Risk factors for neurosurgical intervention within 48 hours of admission for patients with mild traumatic brain injury and isolated subdural hematoma.

OBJECTIVE: The objective was to identify demographic, clinical, and radiographic risk factors for neurosurgical intervention within 48 hours of admission in patients with mild traumatic brain injury and isolated subdural hematoma. METHODS: The authors conducted a multicenter retrospective cohort study of all trauma patients admitted to 6 level I/II trauma centers who met the following criteria: admitted between January 1, 2016, and December 31, 2020, age ≥ 18 years, ICD-10 diagnosis code for isolated subdural hematoma, available initial head imaging, initial Glasgow Coma Scale score of 13-15, and arrival at the hospital within 48 hours of injury. Patients were excluded for skull fracture, non-subdural hematoma, and absence of neurosurgical consultation. The study outcome was neurosurgical intervention within 48 hours of hospital admission. Multivariable logistic regression with backward selection examined 30 demographic, clinical, and radiographic risk factors for neurosurgery. RESULTS: In total, 1333 patients were included, of whom 117 (8.8%) received a neurosurgical intervention. When only demographic and clinical variables were considered, sex, mechanism of injury, and hours from injury to initial head imaging were significant covariates (area under the receiver operating characteristic curve [AUROC] [95% CI] 0.70 [0.65-0.75]). When only radiographic risk factors were considered, only maximum hemorrhage thickness (in mm) and midline shift (in mm) were independent risk factors for the outcome (AUROC 0.95 [0.92-0.97]). When all demographic, clinical, and radiographic variables were considered together, advanced directive, Injury Severity Score, midline shift, and maximum hemorrhage thickness were identified as significant risk factors for neurosurgical intervention within 48 hours of hospital admission (AUROC 0.95 [0.94-0.97]). CONCLUSIONS: In the setting of mild traumatic brain injury with isolated subdural hematoma, radiographic risk factors were shown to be stronger than demographic and clinical variables in understanding future risk of neurosurgical intervention. These final radiographic risk factors should be considered in the creation of future prediction models and used to increase the efficiency of existing management guidelines.

The Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Resident Education and Burnout.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the residency experience for physicians across all specialties. There have been studies examining resident perspectives on changes in curriculum and clinical experiences due to the pandemic; however, little research has been conducted on how residents in different specialties interpreted their educational experience and rates of burnout during the pandemic. Methods: We extended surveys to 281 residents across 15 separate residency programs between November 17, 2020, and December 20, 2020. The questions pertained to burnout and the effects of the pandemic on their careers. Differences between general and specialty medicine resident responses were analyzed using descriptive statistics and the Mann-Whitney U test. Results: The final analysis included 105 responses (40% response rate). We received 62 surveys (59%) from general medicine residents and 43 surveys (41%) from specialty medicine residents, with a higher response rate from junior level trainees in both groups. We found no significant differences between general and specialty residents on the level of burnout, impact on clinical experience, or future career due to COVID-19, though there was a significant difference between resident groups on the perceived impact of COVID-19 on learning. Conclusion: Specialty medicine residents reported a negative perception of the pandemic's impact on their learning during residency suggesting a greater impact on training than was perceived by the general medicine residents. Residents from general and specialty medicine programs reported similar levels of burnout and similar perceptions of the pandemic's impact on their clinical experience and future career prospects. Understanding the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on resident education and well-being should serve graduate medical education administrators well and prepare them for future interruptions in the traditional learning process.

A joinpoint analysis examining trends in firearm injuries at six us trauma centers from 2016 to 2022.

