Operative Shutdown and Recovery: Restructuring Surgical Operations During the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic.

BACKGROUND: During the 2020 SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in New York City, hospitals canceled elective surgeries to increase capacity for critically ill patients. We present case volume data from our community hospital to demonstrate how this shutdown affected surgical care. METHODS: Between March 16 and June 14, 2020, all elective surgeries were canceled at our institution. All procedures performed during this operating room shutdown (ORS) were logged, as well as those 4 weeks before (PRE) and 4 weeks after (POST) for comparison. RESULTS: A total of 2,475 cases were included in our analysis, with 754 occurring during shutdown. Overall case numbers dropped significantly during ORS and increased during recovery (mean 245.0 ± 28.4 PRE versus 58.0 ± 30.9 ORS versus 186.0±19.4 POST cases/wk, P< 0.001). Emergency cases predominated during ORS (26.4% PRE versus 59.3% ORS versus 31.5% POST, P< 0.001) despite decreasing in frequency (mean 64.5 ± 7.9 PRE versus 34.4 ± 12.1 ORS versus 58.5 ± 4.0 POST cases/wk, P< 0.001). Open surgeries remained constant in all three phases (52.2-54.1%), whereas laparoscopic and robotic surgeries decreased (-3.4% and -3.0%, P< 0.001). General and/or vascular surgery, urology, and neurosurgery comprised a greater proportion of caseload (+9.5%, +3.0%, +2.8%), whereas orthopedics, gynecology, and otolaryngology/plastic surgery all decreased proportionally (-5.0%, -4.4%, -5.9%, P< 0.001). CONCLUSION: Operative volume significantly decreased during the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak. Emergency cases predominated during this time, although there were fewer emergency cases overall. General/vascular surgery became the most active service and open surgeries became more common. This reallocation of resources may be useful for future crisis planning among community hospitals.

Circulating Hybrid Cells: A Novel Liquid Biomarker of Treatment Response in Gastrointestinal Cancers.

BACKGROUND: Real-time monitoring of treatment response with a liquid biomarker has potential to inform treatment decisions for patients with rectal adenocarcinoma (RAC), esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), and colorectal liver metastasis (CRLM). Circulating hybrid cells (CHCs), which have both immune and tumor cell phenotypes, are detectable in the peripheral blood of patients with gastrointestinal cancers, but their potential as an indicator of treatment response is unexplored. METHODS: Peripheral blood specimens were collected from RAC and EAC patients after neoadjuvant therapy (NAT) or longitudinally during therapy and evaluated for CHC levels by immunostaining. Receiver operating characteristics (ROCs) and the Kaplan-Meier method were used to analyze the CHC level as a predictor of pathologic response to NAT and disease-specific survival (DSS), respectively. RESULTS: Patients with RAC (n = 23) and EAC (n = 34) were sampled on the day of resection, and 11 patients (32%) demonstrated a pathologic complete response (pCR) to NAT. On ROC analysis, CHC levels successfully discriminated pCR from non-pCR with an area under the curve of 0.82 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.71-0.92; P < 0.001). Additionally, CHC levels in the EAC patients correlated with residual nodal involvement (P = 0.026) and 1-year DSS (P = 0.029). The patients with RAC who were followed longitudinally during NAT (n = 2) and hepatic arterial infusion therapy for CRLM (n = 2) had CHC levels that decreased with therapy response and increased before clinical evidence of disease progression. CONCLUSION: Circulating hybrid cells are a novel blood-based biomarker with potential for monitoring treatment response and disease progression to help guide decisions for further systemic therapy, definitive resection, and post-therapy surveillance. Additional validation studies of CHCs are warranted.

Randomized Trial of Medical versus Surgical Treatment for Refractory Heartburn.

