Web-based mammography audit feedback.

OBJECTIVE: Interpreting screening mammography accurately is challenging and requires ongoing education to maintain and improve interpretative skills. Recognizing this, many countries with organized breast screening programs have developed audit and feedback systems using national performance data to help radiologists assess and improve their skills. We developed and tested an interactive Website to provide screening and diagnostic mammography audit feedback with comparisons to national and regional benchmarks. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Radiologists who participate in three Breast Cancer Surveillance Consortium registries in the United States were invited during 2009 and 2010 to use a Website that provides tabular and graphical displays of mammography audit reports with comparisons to national and regional performance measures. We collected data about the use and perceptions of the Website. RESULTS: Thirty-five of 111 invited radiologists used the Website from one to five times in a year. The most popular measure was sensitivity for both screening and diagnostic mammography, whereas a table with all measures was the most visited page. Of the 13 radiologists who completed the postuse survey, all found the Website easy to use and navigate, 11 found the benchmarks useful, and nine reported that they intended to improve a specific outcome measure that year. CONCLUSION: An interactive Website to provide customized mammography audit feedback reports to radiologists has the potential to be a powerful tool in improving interpretive performance. The conceptual framework of customized audit feedback reports can also be generalized to other imaging tests.

Risks of congenital malformations and perinatal events among infants exposed to calcium channel and beta-blockers during pregnancy.

PURPOSE: Calcium channel blockers and beta-blockers (BBs) are widely used during pregnancy, but data on their safety for the developing infant are scarce. We used population-based data from 5 HMOs to study risks for perinatal complications and congenital defects among infants exposed in-utero. METHODS: We studied women older than 15 years delivering an infant between 1/1/96 and 12/31/00, who had been continuously enrolled with prescription drug coverage for ≥ 1 year prior to delivery. Information on prescription drug dispensings, inpatient, and outpatient diagnoses and procedures was obtained from automated databases at each HMO. RESULTS: There were 584 full-term infants exposed during pregnancy to BBs and 804 full-term infants exposed to calcium-channel blockers, and over 75,000 unexposed mother-infant pairs with ≥ 30 days follow-up. Infants exposed to BBs in the third trimester of pregnancy had over threefold increased risk for hypoglycemia (RR 3.1; 95% CI 2.2, 4.2) and an approximately twofold increased risk for feeding problems (RR 1.8; 95% CI 1.3, 2.5). Infants exposed to calcium-channel blockers in the third trimester had an increased risk for seizures (RR 3.6 95% CI 1.3, 10.4). Chart review confirmed the majority of the exposed seizure and hypoglycemia cases. There were no increased risks for congenital anomalies among either group of infants, except for the category of upper alimentary tract anomalies; this increased risk was based on only two exposed cases. CONCLUSIONS: Infants whose mothers receive BBs are at increased risk for neonatal hypoglycemia, while those whose mothers take calcium-channel blockers are at increased risk for neonatal seizures.

Exophytic Angioleiomyoma on the Plantar Foot.

A case describing an O-to-Z double-advancement flap used to treat a 62-year-old woman with a slowly enlarging exophytic mass in the plantar aspect of the right foot is presented. Clinical details, surgical technique, and histologic photographs are described. This case report highlights the rare exophytic presentation of a pedal angioleiomyoma, which has not been described in the literature before.

Erratum.

In the paper: Smart DR, Van den Broek C, Nishi R, Cooper PD, Eastman D. Field validation of Tasmania's aquaculture industry bounce-diving schedules using Doppler analysis of decompression stress. Diving Hyperb Med. 2014 September:44(3):124-136. Numbering in the reference list starts at 3, whereas it should start from number 1. The numbering sequence in the text is correct.

Field validation of Tasmania's aquaculture industry bounce-diving schedules using Doppler analysis of decompression stress.

INTRODUCTION: Tasmania's aquaculture industry produces over 40,000 tonnes of fish annually, valued at over AUD500M. Aquaculture divers perform repetitive, short-duration bounce dives in fish pens to depths up to 21 metres' sea water (msw). Past high levels of decompression illness (DCI) may have resulted from these 'yo-yo' dives. This study aimed to assess working divers, using Doppler ultrasonic bubble detection, to determine if yo-yo diving was a risk factor for DCI, determine dive profiles with acceptable risk and investigate productivity improvement. METHODS: Field data were collected from working divers during bounce diving at marine farms near Hobart, Australia. Ascent rates were less than 18 m·min⁻¹, with routine safety stops (3 min at 3 msw) during the final ascent. The Kisman-Masurel method was used to grade bubbling post dive as a means of assessing decompression stress. In accordance with Defence Research and Development Canada Toronto practice, dives were rejected as excessive risk if more than 50% of scores were over Grade 2. RESULTS: From 2002 to 2008, Doppler data were collected from 150 bounce-dive series (55 divers, 1,110 bounces). Three series of bounce profiles, characterized by in-water times, were validated: 13-15 msw, 10 bounces inside 75 min; 16-18 msw, six bounces inside 50 min; and 19-21 msw, four bounces inside 35 min. All had median bubble grades of 0. Further evaluation validated two successive series of bounces. Bubble grades were consistent with low-stress dive profiles. Bubble grades did not correlate with the number of bounces, but did correlate with ascent rate and in-water time. CONCLUSIONS: These data suggest bounce diving was not a major factor causing DCI in Tasmanian aquaculture divers. Analysis of field data has improved industry productivity by increasing the permissible number of bounces, compared to earlier empirically-derived tables, without compromising safety. The recommended Tasmanian Bounce Diving Tables provide guidance for bounce diving to a depth of 21 msw, and two successive bounce dive series in a day's diving.

Hyperbaric chamber attendant safety I: Doppler analysis of decompression stress in multiplace chamber attendants.

INTRODUCTION: Incidences of decompression sickness of 0.76% have been reported in hyperbaric attendants exposed to routine 243 kPa treatment tables. Occupational health risks of this magnitude are not acceptable in routine clinical practice. Significant variations in procedures are therefore found between institutions in an attempt to enhance staff safety. In extreme cases, the use of multiplace chambers has been abandoned. Doppler ultrasound provides an objective tool to assess the sub-clinical decompression stress associated with any particular exposure. AIMS: To assess the decompression stress imposed upon staff exposed to our routine 243 kPa table and to elucidate demographic details within the attendant population that impact upon that stress. DESIGN: prospective observational cohort study. Profile: 243 kPa for 90 min with a 20 min decompression on oxygen. SUBJECTS: 28 nursing and medical personnel routinely undertaking patient care under hyperbaric conditions. PROCEDURE: Doppler assessment at 20 min intervals for up to 120 min post-exposure. Scoring: aural grading of intravascular bubbles using the Kisman-Masurel (K-M) scoring system; 163 exposures were scrutinized in this manner. RESULTS: 68% of exposures resulted in 'low' (K-M Grades 0-I), 22% in 'intermediate' (Grade II) and 10% in 'high' sub-clinical decompression stress (Grades III-IV). Female gender and increasing age, weight and exposure frequency showed trends towards higher bubble grades. There were no cases of clinical decompression sickness. CONCLUSIONS: Our standard 243 kPa table conforms to DCIEM definitions of 'acceptable' decompression stress (Grade II or fewer bubbles in ≥50% of the subjects). Significant inter- and intra-individual variability was evident even within this one, tightly controlled dive profile.