BACKGROUND: There is an epidemic of firearm injuries in the United States since the mid-2000s. Thus, we sought to examine whether hospitalization from firearm injuries have increased over time, and to examine temporal changes in patient demographics, firearm injury intent, and injury severity. METHODS: This was a multicenter, retrospective, observational cohort study of patients hospitalized with a traumatic injury to six US level I trauma centers between 1/1/2016 and 6/30/2022. ICD-10-CM cause codes were used to identify and describe firearm injuries. Temporal trends were compared for demographics (age, sex, race, insured status), intent (assault, unintentional, self-harm, legal intervention, and undetermined), and severity (death, ICU admission, severe injury (injury severity score ≥ 16), receipt of blood transfusion, mechanical ventilation, and hospital and ICU LOS (days). Temporal trends were examined over 13 six-month intervals (H1, January-June; H2, July-December) using joinpoint regression and reported as semi-annual percent change (SPC); significance was p < 0.05. RESULTS: Firearm injuries accounted for 2.6% (1908 of 72,474) of trauma hospitalizations. The rate of firearm injuries initially declined from 2016-H1 to 2018-H2 (SPC = - 4.0%, p = 0.002), followed by increased rates from 2018-H2 to 2020-H1 (SPC = 9.0%, p = 0.005), before stabilizing from 2020-H1 to 2022-H1 (0.5%, p = 0.73). NH black patients had the greatest hospitalization rate from firearm injuries (14.0%) and were the only group to demonstrate a temporal increase (SPC = 6.3%, p < 0.001). The proportion of uninsured patients increased (SPC = 2.3%, p = 0.02) but there were no temporal changes by age or sex. ICU admission rates declined (SPC = - 2.2%, p < 0.001), but ICU LOS increased (SPC = 2.8%, p = 0.04). There were no significant changes over time in rates of death (SPC = 0.3%), severe injury (SPC = 1.6%), blood transfusion (SPC = 0.6%), and mechanical ventilation (SPC = 0.6%). When examined by intent, self-harm injuries declined over time (SPC = - 4.1%, p < 0.001), assaults declined through 2019-H2 (SPC = - 5.6%, p = 0.01) before increasing through 2022-H1 (SPC = 6.5%, p = 0.01), while undetermined injuries increased through 2019-H1 (SPC = 24.1%, p = 0.01) then stabilized (SPC = - 4.5%, p = 0.39); there were no temporal changes in unintentional injuries or legal intervention. CONCLUSIONS: Hospitalizations from firearm injuries are increasing following a period of declines, driven by increases among NH Black patients. Trauma systems need to consider these changing trends to best address the needs of the injured population.

Characterizing Interhospital Variability in Neurosurgical Interventions for Patients with Mild Traumatic Brain Injury and Intracranial Hemorrhage.

The objective of this study was to quantify nation-wide interhospital variation in neurosurgical intervention risk by intracranial hemorrhage (ICH) type in the setting of mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI). This was a retrospective cohort study of adult (≥18 years) trauma patients included in the National Trauma Data Bank from 2007 to 2019 with an emergency department Glasgow Coma Scale score 13-15, diagnosed ICH, no skull fracture. The primary outcome was neurosurgical intervention. Interhospital variation was assessed by examining the best linear unbiased predictors (BLUPs) obtained from mixed-effects logistic regression with random slopes and intercepts for hospitals and covariates for time and 14 demographic, injury, and hospital characteristics; one model per ICH type. Intercept BLUPs are estimates of how different each hospital is from the average hospital (after covariate adjustment). The study population included 49,220 (7%) neurosurgical interventions among 666,842 patients in 1060 hospitals. In 2019, after adjusting for patient case-mix and hospital characteristics, the percentage of hospitals with hemorrhage-specific neurosurgical intervention risk significantly different from the average hospital was as follows: isolated unspecified hemorrhage (0% of 995 hospitals); isolated contusion/laceration (0.54% of 929); isolated epidural hemorrhage (0.39% of 778); isolated subarachnoid hemorrhage (0.10% of 1002); multiple hemorrhages (2.49% of 963); and isolated subdural hemorrhage (16.25% of 1028). In the setting of mTBI, isolated subdural hemorrhages were the only ICH type to have considerable interhospital variability. Causes for this significant variation should be elucidated and might include changing hemorrhage characteristics and practice patterns over time.

Significant National Declines in Neurosurgical Intervention for Mild Traumatic Brain Injury with Intracranial Hemorrhage: A 13-Year Review of the National Trauma Data Bank.

