Survival Associated With Consolidated Multidisciplinary Care in Head and Neck Cancer: A Retrospective Cohort Study.

OBJECTIVE: To compare survival among patients with head and neck cancer before and after implementing a weekly multidisciplinary clinic and case conference. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study with chart review was conducted of 3081 patients (1431 preimplementation, 1650 postimplementation) diagnosed with stage I-IVB tumors in the oral cavity, oropharynx, hypopharynx, nasopharynx, or larynx. Pre- and postimplementation differences in overall and disease-specific survival 1, 2, and 3 years after diagnosis were assessed with unadjusted Kaplan-Meier curves and multivariable Cox proportional hazard regression models adjusted for demographic characteristics, comorbidity burden, smoking status, tumor site and stage, p16 status for oropharyngeal squamous cell cancer, and initial treatment modality. RESULTS: Patients less commonly presented with oropharyngeal squamous cell cancer and advanced tumors (III-IVB) and received primary treatment with surgery alone or with adjuvant therapy preimplementation than postimplementation. Overall survival at 3 years was 77.1% and 79.9% (P = .07) and disease-specific survival was 84.9% and 87.5% (P = .05) among pre- and postimplementation patients, respectively. At 3 years, preimplementation patients had slightly poorer overall (hazard ratio, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.02-1.40) and disease-specific (hazard ratio, 1.26; 95% CI, 1.03-1.54) adjusted survival than postimplementation patients. In unadjusted and adjusted analyses, survival improvements were more pronounced among patients with advanced disease. DISCUSSION: A multidisciplinary clinic and case conference were associated with improved outcomes among patients with head and neck cancer, especially those with advanced tumors. IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: All patients with head and neck cancer should receive multidisciplinary team management, especially those with advanced tumors.

Evaluating the Rising Incidence of Thyroid Cancer and Thyroid Nodule Detection Modes: A Multinational, Multi-institutional Analysis.

Importance: There is epidemiologic evidence that the increasing incidence of thyroid cancer is associated with subclinical disease detection. Evidence for a true increase in thyroid cancer incidence has also been identified. However, a true increase in disease would likely be heralded by an increased incidence of thyroid-referable symptoms in patients presenting with disease. Objectives: To evaluate whether modes of detection (MODs) used to identify thyroid nodules for surgical removal have changed compared with historic data and to determine if MODs vary by geographic location. Design, Setting, and Participants: This was a retrospective analysis of pathology and medical records of 1328 patients who underwent thyroid-directed surgery in 16 centers in 4 countries: 4 centers in Canada, 1 in Denmark, 1 in South Africa, and 12 in the US. The participants were the first 100 patients (or the largest number available) at each center who had thyroid surgery in 2019. The MOD of the thyroid finding that required surgery was classified using an updated version of a previously validated tool as endocrine condition, symptomatic thyroid, surveillance, or without thyroid-referable symptoms (asymptomatic). If asymptomatic, the MOD was further classified as clinician screening examination, patient-requested screening, radiologic serendipity, or diagnostic cascade. Main Outcomes and Measures: The MOD of thyroid nodules that were surgically removed, by geographic variation; and the proportion and size of thyroid cancers discovered in patients without thyroid-referable symptoms compared with symptomatic detection. Data analyses were performed from April 2021 to February 2022. Results: Of the 1328 patients (mean [SD] age, 52 [15] years; 993 [75%] women; race/ethnicity data were not collected) who underwent thyroid surgery that met inclusion criteria, 34% (448) of the surgeries were for patients with thyroid-related symptoms, 41% (542) for thyroid findings discovered without thyroid-referable symptoms, 14% (184) for endocrine conditions, and 12% (154) for nodules with original MOD unknown (under surveillance). Cancer was detected in 613 (46%) patients; of these, 30% (183 patients) were symptomatic and 51% (310 patients) had no thyroid-referable symptoms. The mean (SD) size of the cancers identified in the symptomatic group was 3.2 (2.1) cm (median [range] cm, 2.6 [0.2-10.5]; 95% CI, 2.91-3.52) and in the asymptomatic group, 2.1 (1.4) cm (median [range] cm, 1.7 [0.05-8.8]; 95% CI, 1.92-2.23). The MOD patterns were significantly different among all participating countries. Conclusions and Relevance: This retrospective analysis found that most thyroid cancers were discovered in patients who had no thyroid-referable symptoms; on average, these cancers were smaller than symptomatic thyroid cancers. Still, some asymptomatic cancers were large, consistent with historic data. The substantial difference in MOD patterns among the 4 countries suggests extensive variations in practice.

