CT-based diagnosis in patients presenting with throat pain: A single institutional review.

RATIONALE AND OBJECTIVE: To determine if patient demographic data, medical history, physical examination, and laboratory tests will help predict likelihood of imaging-based diagnosis using CT of the neck performed in the ED for a chief complaint of throat pain. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Single institutional, retrospective review of 367 CT scans of the neck performed for the evaluation of throat pain in the ED from August 2013 to September 2019. Patients' clinical history, physical exams, lab findings, and imaging results were recorded. RESULTS: A total of 367 CT scans of the neck performed for the evaluation of throat pain included a recorded exam and clinical history. Of these cases, we noted that the presence of cervical lymphadenopathy (OR = 2.69; 95% CI, 1.37-5.49), tonsillar findings (OR = 2.94; 95% CI, 1.4-6.57), increased white blood cell count (OR = 1.08; 95% CI, 1.02-1.15), and temperature (OR = 1.94; 95% CI, 1.1-3.6) were associated with increased likelihood of obtaining a diagnostic CT scan. CONCLUSION: Consideration of tonsillar abnormalities, lymphadenopathy, body temperature, and measured leukocyte count prior to ordering CT scans of the neck for throat pain may increase the diagnostic yield of such exams and decrease CT utilization in the ED.

Extracranial Carotid Plaque Calcification and Cerebrovascular Ischemia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: Although coronary calcification quantification is an established approach for cardiovascular risk assessment, the value of quantifying carotid calcification is less clear. As a result, we performed a systematic review and meta-analysis to evaluate the association between extracranial carotid artery plaque calcification burden and ipsilateral cerebrovascular ischemic events. METHODS: A comprehensive literature search was performed in the following databases: Ovid MEDLINE(R) 1946 to July 6, 2022; OVID Embase 1974 to July 6, 2022; and The Cochrane Library (Wiley). We performed meta-analyses including studies in which investigators performed a computed tomography assessment of calcification volume, percentage, or other total calcium burden summarizable in a single continuous imaging biomarker and determined the association of these features with the occurrence of ipsilateral stroke or transient ischemic attack. RESULTS: Our overall meta-analysis consisted of 2239 carotid arteries and 9 studies. The presence of calcification in carotid arteries ipsilateral to ischemic stroke or in stroke patients compared with asymptomatic patients did not demonstrate a significant association with ischemic cerebrovascular events (relative risk of 0.75 [95% CI, 0.44-1.28]; P=0.29). When restricted to studies of significant carotid artery stenosis (>50%), the presence of calcification was associated with a reduced risk of ischemic stroke (relative risk of 0.56 [95% CI, 0.38-0.85]; P=0.006). When the analysis was limited to studies of patients with mainly nonstenotic plaques, there was an increased relative risk of ipsilateral ischemic stroke of 1.72 ([95% CI, 1.01-2.91]; P=0.04). Subgroup meta-analyses of total calcium burden and morphological features of calcium showed wide variability in their strength of association with ischemic stroke and demonstrated significant heterogeneity. CONCLUSIONS: The presence of calcification in carotid plaque confers a reduced association with ipsilateral ischemic events, although these results seem to be limited among carotid arteries with higher degrees of stenosis. Adoption of carotid calcification measures in clinical decision-making will require additional studies providing more reproducible and standardized methods of calcium characterization and testing these imaging strategies in prospective studies.

Comparisons of electrophysiological markers of impaired executive attention after traumatic brain injury and in healthy aging.

Executive attention impairments are a persistent and debilitating consequence of traumatic brain injury (TBI). To make headway towards treating and predicting outcomes following heterogeneous TBI, cognitive impairment specific pathophysiology first needs to be characterized. In a prospective observational study, we measured EEG during the attention network test aimed at detecting alerting, orienting, executive attention and processing speed. The sample (N = 110) of subjects aged 18-86 included those with and without traumatic brain injury: n = 27, complicated mild TBI; n = 5, moderate TBI; n = 10, severe TBI; n = 63, non-brain-injured controls. Subjects with TBI had impairments in processing speed and executive attention. Electrophysiological markers of executive attention processing in the midline frontal regions reveal that, as a group, those with TBI and elderly non-brain-injured controls have reduced responses. We also note that those with TBI and elderly controls have responses that are similar for both low and high-demand trials. In subjects with moderate-severe TBI, reductions in frontal cortical activation and performance profiles are both similar to that of controls who are ∼4 to 7 years older. Our specific observations of frontal response reductions in subjects with TBI and in older adults is consistent with the suggested role of the anterior forebrain mesocircuit as underlying cognitive impairments. Our results provide novel correlative data linking specific pathophysiological mechanisms underlying domain-specific cognitive deficits following TBI and with normal aging. Collectively, our findings provide biomarkers that may serve to track therapeutic interventions and guide development of targeted therapeutics following brain injuries.