There have been large changes over the past several decades to patient demographics in those presenting with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) with intracranial hemorrhage (ICH; complicated mTBI) with the potential to affect the use of neurosurgical interventions. The objective of this study was to characterize long-term trends of neurosurgical interventions in patients with complicated mTBI using 13 years of the National Trauma Data Bank (NTDB). This was a retrospective cohort study of adult (≥18 years) trauma patients included in the NTDB from 2007 to 2019 who had an emergency department Glasgow Coma Scale score 13-15, an intracranial hemorrhage (ICH), and no skull fracture. Neurosurgical intervention time trends were quantified for each ICH type using mixed-effects logistic regression with random slopes and intercepts for hospitals, as well as covariates for time and 14 demographic, injury, and hospital characteristics. In total, 666,842 ICH patients across 1060 hospitals were included. The four most common hemorrhages were isolated subdural hemorrhage (36%), isolated subarachnoid hemorrhage (24%), multiple hemorrhage types (24%), and isolated unspecified hemorrhages (9%). Overall, 49,220 (7%) patients received a neurosurgical intervention. After adjustment, the odds of neurosurgical intervention significantly decreased every 10 years by the following odds ratios (odds ratio [95% confidence interval]): 0.85 [0.78, 0.93] for isolated subdural, 0.63 [0.51, 0.77] for isolated subarachnoid, 0.50 [0.41, 0.62] for isolated unspecified, and 0.79 [0.73, 0.86] for multiple hemorrhages. There were no significant temporal trends in neurosurgical intervention odds for isolated epidural hemorrhages (0.87 [0.68, 1.12]) or isolated contusions/lacerations (1.03 [0.75, 1.41]). In the setting of complicated mTBI, the four most common ICH types were associated with significant declines in the odds of neurosurgical intervention over the past decade. It remains unclear whether changing hemorrhage characteristics or practice patterns drove these trends.

An incisional hernia containing a gangrenous gallbladder: a case report and review of the literature.

We present a 76-year-old male who presented to the emergency department with 24 hours of sudden onset, severe abdominal pain. Physical exam and laboratory analysis indicated acute cholecystitis, and a CT scan demonstrated a ventral hernia containing an inflamed gallbladder. This patient was managed operatively with an open cholecystectomy. The ventral hernia was not repaired at the index operation in the setting of frank gallbladder necrosis. The patient recovered well after a short post-operative stay. This report is intended to illustrate an unusual presentation of acute, gangrenous cholecystitis with herniation through the ventral abdominal wall.

Six-year national study of damage control laparotomy and the effect of repeat re-exploration on rate of infectious complications.

BACKGROUND: Damage control laparotomy (DCL) is a life-saving procedure in patients with abdominal hemorrhage. After DCL, patients are sometimes left with an open abdomen (OA) so they may undergo multiple exploratory laparotomies (EXLAP), or re-explorations. Patients with OA are at increased risk of infectious complications (ICs). The association between number of re-explorations after DCL and the number of ICs is not clear. We hypothesized that each additional re-exploration increases the risk of developing IC. METHODS: This 6-year retrospective cohort study included patients aged ≥16 years from the NTDB who had DCL defined as EXLAP within 2 hours of arrival (ICD-9: 54.11, 54.12, 54.19) with at least one re-exploration. The primary outcome was IC (ie, superficial surgical site infection (SSI), organ space SSI, deep SSI, sepsis, pneumonia, or catheter-related bloodstream infection), examined dichotomously (present/absent) and ordinally as the number of ICs. Multivariate Poisson regression was used to assess the association between number of re-explorations and number of ICs. Significance was assigned at p<0.01. RESULTS: There were 7431 patients who underwent DCL; 2509 (34%) patients developed at least one IC. The rate of IC was lowest in patients who were closed during the first re-exploration (27%) and significantly increased with each re-exploration to 59% in patients who had five or more re-explorations (Cochran-Armitage trend p<0.001). After adjustment, there was 14% increased risk of an additional IC with each re-exploration (p<0.001). DISCUSSION: For patients requiring DCL, each re-exploration of the abdomen is associated with increased rate of ICs. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: III, retrospective epidemiological study.

Characterizing the HER2/neu status and metastatic potential of breast cancer stem/progenitor cells.