Trends in Diagnosis of Noninvasive Follicular Thyroid Neoplasm With Papillarylike Nuclear Features and Total Thyroidectomies for Patients With Papillary Thyroid Neoplasms.

Importance: Increasing detection of early-stage papillary thyroid neoplasms without improvements in mortality has prompted development of strategies to prevent or mitigate overtreatment. Objective: To determine adoption rates of 2 recent strategies developed to limit overtreatment of low-risk thyroid cancers: (1) a new classification, noninvasive follicular thyroid neoplasm with papillarylike nuclear features (NIFTP), and (2) hemithyroidectomy for selected papillary thyroid carcinomas (PTCs) up to 4 cm in size. Design, Setting, and Participants: This is a cross-sectional analysis of 3368 pathology records of 2 cohorts of patients from 18 hospitals in 6 countries during 2 time periods (2015 and 2019). Participating hospitals were included from the US (n = 12), Canada (n = 2), Denmark (n = 1), South Korea (n = 1), South Africa (n = 1), and India (n = 1). The records of the first 100 patients per institution for each year who underwent thyroid-directed surgery (hemithyroidectomy, total thyroidectomy, or completion thyroidectomy) were reviewed. Main Outcomes and Measures: Frequency of diagnosis of NIFTP, PTCs, and thyroidectomies during the study period. Results: Of the 790 papillary thyroid neoplasms captured in the 2019 cohort, 38 (4.8%) were diagnosed as NIFTP. Diagnosis of NIFTP was observed in the US, South Africa, and India. There was minimal difference in the total proportion of PTCs in the 2015 cohort compared with the 2019 cohort (778 [47.1%] vs 752 [44.5%]; difference, 2.6% [95% CI, -16.9% to 22.1%]). The proportion of PTCs eligible for hemithyroidectomy but treated with total thyroidectomy in the 2 cohorts demonstrated a decreasing trend from 2015 to 2019 (341 of 453 [75.3%] vs 253 of 434 [58.3%]; difference, 17.0% [95% CI, -1.2% to 35.2%]). Conclusions and Relevance: Results of this cohort study showed that the 2 mitigation strategies for preventing overtreatment of early-stage thyroid cancer have had mixed success. The diagnosis of NIFTP has only been applied to a small proportion of thyroid neoplasms compared with expected rates. However, more patients eligible for hemithyroidectomy received it in 2019 compared with 2015, showing some success with this deescalation strategy.

Perioperative pain management and opioid-reduction in head and neck endocrine surgery: An American Head and Neck Society Endocrine Surgery Section consensus statement.

BACKGROUND: This American Head and Neck Society (AHNS) consensus statement focuses on evidence-based comprehensive pain management practices for thyroid and parathyroid surgery. Overutilization of opioids for postoperative pain management is a major contributing factor to the opioid addiction epidemic however evidence-based guidelines for pain management after routine head and neck endocrine procedures are lacking. METHODS: An expert panel was convened from the membership of the AHNS, its Endocrine Surgical Section, and ThyCa. An extensive literature review was performed, and recommendations addressing several pain management subtopics were constructed based on best available evidence. A modified Delphi survey was then utilized to evaluate group consensus of these statements. CONCLUSIONS: This expert consensus provides evidence-based recommendations for effective postoperative pain management following head and neck endocrine procedures with a focus on limiting unnecessary use of opioid analgesics.

Ten-year Thyroid Cancer Incidence in an Integrated Healthcare Delivery System.

