Calcium Channel Blocker Overdose: What Role Does Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation Have in Support? A Systematic Review of the Literature.

Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) has had increasing prevalence and indications in the last decade. Calcium channel blocker overdose (CCBOD) can lead to significant cardiopulmonary dysfunction and has also increased in recent years. CCBOD results in cardiac depression, vasoplegia, and hyperglycemia. Expert consensus recommends treatment with calcium, high-dose insulin, inotropes, and vasopressors. Our systematic review evaluated when to initiate ECMO in the CCBOD population and the mortality rate associated with use. Electronic literature review identified all relevant studies for CCBOD and ECMO. PRISMA guidelines for systematic review were followed. Three independent authors reviewed abstracts and full texts, and only CCB ingestion without polypharmacy was included. Two authors independently collected data, which included demographics, current medical treatments, ECMO type, and survival. From 314 abstracts, 25 papers were included with a median publication year of 2019. Twenty-six patients were included with an average age of 32.7 years and 42%/58% male/female. Average time on ECMO 4.3 days. VA and VV ECMO use were 92.3% and 7.7%, respectively, and 84.6% of patients survived to hospital discharge. Before ECMO, most patients received 4-5 medical treatments (53.8%). Our systematic review demonstrates ECMO is a newly used, yet valuable therapy for CCBOD when medical treatment fails. Survival to discharge after ECMO for CCBOD is substantially higher than standard VV or VA ECMO. Medical management is still the mainstay therapy for CCBOD, but we show that a persistently unstable patient may benefit from prompt evaluation at an ECMO center for treatment.

Trends, survival outcomes, and predictors of nonadherence to mastectomy guidelines for nonmetastatic inflammatory breast cancer.

BACKGROUND: The Current National Comprehensive Cancer Network guidelines recommend modified radical mastectomy (MRM) as the surgical treatment of choice for nonmetastatic inflammatory breast cancer (IBC). Limited studies have looked into the outcomes of breast conserving surgery (BCS) vs. MRM for IBC. METHODS: National Cancer Database (NCDB) data from 2004 to 2014 were retrospectively analyzed. Patients' demographics, tumor characteristics, and overall survival (OS) trends were compared for BCS and MRM cases of nonmetastatic IBC. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed. RESULTS: A total of 413 (3.89%) BCS and 10,197 (96.11%) MRM cases were identified. Median follow-up was 58.45 months. Compared to MRM, BCS patients were more likely to be older, be African American, have Medicare/Medicaid or be uninsured, live in lower education ZIP codes, and live in a metropolitan area (all p < 0.05). BCS rates significantly decreased from 5.84% in 2004 to 3.19% in 2014 (p < 0.001). BCS patients also were more likely to have less than 50% of the breast involved (51.57% vs. 43.88%; p = 0.0081) and were less likely to receive trimodal therapy (50.85% vs. 74.62%; p = <0.0001). The OS was significantly higher in the mastectomy group over 9 years at 62.02% vs. 54.47% in the BCS group. Additionally, in the adjusted multivariate model, BCS cases were associated with 23% higher hazards of overall mortality (p = 0.0091). CONCLUSION: BCS was performed in a limited number of cases, which decreased over the study period. The analysis identified both demographic predictors of receiving BCS and significantly lower OS for IBC patients undergoing a BCS.