INTRODUCTION: Treatment resistance, long latency, and high recurrence rates suggest that breast cancers arise from defective breast stem cells. HYPOTHESIS: Within cancers, subpopulations of cells will demonstrate differences in stem/progenitor potential, HER2/neu amplification, and gene expression. Related cells will be found in normal breast tissue. METHODS: ER-/PR-/HER2/neu + breast cancer cells were flow-sorted into subpopulations: (A) CD49f(+) CD24(-), (B) CD49f(+)CD24(+), (C) CD49f CD24(-), and (D) CD49f(-)CD24(+). Gel matrix cell invasion, fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) HER2/neu amplification, and qRT-PCR gene expression were measured in all groups. Cells from sorted groups were implanted into rat brains. Resultant tumors were analyzed by immunohistochemistry (IHC) and FISH. Normal breast tissue was examined by IHC. RESULTS: Tumor development varied among sorted groups (25-75%), but was highest in group A. Tumor cells were mostly CD49f(-)CD24(-), with variable fractions of other stem/progenitor cells. Tumors showed HER2/neu amplification, but fewer chromosome 17 per cell than inoculates. Group A tumors exhibited cells with normal chromosome 17 copy number and near normal HER2/neu amplification. Cell invasion was 61% higher in unsorted cells and 34-42% in sorted groups compared with controls. Sorted groups showed significantly different expression of development, proliferation, and invasion associated genes. In normal breast tissue, CD49f(+) cells were identified in CD14(+) CK19(-) basal epithelial layers of mammary glands; these were 95% CD24(+) and 60% CD44(+). CONCLUSIONS: Breast cancer stem/progenitor cell populations differ in tumor-initiating potential but are not solely responsible for metastasis. Cancer stem/progenitor cells are less polyploid than cancer cells in general and may not be HER2/neu amplified. In normal breast tissue, breast stem/progenitor cell-like populations are present.

Efficiency of Core Biopsy for BI-RADS-5 Breast Lesions.

Stereotactic biopsy has proven more cost effective for biopsy of lesions associated with moderately suspicious mammograms. Data regarding selection of stereotactic biopsy (CORE) instead of excisional biopsy (EB) as the first diagnostic procedure in patients with nonpalpable breast lesions and highest suspicion breast imaging-reporting and data system (BI-RADS)-5 mammograms are sparse. Records from a regional health system radiology database were screened for mammograms associated with image-guided biopsy. A total of 182 nonpalpable BI-RADS-5 lesions were sampled in 178 patients over 5 years, using CORE or EB. Initial surgical margins, number of surgeries, time from initial procedure to last related surgical procedure, and hospital and professional charges for related admissions were compared using chi-squared, t-test, and Wilcoxon Mann-Whitney tests. A total of 108 CORE and 74 EB were performed as the first diagnostic procedure. Invasive or in situ carcinoma was diagnosed in 156 (86%) of all biopsies, 95 in CORE and 61 in EB groups. Negative margins of the first surgical procedure were more frequent in CORE (n = 70, 74%) versus EB (n = 17, 28%), p < 0.05. Use of CORE was associated with fewer total surgical procedures per lesion (1.29 +/- 0.05 versus 1.8 +/- 0.05, p < 0.05). Time of initial diagnostic procedure to final treatment did not vary significantly according to group (27 +/- 2 days versus 22 +/- 2 days, CORE versus EB). Mean charges including the diagnostic procedure and all subsequent surgeries were not different between CORE and EB groups ($10,500 +/- 300 versus $11,500 +/- 500, p = 0.08). Use of CORE as the first procedure in patients with highly suspicious mammograms is associated with improved pathologic margins and need for fewer surgical procedures than EB, and should be considered the preferred initial diagnostic approach.

Incidence and outcomes of contralateral breast cancers.

BACKGROUND: The significance of a contralateral breast cancer is largely unknown, making prophylactic mastectomy controversial. METHODS: Differences between stages of initial and contralateral cancers were determined by t test. Survival distributions were compared by log-rank analyses and compared with Surveillance Epidemiology and End Results data for unilateral cancers. RESULTS: Metachronous contralateral cancers occurred at a rate of .13% per year and were of significantly lower stage. Metachronous cancers adversely impacted survival for patients with low-stage initial cancers, but the interval between cancers was less than 36 months. Synchronous tumors occurred in 2.3% of patients; survival was worse than for patients with metachronous cancers. CONCLUSIONS: Prophylactic mastectomy is unlikely to be beneficial because of the lower stages and low incidence of second cancers, even for patients with initial low-stage cancers.