INTRODUCTION: The incidence of papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) has increased in recent decades, but data from community-based settings are limited. This study characterizes PTC trends in a large, integrated healthcare system over 10 years. METHODS: The annual incidence of PTC (2006-2015) was examined among Kaiser Permanente Northern California adults aged 21 to 84 years using Cancer Registry data, including tumor size and stage. Incidence estimates were age-adjusted using the 2010 US Census. RESULTS: Of 2990 individuals newly diagnosed with PTC (76.8% female, 52.7% non-Hispanic White), 38.5% and 61.5% were aged < 45 and < 55 years, respectively. At diagnosis, 60.9% had PTC tumors ≤ 2 cm, 9.2% had tumors > 4 cm, and 66.1% had Stage I disease. The annual age-adjusted incidence of PTC increased from 9.4 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 8.1-10.7) to 14.5 (95% CI = 13.1-16.0) per 100,000 person-years and was higher for female patients than for male patients. Incidence tended to be higher in Asian/Pacific Islanders and lower in Black individuals. Increasing incidence was notable for Stage I disease (especially 2006-2012) and evident across a range of tumor sizes (3.0-4.6 for ≤ 1 cm, 2.5-3.5 for 1-2 cm, and 2.4-4.7 for 2-4 cm) but was modest for large tumors (0.9-1.5 for > 4 cm) per 100,000 person-years. DISCUSSION: Increasing PTC incidence over 10 years was most evident for tumors ≤ 4 cm and Stage I disease. Although these findings may be attributable to greater PTC detection, the increase across a range of tumor sizes suggests that PTC burden might also have increased.

The Adult Neck Mass: Predictors of Malignancy.

OBJECTIVE: Distinguishing benign from malignant adult neck masses can be challenging because data to guide risk assessment are lacking. We examined patients with neck masses from an integrated health system to identify patient and mass factors associated with malignancy. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective cohort. SETTING: Kaiser Permanente Northern California. METHODS: The medical records of adults referred to otolaryngology in 2017 for a neck mass were evaluated. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed. RESULTS: Malignancy was found in 205 (5.0%) of the cohort's 4103 patients. Patient factors associated with malignancy included sex, age, and race/ethnicity. Males had more than twice the odds of malignancy compared with females (adjusted odds ratio [aOR] = 2.38). Malignancy rates increased with age, ranging from 2.1% for patients younger than 40 years to 8.4% for patients 70 years or older. White non-Hispanic patients had 1.75 times the risk of malignancy compared with patients of other race/ethnicities. The percentage of patients with malignancy increased with increasing minimum mass dimension, from 3.0% in patients with mass size <1 cm to over 31% in patients with mass sizes 2 cm or larger (P < .0001). Imaging-based mass factors most highly predictive of malignancy included larger minimum mass dimension (≥1.5 cm vs <1.5 cm: aOR = 3.87), multiple masses (2 or more vs 1: aOR = 5.07), and heterogeneous/ill-defined quality (aOR = 2.57). CONCLUSION: Most neck masses referred to otolaryngology were not malignant. Increasing age, male sex, white non-Hispanic ethnicity, increasing minimum mass dimension, multiple neck masses, or heterogeneous architecture/ill-defined borders were associated with malignancy.

Association Between Annual Surgeon Total Thyroidectomy Volume and Transient and Permanent Complications.

IMPORTANCE: Although the association between annual surgeon total thyroidectomy volume and clinical outcomes is well established, published methods typically group surgeons into volume categories. The volume-outcomes association is likely continuous, but little is known about the point at which the annual surgeon procedure volumes begin to be associated with a decrease in complication rates. OBJECTIVE: To model the volume-outcomes association as a continuous function and identify the point at which increasing surgeon volume begins yielding better outcomes. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted in 2018 to 2019 on 10 546 patients from 2 Kaiser Permanente regions (Northern and Southern California), who underwent total thyroidectomy from January 1, 2008, through December 31, 2015, and were followed up through December 31, 2017. The association between annual surgeon procedure volume and outcomes was modeled with analyses that accounted for an association of unknown form and surgeon-specific effects, after adjusting for sociodemographics, prior-year utilization, and multiple comorbidities. Data were analyzed from October 2018 to April 2019. EXPOSURE: Total thyroidectomy. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Presence or absence of transient and permanent hypoparathyroidism and vocal cord paralysis (VCP) in relation to surgeon volume of total thyroidectomies. RESULTS: Of 10 546 patients in this study, 8500 (81.0%) were male and 4877 (46.2%) aged 45 to 64 years. Surgeons with annual volumes of 1 to 9 total thyroidectomies operated on 2912 patients (27.7%), those with an annual volume of 10 to 19 operated on 3404 (32.6%), and those with an annual volume of 20 or more operated on the remaining 4232 (40.6%). During 2008-2015, a mean of 53.5 (range, 46-198) thyroidectomies were performed each year by surgeons with an annual volume of 40 or more procedures. A generalized additive model showed that the occurrence rates of VCP and hypoparathyroidism began to decrease at annual surgeon procedure volumes of 18.2 (95% CI, 15.0-21.5) and 18.1 (95% CI, 13.8-21.3) procedures per year, respectively. The model revealed a subsequent increase in complication rates for transient VCP. With the use of a refined model, statistically significant decreases were noted in the occurrence rates of complications as annual surgeon volumes increased. Among all 10 546 patients who underwent total thyroidectomy, 632 (6.0%) experienced transient hypoparathyroidism and 170 (1.6%) experienced permanent hypoparathyroidism, whereas 440 (4.2%) experienced transient VCP and 182 (1.7%) experienced permanent VCP. Absolute decreases in complication rates when all surgeons had modeled minimum annual procedure volumes greater than 40 were low, ranging from 0.6% for permanent VCP and hypoparathyroidism to 1.5% for transient hypoparathyroidism. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this study, occurrence rates of transient and permanent hypoparathyroidism and VCP appeared to decrease as the annual surgeon procedure volume increased, but the absolute decrease may be modest if the affected health system already has low complication rates. Shifting patients to higher-volume surgeons to realize these reductions may be of variable attractiveness in systems with low baseline complication rates.

