatric comorbidities are significantly correlated with opioid use for this cohort of lumbar spine surgery patients in the preoperative and postoperative periods. Awareness of an individual's psychiatric comorbidity burden may help guide opioid prescription use.

Pilot project to assess and improve neurosurgery resident and staff perception of feedback to residents for self-improvement goal formation.

OBJECTIVE: The Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) has pushed for more frequent and comprehensive feedback for residents during their training, but there is scant evidence for how neurosurgery residents view the current feedback system as it applies to providing information for self-improvement and goal formation. The authors sought to assess neurosurgery resident and staff perceptions of the current resident feedback system in providing specific, meaningful, achievable, realistic, and timely (SMART) goals. The authors then created a pilot project to improve the most unfavorably viewed aspect of the feedback system. METHODS: The authors conducted an anonymous survey of neurosurgery residents and staff at an academic medical institution to assess SMART goals for resident feedback and used the results to create a pilot intervention to address the most unfavorably viewed aspect of the feedback system. The authors then conducted a postintervention survey to see if perceptions had improved for the target of the intervention. RESULTS: Neurosurgery residents and staff completed an anonymous online survey, for which the results indicated that resident feedback was not occurring in a timely manner. The authors created a simple anonymous feedback form. The form was distributed monthly to neurosurgery residents, neurosurgical staff, and nurses, and the results were reported monthly to each resident for 6 months. A postintervention survey was then administered, and the results indicated that the opinions of the neurosurgery residents and staff on the timeliness of resident feedback had changed from a negative to a nonnegative opinion (p = 0.01). CONCLUSIONS: The required ACGME feedback methods may not be providing adequate feedback for goal formation for self-improvement for neurosurgery residents. Simple interventions, such as anonymous feedback questionnaires, can improve neurosurgery resident and staff perception of feedback to residents for self-improvement and goal formation.

Association of Preoperative Diagnosis with Clinical Yield of Muscle Biopsy.

BACKGROUND: Muscle biopsy is a common diagnostic marker for myopathy assessment; however, it has a relatively low pathologic yield of less than 60%. Additionally, both diagnostic and non-diagnostic muscle biopsies can provide guidance for treatment, i.e, provide therapeutic usefulness. PURPOSE: We designed a study to determine if having a documented definitive preoperative differential diagnosis would affect the pathologic yield and therapeutic usefulness of muscle biopsies for myopathy.  Methods: This was a retrospective, single institution chart review of 106 consecutive muscle biopsies in adult patients, which looked at the presence or absence of a definitive preoperative differential diagnosis and relation to diagnostic yield and therapeutic usefulness of muscle biopsies.  Results: Of 106 muscle biopsies, 50 biopsies (47%) had a definitive preoperative differential diagnosis, 52 biopsies (49%) returned definitive pathology, and 93 biopsies (88%) provided therapeutic information. The presence of a documented differential diagnosis increased the odds of pathologic yield by 3.73 (p-value < 0.01) and therapeutic usefulness by 3.40 (p-value 0.08). If pathology was diagnostic then the therapeutic usefulness of the biopsy was 4.54 times more likely (p-value < 0.01).  Conclusion: Documentation of a definitive preoperative differential diagnosis, when pursuing muscle biopsy for myopathy, is associated with an increased pathologic diagnostic yield. Definitive pathology was associated with an increase in the therapeutic usefulness of the muscle biopsy.

Referring Service Effect on Muscle Biopsy Diagnosis and Management in Myopathy.

Introduction Requests for muscle biopsy for evaluation of myopathy originate from a variety of different specialties. It is unknown whether the specialty of the referring service affects the likelihood of diagnostic biopsy or the therapeutic usefulness of a biopsy. Methods We reviewed 106 consecutive muscle biopsies requested by healthcare providers in neurology, rheumatology, family medicine, oncology, and gastroenterology. We tested for an association between referring service and whether the biopsy yielded a definitive pathology result or provided therapeutically useful results. Results Half of the biopsies (49%) returned definitive pathology and 88% of the biopsies provided information that contributed to therapeutic decisions. The diagnostic yield for muscle biopsies referred by different services was not statistically significant (p-value 0.1344) nor was the therapeutic yield statistically significant for muscle biopsies referred by different services (p-value 0.5525). Discussion The specialty of the service that requests a muscle biopsy does not influence the likelihood of obtaining a definitive pathological diagnosis or therapeutically useful information. Other factors may be more important in determining the likelihood of obtaining a clinically useful biopsy result.

Marginal En Bloc Resection of C2-C3 Chordoma with Bilateral Vertebral Artery Preservation and Mesh Cage Reconstruction with Review of Previously Published Cases.

BACKGROUND: Chordomas arise from remnants of the notochord and occur throughout the neuroaxis. En bloc resection of chordomas can prove especially challenging in the upper cervical spine secondary to the unique structural anatomy and intimate relationship to the vertebral arteries and spinal cord. CASE DESCRIPTION: We describe the resection of a C2-C3 chordoma in a 55-year-old woman in 2-stage fashion with preservation of the vertebral arteries. First, a posterior instrumented fusion and removal of the posterior elements was performed, followed by an anterior transmandibular en bloc resection with cage reconstruction with kick-plate support achievable with off-the-shelf products. CONCLUSIONS: Chordomas in the upper cervical spine pose a surgical challenge but are amenable to en bloc resection. With careful planning and intraoperative adaptability, the surgeon can achieve a suitable reconstruction with off-the-shelf products.