Access to Paid Parental Leave for Academic Surgeons.

BACKGROUND: Parental leave is linked to health benefits for both child and parent. It is unclear whether surgeons at academic centers have access to paid parental leave. The aim of this study was to determine parental leave policies at the top academic medical centers in the United States to identify trends among institutions. METHODS: The top academic medical centers were identified (US News & World Report 2016). Institutional websites were reviewed, or human resource departments were contacted to determine parental leave policies. "Paid leave" was defined as leave without the mandated use of personal time off. Institutions were categorized based on geographical region, funding, and ranking to determine trends regarding availability and duration of paid parental leave. RESULTS: Among the top 91 ranked medical schools, 48 (53%) offer paid parental leave. Availability of a paid leave policy differed based on private versus public institutions (70% versus 38%, P < 0.01) and on medical center ranking (top third = 77%; middle third = 53%; and bottom third = 29%; P < 0.01) but not based on region (P = 0.06). Private institutions were more likely to offer longer paid leaves (>6 wk) than public institutions (67% versus 33%; P = 0.02). No difference in paid leave duration was noted based on region (P = 0.60) or rank (P = 0.81). CONCLUSIONS: Approximately, 50% of top academic medical centers offer paid parental leave. Private institutions are more likely to offer paid leave and leave of longer duration. There is considerable variability in access to paid parenteral leave for academic surgeons.

Carotid duplex criteria for patients with contralateral occlusion.

BACKGROUND: Contralateral occlusion (CLO) occurs in approximately 8% of patients undergoing intervention for carotid artery stenosis. Patients with CLO have increased stroke risk compared with patients without CLO, but standard carotid duplex ultrasonography (CDUS) criteria are not a reliable manner to screen or follow patients with CLO. Because appropriate duplex criteria for these patients are not well understood, this article defines CDUS parameters that accurately predict carotid artery stenosis at our institution. METHODS: Sixty-five patients with ipsilateral carotid stenosis and CLO were identified from our institutional database. Fifteen of sixty-five patients had arteriography, computed tomography angiography, or magnetic resonance angiography within 6 mo of CDUS. We determined accuracy of our laboratory's criteria for determining stenosis category compared with three-dimensional imaging. Receiver operating characteristic curves were used to determine optimal peak systolic velocity (PSV), end diastolic velocity (EDV), and systolic ratio (SR) cutoff values for diagnosing ≥50% stenosis in this pilot cohort. Finally, the revised criteria were prospectively applied to a validation cohort (n = 8) from the same institution. RESULTS: Categorization of stenosis by standard PSV, EDV, and SR criteria saw similar accuracy trends in both pilot (46.7, 53.3, and 66.7%) and validation (25, 25, and 62.5%) cohorts. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis in the pilot cohort identified optimized PSV, EDV, and SR cutoffs (≥250, ≥90, and ≥2.3 cm/s, respectively) for diagnosing ≥50% stenosis. In the pilot cohort, new PSV criteria increased specificity (60%-100%) with minimal decreased sensitivity (90%-80%), whereas new EDV criteria increased specificity (40%-71.4%) and maintained 100% sensitivity. New SR criteria failed to improve sensitivity or specificity above 80%. Similar trends for the new CDUS velocity criteria were observed in the validation cohort. CONCLUSIONS: Increasingly stringent ultrasound parameters can provide reliable criteria for determining ≥50% carotid stenosis in patients with CLO. Further prospective validation that includes more patients with high-grade ipsilateral stenosis will help identify the role of SR in segregating high-grade versus moderate stenosis in CLO patients.

Carotid artery stenting has increased risk of external carotid artery occlusion compared with carotid endarterectomy.

OBJECTIVE: The external carotid artery (ECA) can be an important source of cerebral blood flow in cases of high-grade internal carotid artery stenosis or occlusion. However, the treatment of the ECA is fundamentally different between carotid endarterectomy (CEA) and carotid artery stenting (CAS). CEA is routinely associated with endarterectomy of the ECA, whereas CAS excludes the ECA from direct flow. We hypothesize that these differences make ECA occlusion more common after CAS. Further, the impact of CAS on blood flow into the ECA is interesting because the flow from the stent into the ECA is altered in a way that may promote local inflammation and may influence in-stent restenosis (ISR). Thus, our objective was to use our institutional database to identify whether CAS increased the rate of ECA occlusion and, if it did, whether ECA occlusion was associated with ISR. METHODS: Patients undergoing CAS or CEA from February 2007 to February 2012 were identified from our institutional carotid therapy database. Preoperative and postoperative images of patients who followed up in our institution were included in the analysis of ECA occlusion and rates of ISR. RESULTS: There were 210 (67%) CAS patients and 207 (60%) CEA patients included in this analysis. Despite CAS patients being younger (68 vs 70 years), having shorter follow-up (12.5 vs 56.2 months), and being more likely to take clopidogrel (97% vs 35%), they had an increased rate of ECA occlusion (3.8%) compared with CEA patients (0.4%). CAS patients who went on to ECA occlusion had an increased incidence of prior neck irradiation (50% vs 15%; P = .03), but we did not identify an association of ECA occlusion with ISR >50%. CONCLUSIONS: Whereas prior publications have identified increased rates of external carotid stenosis, this is the first demonstration of increased ECA occlusion after CAS. However, ECA occlusion is uncommon (∼4%) and did not have an association with ISR >50%. Future work modeling ECA flow patterns before and after CAS will be used to further test this interaction.