American Head and Neck Society Endocrine Section clinical consensus statement: North American quality statements and evidence-based multidisciplinary workflow algorithms for the evaluation and management of thyroid nodules.

BACKGROUND: Care for patients with thyroid nodules is complex and multidisciplinary, and research demonstrates variation in care. The objective was to develop clinical guidelines and quality metrics to reduce unwarranted variation and improve quality. METHODS: Multidisciplinary expert consensus and modified Delphi approach. Source documents were workflow algorithms from Kaiser Permanente Northern California and Cancer Care of Ontario based on the 2015 American Thyroid Association management guidelines for adult patients with thyroid nodules and differentiated thyroid cancer. RESULTS: A consensus-based, unified preoperative, perioperative, and postoperative workflow was developed for North American use. Twenty-one panelists achieved consensus on 16 statements about workflow-embedded process and outcomes metrics addressing safety, access, appropriateness, efficiency, effectiveness, and patient centeredness of care. CONCLUSION: A panel of Canadian and United States experts achieved consensus on workflows and quality metric statements to help reduce unwarranted variation in care, improving overall quality of care for patients diagnosed with thyroid nodules.

Using Concentration Curves to Assess Organization-Specific Relationships between Surgeon Volumes and Outcomes.

BACKGROUND: A well-documented association exists between higher surgeon volumes and better outcomes for many procedures, but surgeons may be reluctant to change practice patterns without objective, credible, and near real-time data on their performance. In addition, published thresholds for procedure volumes may be biased or perceived as arbitrary; typical reports compare surgeons grouped into discrete procedure volume categories, even though the volume-outcomes relationship is likely continuous. METHODS: The concentration curves methodology, which has been used to analyze whether health outcomes vary with socioeconomic status, was adapted to explore the association between procedure volume and outcomes as a continuous relationship so that data for all surgeons within a health care organization could be included. Using widely available software and requiring minimal analytic expertise, this approach plots cumulative percentages of two variables of interest against each other and assesses the characteristics of the resulting curve. Organization-specific relationships between surgeon volumes and outcomes were examined for three example types of procedures: uncomplicated hysterectomies, infant circumcisions, and total thyroidectomies. The concentration index was used to assess whether outcomes were equally distributed unrelated to volumes. RESULTS: For all three procedures, the concentration curve methodology identified associations between surgeon procedure volumes and selected outcomes that were specific to the organization. The concentration indices confirmed the higher prevalence of examined outcomes among low-volume surgeons. The curves supported organizational discussions about surgical quality. CONCLUSION: Concentration curves require minimal resources to identify organization- and procedure-specific relationships between surgeon procedure volumes and outcomes and can support quality improvement.

Evidence-Based Workflows for Thyroid and Parathyroid Surgery.

A need exists to reduce care variations by standardizing the practice of thyroid and parathyroid surgery. During the course of a year, a task force developed algorithms representing decision points and workflows based on American Thyroid Association guidelines and three internal studies of surgical practices in the Northern and Southern California Regions of Kaiser Permanente conducted in collaboration with Health Information Technology Transformation & Analytics (HITTA).

Surgeon volume in thyroid surgery: Surgical efficiency, outcomes, and utilization.