BACKGROUND: Heartburn that persists despite proton-pump inhibitor (PPI) treatment is a frequent clinical problem with multiple potential causes. Treatments for PPI-refractory heartburn are of unproven efficacy and focus on controlling gastroesophageal reflux with reflux-reducing medication (e.g., baclofen) or antireflux surgery or on dampening visceral hypersensitivity with neuromodulators (e.g., desipramine). METHODS: Patients who were referred to Veterans Affairs (VA) gastroenterology clinics for PPI-refractory heartburn received 20 mg of omeprazole twice daily for 2 weeks, and those with persistent heartburn underwent endoscopy, esophageal biopsy, esophageal manometry, and multichannel intraluminal impedance-pH monitoring. If patients were found to have reflux-related heartburn, we randomly assigned them to receive surgical treatment (laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication), active medical treatment (omeprazole plus baclofen, with desipramine added depending on symptoms), or control medical treatment (omeprazole plus placebo). The primary outcome was treatment success, defined as a decrease of 50% or more in the Gastroesophageal Reflux Disease (GERD)-Health Related Quality of Life score (range, 0 to 50, with higher scores indicating worse symptoms) at 1 year. RESULTS: A total of 366 patients (mean age, 48.5 years; 280 men) were enrolled. Prerandomization procedures excluded 288 patients: 42 had relief of their heartburn during the 2-week omeprazole trial, 70 did not complete trial procedures, 54 were excluded for other reasons, 23 had non-GERD esophageal disorders, and 99 had functional heartburn (not due to GERD or other histopathologic, motility, or structural abnormality). The remaining 78 patients underwent randomization. The incidence of treatment success with surgery (18 of 27 patients, 67%) was significantly superior to that with active medical treatment (7 of 25 patients, 28%; P = 0.007) or control medical treatment (3 of 26 patients, 12%; P<0.001). The difference in the incidence of treatment success between the active medical group and the control medical group was 16 percentage points (95% confidence interval, -5 to 38; P = 0.17). CONCLUSIONS: Among patients referred to VA gastroenterology clinics for PPI-refractory heartburn, systematic workup revealed truly PPI-refractory and reflux-related heartburn in a minority of patients. For that highly selected subgroup, surgery was superior to medical treatment. (Funded by the Department of Veterans Affairs Cooperative Studies Program; ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01265550.).

Stop hedging your bets: reasons for non-adherence to a tri-modality regimen in the treatment of esophageal cancer in a multidisciplinary setting.

BACKGROUND: In locally-advanced esophageal cancer (LAEC), providers' concerns regarding eventual surgical candidacy can persuade physicians to defer to definitive doses of 50 Gy or higher preoperatively. We report the successful completion rate of tri-modality therapy (TMT) (documented at the outset) and reasons for TMT non-adherence at a large multi-disciplinary esophageal program. METHODS: LAEC patients diagnosed 2007-2016 from a prospective institutional database were subdivided into CRT/S+ [completed chemoradiation (CRT) and surgery] and CRT/S- (CRT and no subsequent surgery) groups. Chart review provided surgery non-adherence reasons. RESULTS: A total of 283 patients met planned TMT criteria: 164 (58.0%) patients received 50 or 50.4 Gy CRT, 27 patients (9.5%) received greater than 50.4 Gy, and 92 patients received less than 50 Gy (32.5%, only 8 patients received CRT to 41.4 Gy); 221 (78.1%) completed surgery (CRT/S+), while 62 (21.9%) failed to advance to surgery (CRT/S-): 25 of 62 CRT/S- patients (40.3%) evidenced metastatic progression before surgery, 4 (6.5%) were deemed unresectable intraoperatively, 4 (6.5%) expired prior to planned surgery (3 from unknown causes, 1 suicide), 8 (12.9%) experienced significant CRT-related medical decompensation and were withdrawn from surgical consideration, 16 (25.8%) voluntarily declined surgery post-CRT (largely due to long-term quality of life concerns), and 5 (8.1%) failed to advance for unknown reasons. Four of the 16 patients who voluntarily declined surgery after CRT received less than 50 Gy. The 22.2% of CRT/S+ patients achieved pathologic complete response (21.6% for adenocarcinoma and 29.0% for squamous cell carcinoma). CONCLUSIONS: Our institution's 78% surgery completion rate among TMT-indicated patients highlights the benefits of upfront multidisciplinary care. Metastatic disease development most commonly truncated TMT with a low rate failing due to medical decompensation. Given the number of patients who voluntarily declined surgery following CRT, TMT counseling and involvement of a patient advocate are paramount prior to treatment planning.

Specific Tumor Characteristics Predict Upstaging in Early-Stage Esophageal Cancer.

BACKGROUND: Early-stage esophageal cancer (stages 0-1) has been shown to have relatively good outcomes after local endoscopic or surgical resection. For this reason, neoadjuvant chemoradiation usually is reserved for higher-stage disease. Some early tumors, however, are found after resection to be more advanced than predicted based on initial clinical staging, termed pathologic upstaging. Such tumors may have benefited from alternate treatment models had their true stage been known preoperatively. This study aimed to identify high-risk features in early esophageal cancers that might predict tumor upstaging and guide more individualized treatment algorithms. METHODS: Through retrospective review of a single-institution foregut disease registry, we evaluated patients who underwent esophagectomy for high-grade dysplasia (Tis) or stage 1 esophageal cancer, searching for factors associated with pathologic upstaging. RESULTS: The review included 110 patients (88% male, median age at diagnosis, 64.5 years) treated between January 2000 and June 2016. Upstaging occurred for 20.9% of the patients, and was more common for patients with angiolymphatic invasion (odds ratio [OR], 11.07; 95% confidence interval [CI], 2.96-41.44; P < 0.001) or signet-ring features (OR, 23.9; 95% CI, 2.6-216.8; P = 0.005). In the absence of other predictors, upstaging was associated with decreased overall survival (P = 0.006). CONCLUSIONS: Approximately 20% of patients with early-stage esophageal cancer may be upstaged at resection. Angiolymphatic invasion and signet-ring features may predict tumors likely to be upstaged, resulting in decreased overall survival.

