Thoracic cavity irrigation prevents retained hemothorax and decreases surgical intervention in trauma patients.

INTRODUCTION: Retained hemothorax (HTX) is a common complication following thoracic trauma. Small studies demonstrate the benefit of thoracic cavity irrigation at the time of tube thoracostomy (TT) for the prevention of retained HTX. We sought to assess the effectiveness of chest irrigation in preventing retained HTX leading to a secondary surgical intervention. METHODS: We performed a single-center retrospective study from 2017 to 2021 at a Level I trauma center, comparing bedside thoracic cavity irrigation via TT versus no irrigation. Using the trauma registry, patients with traumatic HTX were identified. Exclusion criteria were TT placement at an outside hospital, no TT within 24 hours of admission, thoracotomy or video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery (VATS) prior to or within 6 hours after TT placement, VATS as part of rib fixation or diaphragmatic repair, and death within 96 hours of admission. Bivariate and multivariable analyses were conducted. RESULTS: A total of 370 patients met the inclusion criteria, of whom 225 (61%) were irrigated. Patients who were irrigated were more likely to suffer a penetrating injury (41% vs. 30%, p = 0.03) and less likely to have a flail chest (10% vs. 21%, p = 0.01). On bivariate analysis, irrigation was associated with lower rates of VATS (6% vs. 19%, p < 0.001) and retained HTX (10% vs. 21%, p < 0.001). The irrigated cohort had a shorter TT duration (4 vs. 6 days, p < 0.001) and hospital length of stay (7 vs. 9 days, p = 0.04). On multivariable analysis, thoracic cavity irrigation had lower odds of VATS (adjusted odds ratio, 0.37; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.30-0.54), retained HTX (adjusted odds ratio, 0.42; 95% CI, 0.25-0.74), and a shorter TT duration ( ß = -1.58; 95% CI, -2.52 to -0.75). CONCLUSION: Our 5-year experience with thoracic irrigation confirms findings from smaller studies that irrigation prevents retained HTX and decreases the need for surgical intervention. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Therapeutic/Care Management; Level III.

Benign mature teratoma of the cecum: a case report.

A teratoma is a typically benign tumor derived from more than one embryonic cell line, and it is characterized by presence of tissue foreign to the tumor location site. With the unlikely primary location in the gastrointestinal tract and no history of malignancy, we present a rare case of a primary mature cystic teratoma of the cecum. The patient is a 66-year-old male with imaging demonstrating an extraluminal, seemingly fat-containing mass abutting the cecum. The patient underwent resection, and final pathology revealed a mature cystic teratoma. Primary mature teratoma of the cecum is exceptionally rare; thus, diagnosis can be challenging. As he had no primary testicular or retroperitoneal mass, this cystic lesion likely represents a developmental abnormality and not a true neoplasm. The radiographic features, presentation, differential diagnoses, and treatment recommendations are discussed.

Annual cost-savings with the implementation of estrogen-receptor-only testing on Ductal Carcinoma in Situ specimens.

BACKGROUND: In DCIS, ER status is an important marker. The utility of concomitant PR testing remains unclear. METHODS: A single-institution retrospective cohort study was performed with a comparative analysis of the NCDB to assess annual cost-savings with omission of routine PR testing. National Medicare payment standards determined PR staining costs to be $124.92. RESULTS: 150 institutional DCIS cases with receptor data were identified. 104 (69%) were ER+/PR+, 16 (11%) were ER+/PR-, and none were ER-/PR+. Omission of routine PR testing would have resulted in $18,738 saved annually. Within the NCDB, 34,100 DCIS cases had receptor data: 29,277 (85.9%) patients were ER+, and 26,008 (76%) were both ER/PR+. 211 (0.6%) patients were ER-/PR+. Annual national cost-savings with omission of routine PR-testing would have been $4.3 million. CONCLUSION: PR testing for DCIS should be reserved only for patients with ER- DCIS undergoing breast conservation to determine the utility of adjuvant endocrine therapy.

Norwood Procedure-Difficulty in Weaning From Cardiopulmonary Bypass and Implications for Outcomes.

Difficulty weaning from cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) or the need to return to CPB (collectively D-CPB) may occur after the Norwood procedure. We sought to evaluate the relationship between D-CBP and survival. This was a retrospective chart review of all patients undergoing a Norwood procedure at our institution during the interval 2005-2017. Primary outcome was survival for the Norwood procedure. Secondary outcomes included various measures of morbidity. Successful wean from CBP (S-CPB) was defined as no need to return to full-flow CPB during the initial definitive wean or after separation from CPB; otherwise, the classification was difficulty with wean (D-CBP). Successful rescue in the D-CPB group was defined as not requiring extracorporeal life support either in the operating room or within the first 3 postoperative days. Of the 196 patients in the cohort, 49 were D-CPB. Survival for S-CPB was 92.5% (136/147) vs 71.4% (35/49) for D-CPB (P = 0.001). Major morbidity occurred in 29.9% (44/147) in S-CPB vs 69.4% (34/49) in D-CPB (P < 0.001). With multivariable analysis, D-CPB was significantly associated with mortality (odds ratio = 8.09; confidence interval 2.72-24.05; P < 0.001). Successful rescue occurred in 30 of 49 patients in the D-CPB group and demonstrated survival similar to the S-CPB group. In the Norwood patient, D-CPB is an important intraoperative event and prognostic factor for mortality and morbidity. Successful rescue appears to ameliorate the impact of D-CPB on survival.

Design considerations in coiled-coil fusion constructs for the structural determination of a problematic region of the human cardiac myosin rod.

X-ray structural determination of segments of the myosin rod has proved difficult because of the strong salt-dependent aggregation properties and repeating pattern of charges on the surface of the coiled-coil that lead to the formation of paracrystals. This problem has been resolved in part through the use of globular assembly domains that improve protein folding and prevent aggregation. The primary consideration now in designing coiled-coil fusion constructs for myosin is deciding where to truncate the coiled-coil and which amino acid residues to include from the folding domain. This is especially important for myosin that contains numerous regions of low predicted coiled-coil propensity. Here we describe the strategy adopted to determine the structure of the region that extends from Arg1677 - Leu1797 that included two areas that do not show a strong sequence signature of a conventional left-handed coiled coil or canonical heptad repeat. This demonstrates again that, with careful choice of fusion constructs, overlapping structures exhibit very similar conformations for the myosin rod fragments in the canonical regions. However, conformational variability is seen around Leu1706 which is a hot spot for cardiomyopathy mutations suggesting that this might be important for function.