OBJECTIVES/HYPOTHESIS: To test our hypothesis that high-surgeon volume is associated with improved surgical efficiency and 30-day outcomes, and lower hospital utilization. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective observational cohort, 2008-2013. METHODS: A total of 3,135 patients with hemithyroidectomy or total thyroidectomy performed by a high-volume surgeon, propensity score-matched to 3,135 patients with the same procedure performed by a low-volume surgeon. All-cause 30-day complication, mortality, readmission, and emergency department visit rates, proportion of outpatient procedures, cut-to-close time, and length of stay were assessed. RESULTS: Hemithyroidectomies: Compared to low-volume surgeons, high-volume surgeons had fewer readmitted patients (2.7% vs. 7.0%, P < .05), more outpatient procedures (46% vs. 29%, P < .05), and shorter lengths of stay (mean [standard deviation] 16.6 [22.1] vs. 21.7 [27.5] hours, P < .05) and surgical (cut-to-close) times (1.7 [0.7] vs. 2.0 [1.1] hours, P < .05). Total thyroidectomies: High-volume surgeons had lower rates of all surgery-related complications (5.7% vs. 7.5%, P < .05), hypocalcemia (4.9% vs. 7.0%, P < .05), surgical site infections (0.3% vs. 1.0%, P < .05), more outpatient procedures (13% vs. 3%, P < .05), shorter lengths of stay (29.9 [32.8] vs. 39.8 [36.2] hours, P < .05), and cut-to-close times (2.4 [1.1] vs. 3.0 [1.7] hours, P < .05). CONCLUSION: High-volume surgeons improve patient safety and have the potential to contribute to organizational efficiency that may be underutilized in some settings. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: 4. Laryngoscope, 126:2630-2639, 2016.

Risk of Complications after Thyroidectomy and Parathyroidectomy: A Case Series with Planned Chart Review.

OBJECTIVE: To develop a predictive model for the risk of complications after thyroid and parathyroid surgery. STUDY DESIGN: Case series with planned chart review of patients undergoing surgery, 2007-2013. SETTING: Kaiser Permanente Northern California and Kaiser Permanente Southern California. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: Patients (N = 16,458) undergoing thyroid and parathyroid procedures were randomly assigned to model development and validation groups. We used univariate analysis to assess relationships between each of 28 predictor variables and 30-day complication rates. We subsequently entered all variables into a recursive partitioning decision tree analysis, with P < .05 as the basis for branching. RESULTS: Among patients undergoing thyroidectomies, the most important predictor variable was thyroid cancer. For patients with thyroid cancer, additional risk predictors included coronary artery disease and central neck dissection. For patients without thyroid cancer, additional predictors included coronary artery disease, dyspnea, complete thyroidectomy, and lobe size. Among patients undergoing parathyroidectomies, the most important predictor variable was coronary artery disease, followed by cerebrovascular disease and chronic kidney disease. The model performed similarly in the validation groups. CONCLUSION: For patients undergoing thyroid surgery, 7 of 28 predictor variables accounted for statistically significant differences in the risk of 30-day complications; for patients undergoing parathyroid surgery, 3 variables accounted for significant differences in risk. This study forms the foundation of a parsimonious model to predict the risk of complications among patients undergoing thyroid and parathyroid surgery.

Safety of Outpatient Thyroid and Parathyroid Surgery: A Propensity Score-Matched Study.

OBJECTIVE: To test our hypothesis that general and thyroid surgery-specific complications, mortality, and postdischarge utilization for patients undergoing outpatient and inpatient thyroid and parathyroid surgery would not differ when outpatient status was defined as discharge within 8 hours of surgery completion. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective observational cohort, 2008 to 2013. SETTING: Kaiser Permanente Northern California and Kaiser Permanente Southern California. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: We used a robust set of variables and propensity score methods to match 2362 patients undergoing hemithyroidectomy, total thyroidectomy, or parathyroidectomy surgery as outpatients to 2362 patients undergoing the same procedures as inpatients. Outcomes assessed were 30-day rates of complications, emergency department visits, all-cause hospital readmissions, and mortality. RESULTS: After matching, no statistically significant differences between inpatients and outpatients were found for complication rates or postdischarge utilization. After matching, there was no statistically significant difference between inpatients and outpatients in hematoma rates, which were 0.55% in both groups. In the matched-pair groups, 2 deaths occurred among inpatients (0.09%) and none occurred among outpatients (0.00%), a difference that was not statistically significant. CONCLUSION: Discharge within 8 hours after completion of thyroid and parathyroid surgery is as safe as inpatient surgery.