A fast likelihood approach for estimation of large phylogenies from continuous trait data.

Despite the recent availability of large-scale genomic data for many individuals, few methods for phylogenetic inference are both computationally efficient and highly accurate for trees with hundreds of taxa. Model-based methods such as those developed in the maximum likelihood and Bayesian frameworks are especially time-consuming, as they involve both computationally intensive calculations on fixed phylogenies and searches through the space of possible phylogenies, and they are known to scale poorly with the addition of taxa. Here, we propose a fast approximation to the maximum likelihood estimator that directly uses continuous trait data, such as allele frequency data. The approximation works by first computing the maximum likelihood estimates of some internal branch lengths, and then inferring the tree-topology using these estimates. Our approach is more computationally efficient than existing methods for such data while still achieving comparable accuracy. This method is innovative in its use of the mathematical properties of tree-topologies for inference, and thus serves as a useful addition to the collection of methods available for estimating phylogenies from continuous trait data.

Identifying urban built environment factors in pregnancy care and maternal mental health outcomes.

BACKGROUNDS: Risk factors related to the built environment have been associated with women's mental health and preventive care. This study sought to identify built environment factors that are associated with variations in prenatal care and subsequent pregnancy-related outcomes in an urban setting. METHODS: In a retrospective observational study, we characterized the types and frequency of prenatal care events that are associated with the various built environment factors of the patients' residing neighborhoods. In comparison to women living in higher-quality built environments, we hypothesize that women who reside in lower-quality built environments experience different patterns of clinical events that may increase the risk for adverse outcomes. Using machine learning, we performed pattern detection to characterize the variability in prenatal care concerning encounter types, clinical problems, and medication prescriptions. Structural equation modeling was used to test the associations among built environment, prenatal care variation, and pregnancy outcome. The main outcome is postpartum depression (PPD) diagnosis within 1 year following childbirth. The exposures were the quality of the built environment in the patients' residing neighborhoods. Electronic health records (EHR) data of pregnant women (n = 8,949) who had live delivery at an urban academic medical center from 2015 to 2017 were included in the study. RESULTS: We discovered prenatal care patterns that were summarized into three common types. Women who experienced the prenatal care pattern with the highest rates of PPD were more likely to reside in neighborhoods with homogeneous land use, lower walkability, lower air pollutant concentration, and lower retail floor ratios after adjusting for age, neighborhood average education level, marital status, and income inequality. CONCLUSIONS: In an urban setting, multi-purpose and walkable communities were found to be associated with a lower risk of PPD. Findings may inform urban design policies and provide awareness for care providers on the association of patients' residing neighborhoods and healthy pregnancy.

Mild sleep restriction increases 24-hour ambulatory blood pressure in premenopausal women with no indication of mediation by psychological effects.

BACKGROUND: Studies assessing the impact of sleep restriction (SR) on blood pressure (BP) are limited by short study length, extreme SR (<4 hours a night), and lack of attention to psychological distress as a possible mediator. METHODS: A community-based cohort was assembled with 237 women (age 34.1 ±â€¯13.5 years; body mass index 25.4 ±â€¯5.4 kg/m2), and a randomized, crossover, intervention study was conducted in 41 women (24 completed: age 30.2 ±â€¯6.5 years; body mass index 24.3 ±â€¯2.8 kg/m2) to determine the causal effect of SR on BP. Sleep was maintained as usual (HS) or reduced by 1.5 hours a night (SR) for 6 weeks. In the cohort, associations between sleep and psychosocial factors were evaluated using multivariable models adjusted for demographic and clinical confounders. In the intervention study, in-office BP was measured weekly; ambulatory BP was measured at end point. Psychological factors were assessed at baseline and end point. Mixed-model analyses with total sleep time (TST, main predictor), week and fraction of time spent in physical activity (covariates), and subject (random effect) were performed. RESULTS: Among the community cohort, higher perceived stress, stressful events and distress, and lower resilience were associated with shorter sleep, worse sleep quality, and greater insomnia symptoms (P < .05). In the intervention, systolic BP increased as TST decreased (TST × week interaction, [coefficient ±â€¯standard error] -0.0097 ±â€¯0.0046, P = .036). Wake ambulatory diastolic blood pressure (-0.059 ±â€¯0.022, P = .021) and mean arterial pressure (-0.067 ±â€¯0.023, P = .018) were higher after SR versus HS. Psychological distress variables were not affected by TST and did not mediate the effects of SR on BP. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that SR influences CVD risk in women via mechanisms independent of psychological stressors.

