Prostate cancer navigation: initial experience and association with time to care.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate factors associated with use of patient navigation in a prostate cancer population and identify whether navigation is associated with prolonged time to care. Cancer patient navigation has been shown to improve access to cancer screening, diagnosis, and treatment, but little is known about patient navigation in prostate cancer care. METHODS: All men diagnosed with localized prostate cancer between 2009 and 2015 were abstracted from the MaineHealth multi-specialty tumor registry. Regression analyses controlling for patient-, disease-, and system-level factors evaluated characteristics associated with navigation utilization. The association between navigation utilization, barriers to care, and longer time to treatment was assessed with Cox proportional hazards regression. RESULTS: Of the patient population (n = 1587), 85% of men were navigated. Navigation use was associated with earlier year of diagnosis, treatment by a high-volume urologist, and lower risk disease (p < 0.05). Treatment delay was associated with low-risk disease (vs: intermediate OR 0.62, 95% CI 0.46-0.85 and high OR 0.16, 95% CI 0.1-0.25) and receipt of navigation services (OR 1.65, 95% CI 1.12-2.45) but not distance to care, insurance, or treatment choice. CONCLUSIONS: We observed that patients with low-risk prostate cancer were more likely to utilize navigation, but traditional barriers to care were not associated with utilization. Navigation was associated with longer time to treatment, which likely reflects clinically appropriate delays associated with greater shared decision making. Time to treatment may not be the ideal metric for evaluating navigation in prostate cancer; shared decision making, patient satisfaction, and psychosocial outcomes may be more appropriate.

The bispectral index and suppression ratio are very early predictors of neurological outcome during therapeutic hypothermia after cardiac arrest.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the bispectral index (BIS) and suppression ratio (SR) as very early predictors of neurological outcome during therapeutic hypothermia after cardiac arrest. METHODS: Demographic data, BIS1, and SR1 were recorded from 97 patients after the first dose of neuromuscular blockade, with outcomes blinded, and compared to the discharge Cerebral Performance Category (CPC). Receiver-operator characteristic curves and a multiple logistic regression model were constructed to predict good (CPC 1-2, GO) and poor (CPC 3-5, PO) neurological outcomes. RESULTS: Fourteen patients were excluded from the final analysis; 33 of the remaining 83 patients (40%) were classified as GO. The BIS1 was higher in patients with GO (37 [28-40] vs. 7 [3-15], p < 0.001). BIS1 < 22 predicted PO with a likelihood ratio (LR) of 14.2 and an area under the curve (AUC) of 0.91 (95% CI 0.85-0.98, p < 0.001). SR1 > or =48 predicted PO with a LR of 12.7 and an AUC of 0.90 (95% CI 0.83-0.98, p < 0.001). Both BIS1 (DeltaAUC 0.16, p = 0.006) and SR1 (DeltaAUC 0.16, p = 0.005) predicted outcomes better than the time to return of spontaneous circulation. CONCLUSIONS: In our single-center cohort utilizing moderate sedation, the bispectral index and suppression ratio recorded after the first dose of intermittent neuromuscular blockade were accurate and very early predictors of neurological outcome during therapeutic hypothermia after cardiac arrest.