Analysis of Gender-based Differences in Surgery Faculty Compensation, Promotion, and Retention: Establishing Equity.

OBJECTIVES: The objectives of this study were to evaluate gender-based differences in faculty salaries before and after implementation of a university-wide objective compensation plan, Faculty First (FF), in alignment with Association of American Medical Colleges regional median salary (AAMC-WRMS). Gender-based differences in promotion and retention were also assessed. SUMMARY BACKGROUND DATA: Previous studies demonstrate that female faculty within surgery are compensated less than male counterparts are and have decreased representation in higher academic ranks and leadership positions. METHODS: At a single institution, surgery faculty salaries and work relative value units (wRVUs) were reviewed from 2009 to 2017, and time to promotion and retention were reviewed from 1998 to 2007. In 2015, FF supplanted specialty-specific compensation plans. Salaries and wRVUs relative to AAMC-WRMS, time to promotion, and retention were compared between genders. RESULTS: Female faculty (N = 24) were compensated significantly less than males were (N = 62) before FF (P = 0.004). Female faculty compensation significantly increased after FF (P < 0.001). After FF, female and male faculty compensation was similar (P = 0.32). Average time to promotion for female (N = 29) and male faculty (N = 82) was similar for promotion to associate professor (P = 0.49) and to full professor (P = 0.37). Promotion was associated with significantly higher retention for both genders (P < 0.001). The median time of departure was similar between female and male faculty (P = 0.73). CONCLUSIONS: A university-wide objective compensation plan increased faculty salaries to the AAMC western region median, allowing correction of gender-based salary inequity. Time to promotion and retention was similar between female and male faculty.

Gastric Ischemic Conditioning Prior to Esophagectomy Is Associated with Decreased Stricture Rate and Overall Anastomotic Complications.

BACKGROUND: Gastric ischemic conditioning prior to esophagectomy can increase neovascularization of the new conduit. Prior studies of ischemic conditioning have only investigated reductions in anastomotic leaks. Our aim was to analyze the association between gastric conditioning and all anastomotic outcomes as well as overall morbidity in our cohort of esophagectomy patients. METHODS: We performed a retrospective review of patients undergoing esophagectomy from 2010 to 2015 in a National Cancer Institute designated center. Ischemic conditioning (IC) was performed on morbidly obese patients, those with cardiovascular disease or uncontrolled diabetes, and those requiring feeding jejunostomy and active tobacco users. IC consisted of transection of the short gastric vessels and ligation of the left gastric vessels. Primary outcomes consisted of all postoperative anastomotic complications. Secondary outcomes were overall morbidity. RESULTS: Two-hundred and seven esophagectomies were performed with an average follow-up of 19 months. Thirty-eight patients (18.4%) underwent conditioning (IC). This group was similar to patients not conditioned (NIC) in age, preoperative pathology, and surgical approach. Five patients in the ischemic conditioning group (13.2%) and 57 patients (33.7%) in the NIC experienced anastomotic complications (p = 0.011). Ischemic conditioning significantly reduced the postoperative stricture rate fourfold (5.3 vs. 20.7% p = 0.02). IC patients experienced significantly fewer complications overall (36.8 vs. 56.2% p = 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: Gastric ischemic conditioning is associated with fewer overall anastomotic complications, fewer strictures, and less morbidity. Randomized studies may determine optimal selection criteria to determine whom best benefits from ischemic conditioning.

Sarcopenia is not associated with morbidity, mortality, or recurrence after esophagectomy for cancer.

BACKGROUND: Sarcopenia is associated with increased morbidity and mortality in hepatic, pancreatic and colorectal cancer. We examined the effect of sarcopenia on morbidity, mortality, and recurrence after resection for esophageal cancer. METHODS: Retrospective review of consecutive esophagectomies from 2010 to 2015. Computed tomography studies were analyzed for sarcopenia. Morbidity was analyzed using Fischer's test and survival data with Kaplan Meier curves. RESULTS: The sarcopenic group (n = 127) had lower BMI, later stage disease, and higher incidence of neoadjuvant radiation than those without sarcopenia (n = 46). There were no differences in morbidity or mortality between the groups (p = .75 and p = .31, respectively). Mean length of stay was similar (p = .70). Disease free and overall survival were similar (p = .20 and p = .39, respectively). CONCLUSION: There is no association between sarcopenia and increased morbidity, mortality and disease-free survival in patients undergoing esophagectomy for cancer. Sarcopenia in esophageal cancer may not portend worse outcomes that have been reported in other solid tumors.