A novel patient-centered "intention-to-treat" metric of U.S. lung transplant center performance.

Despite the importance of pretransplantation outcomes, 1-year posttransplantation survival is typically considered the primary metric of lung transplant center performance in the United States. We designed a novel lung transplant center performance metric that incorporates both pre- and posttransplantation survival time. We performed an ecologic study of 12 187 lung transplant candidates listed at 56 U.S. lung transplant centers between 2006 and 2012. We calculated an "intention-to-treat" survival (ITTS) metric as the percentage of waiting list candidates surviving at least 1 year after transplantation. The median center-level 1-year posttransplantation survival rate was 84.1%, and the median center-level ITTS was 66.9% (mean absolute difference 19.6%, 95% limits of agreement 4.3 to 35.1%). All but 10 centers had ITTS values that were significantly lower than 1-year posttransplantation survival rates. Observed ITTS was significantly lower than expected ITTS for 7 centers. These data show that one third of lung transplant candidates do not survive 1 year after transplantation, and that 12% of centers have lower than expected ITTS. An "intention-to-treat" survival metric may provide a more realistic expectation of patient outcomes at transplant centers and may be of value to transplant centers and policymakers.

Utility of catheterized specimens in reducing overdiagnosis of urinary tract infections in women.

AIMS: To evaluate the utility of catheterized samples in reducing overdiagnosis of UTI based on voided specimens among patients presenting with a range of urinary symptoms. We also aimed to determine variables that may modify the predictive value of the voided midstream urine culture. METHODS: Patient charts were reviewed to identify female patients referred to our voiding dysfunction clinic with a range of complaints warranting urine studies (5/2014-8/2016). Patients with a positive voided urine culture who also had a catheterized urine culture in our system were included. Multiple logistic regression analysis was performed to identify patient characteristics associated with a negative catheterized specimen despite a positive voided specimen. RESULTS: One hundred and seven women were included in the study. Eighty percent of the cohort was post-menopausal. Although all patients had positive voided specimens, only 53 (49.5%) had positive catheterized specimens. On multivariate analysis negative nitrites on clean catch UA was a significant predictor of a negative catheterized sample (adjusted OR 8.9, 95%CI 2.2-43.7, P = 0.003). WBC/HPF <10 on clean catch UA trended towards significance (adjusted OR 4.72, 95%CI 1.1-26.1, P = 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Relying on clean catch urine samples may lead to significant over-diagnosis of UTIs. Our study suggests that in female patients who have vague symptoms of UTI, obtaining catheterized specimens may be beneficial in avoiding the overdiagnosis of UTIs and the overuse of antibiotics. Larger, prospective studies testing our hypothesis are necessary, and would greatly assist in establishing clinical practices that reduce the amount of antibiotics inappropriately prescribed.

High-Attenuation Areas on Chest Computed Tomography and Clinical Respiratory Outcomes in Community-Dwelling Adults.

RATIONALE: Areas of increased lung attenuation visualized by computed tomography are associated with all-cause mortality in the general population. It is uncertain whether this association is attributable to interstitial lung disease (ILD). OBJECTIVES: To determine whether high-attenuation areas are associated with the risk of ILD hospitalization and mortality in the general population. METHODS: We performed a cohort study of 6,808 adults aged 45-84 years sampled from six communities in the United States. High-attenuation areas were defined as the percentage of imaged lung volume with attenuation values between -600 and -250 Hounsfield units. An adjudication panel determined ILD hospitalization and death. MEASUREMENTS AND MAIN RESULTS: After adjudication, 52 participants had a diagnosis of ILD during 75,232 person-years (median, 12.2 yr) of follow-up. There were 48 hospitalizations attributable to ILD (crude rate, 6.4 per 10,000 person-years). Twenty participants died as a result of ILD (crude rate, 2.7 per 10,000 person-years). High-attenuation areas were associated with an increased rate of ILD hospitalization (adjusted hazard ratio, 2.6 per 1-SD increment in high-attenuation areas; 95% confidence interval, 1.9-3.5; P < 0.001), a finding that was stronger among men, African Americans, and Hispanics. High-attenuation areas were also associated with an increased rate of ILD-specific death (adjusted hazard ratio, 2.3; 95% confidence interval, 1.7-3.0; P < 0.001). Our findings were consistent among both smokers and nonsmokers. CONCLUSIONS: Areas of increased lung attenuation are a novel risk factor for ILD hospitalization and mortality. Measurement of high-attenuation areas by screening and diagnostic computed tomography may be warranted in at-risk adults.