Influence of the hostile neck on restenosis after carotid stenting.

BACKGROUND: Carotid artery stenting (CAS) for carotid stenosis is favored over carotid endarterectomy (CEA) in patients with a hostile neck from prior CEA or cervical irradiation (XRT). However, the restenosis rate after CAS in patients with hostile necks is variable in the literature. The objective of this study was to quantify differences in the in-stent restenosis (ISR)/occlusion and reintervention rates after CAS in patients with and without a hostile neck. Here we hypothesize that patients with hostile necks have an increased ISR, and that this increase may add morbidity to these patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS: All patients undergoing CAS from 2007 to 2013 for carotid artery stenosis with follow-up imaging at our institution were queried from our carotid database (n = 236). Patients with hostile necks, including both CAS after prior CEA (n = 65) and prior XRT (n = 37), were compared with patients who underwent CAS for other reasons including both anatomical (n = 46) and medical comorbidities (n = 88). The primary end points were ISR, repeat intervention, and stent occlusion. Secondary end points of the study were stroke/myocardial infarction (MI)/death at 30 days, perioperative cardiovascular accident, transient ischemic attack, MI, groin access complications, hyperperfusion syndrome, and periprocedural hypotension or bradycardia. RESULTS: Despite the hostile neck cohort being younger and having lower incidence of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, coronary artery disease, and renal insufficiency, they had a greater incidence of ISR (11% vs. 4%; P = .03) and required more reinterventions (8% vs. 2%; P = .04). Stent occlusion and periprocedural morbidity/mortality were not different between groups. CONCLUSIONS: Patients with hostile necks have increased risk of restenosis and need for reinterventions after CAS compared with patients without a hostile neck. However, they do not appear to have higher rates of stent occlusion or per-procedural events.

Predictors of bone mineral density improvement in patients undergoing parathyroidectomy for primary hyperparathyroidism.

INTRODUCTION: Primary hyperparathyroidism (PHPT) results in increased bone turnover, resulting in bone mineral density (BMD) reduction and a predisposition towards fractures. Parathyroidectomy (PTX) is the only definitive cure. OBJECTIVE: The primary goals of this study were to investigate the impact of PTX on BMD in patients with PHPT and to identify factors associated with post-operative BMD improvement using a multivariate model. METHODS: Between 1999 and 2010, a total of 757 patients underwent PTX for treatment of PHPT; 123 patients had both a pre- and a post-operative dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DEXA) scan. A prospective database was queried to obtain information about patient demographics, medications, comorbidities, and pre- and post-operative laboratory values. A Cox regression model was used to stratify patients and to identify factors that independently predict BMD response following PTX in this patient population. RESULTS: Overall, mean percent change in BMD was +12.31 % at the spine, +8.9 % at the femoral neck (FN), and +8.5 % at the hip, with a mean follow-up of 2.3 ± 1.5 years. A total of 101 (82.1 %) patients had BMD improvement at their worst pre-operative site. In patients who improved, 69.9 % (n = 86) had >5 % increase. Factors associated with BMD improvement at the worst pre-operative site were as follows: male gender (hazard ratio [HR] 2.29; 95 % confidence interval [CI] 1.54-4.21); pre-operative BMD with T-score less than -2.0 (HR 1.89; 95 % CI 1.11-2.39); age <55 years (HR 1.74; 95 % CI 1.14-2.25); BMD DEXA scan at >2.5 years post-operatively (HR 1.71; 95 % CI 1.09-2.17); history of previous fracture (HR 1.24; 95 % CI 1.05-1.92); and private insurance (HR 1.18; 95 % CI 1.06-2.1). The use of bisphosphonates, estrogens, vitamin D supplementation, or tobacco; obesity; history of previous PTX, serum calcium or parathyroid hormone levels were not independently associated with post-operative BMD improvement. CONCLUSION: Osteoporosis is one of the established National Institutes of Health criteria for PTX in asymptomatic patients with PHPT, but BMD improvement is not consistently seen during the post-operative period. Gender, age, more severe pre-operative bone disease, and insurance status were all predictors for greater BMD improvement following PTX. Further studies with a rigorous post-operative BMD regimen are needed in order to validate these results.