Contemporary treatment patterns and outcomes of sarcomatoid bladder cancer.

PURPOSE: To characterize the treatment patterns and survival outcomes of sarcomatoid bladder cancer, a rare urothelial variant histology using a large population level cancer database. METHODS: The National Cancer Database was queried for all cases of sarcomatoid bladder cancer using International Classification of Disease-O-3 morphologic code 8122 between 2004 and 2014. Primary outcome was overall survival. RESULTS: A total of 489 patients met our inclusion criteria and were included in our analysis. Average age at diagnosis was 70.4 years. The majority of the population was male (61.8%) and Caucasian (92.2%). Tumor characteristics included 23.7% cT1, 41.1% cT2 and 15.3% cT3 or above. Median overall survival was 18.4 months (95% CI 13.3-23.6). On multivariate Cox proportional analysis, radical cystectomy alone or with multimodal therapy (chemotherapy or radiotherapy) resulted in a statistically significant reduction in the risk of death as compared to bladder preservation surgery alone. Survival in the radical cystectomy group did not differ between radical cystectomy alone and those receiving either neoadjuvant or adjuvant chemotherapy. CONCLUSIONS: Sarcomatoid bladder cancer has poor prognosis with 18.4-month median overall survival. While our data suggest that aggressive treatment improves outcomes, the role of multimodal therapy is unclear. Future study should continue to focus on multi-institutional collaboration to determine the most effective therapy.

Self-Reported Questionnaire Detects Family History of Cancer in a Pancreatic Cancer Screening Program.

Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) is a leading cause of cancer death; approximately 5-10% of PDAC is hereditary. Self-administered health history questionnaires (HHQs) may provide a low-cost method to detail family history (FH) of malignancy. Pancreas Center patients were asked to enroll in a registry; 149 with PDAC completed a HHQ which included FH data. Patients with FH of PDAC, or concern for inherited PDAC syndrome, were separately evaluated in a Prevention Program and additionally met with a genetic counselor (GC) to assess PDAC risk (n = 61). FH obtained through GC and HHQ were compared using Wilcoxon signed-rank sum and generalized linear mixed models with Poisson distribution. Agreement between GC and HHQ risk-assessment was assessed using kappa (κ) statistic. In the Prevention Program, HHQ was as precise in detecting FH of cancer as the GC (all p > 0.05). GC and HHQ demonstrated substantial agreement in risk-stratification of the Prevention Program cohort (κ = 0.73, 95% CI 0.59-0.87.) The sensitivity of the HHQ to detect a patient at elevated risk (i.e., moderate- or high-risk) of PDAC, compared to GC, was 82.9% (95% CI 67.3-92.3%) with a specificity of 95% (95% CI 73.1-99.7%). However, seven patients who were classified as average-risk by the HHQ were found to be at an elevated-risk of PDAC by the GC. In the PDAC cohort, 30/149 (20.1%) reported at least one first-degree relative (FDR) with PDAC. The limited sensitivity of the HHQ to detect patients at elevated risk of PDAC in the Prevention Program cohort suggests that a GC adds value in risk-assessment in this population. The HHQ may offer an opportunity to identify high-risk patients in a PDAC population.

Predictors of biochemical recurrence in pT3b prostate cancer after radical prostatectomy without adjuvant radiotherapy.

BACKGROUND: Men with pathologic evidence of seminal vesicle invasion (SVI) at radical prostatectomy (RP) have higher rates of biochemical recurrence (BCR) and mortality. Adjuvant radiotherapy (XRT) has been shown to increase freedom from BCR, but its impact on overall survival is controversial and it may represent overtreatment for some. The present study, therefore, sought to identify men with SVI at higher risk for BCR after RP in the absence of adjuvant XRT. METHODS: We identified 180 patients in our institutional database who underwent RP from 1990 to 2011 who had pT3bN0-1 disease. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to estimate freedom from BCR for the overall cohort and substratified by Gleason score, PSA, surgical margin status, and lymph node positivity. Cox Proportional Hazards models were used to determine demographic and histopathological factors predictive of BCR. Time-dependent ROC curve analysis was conducted to assess the ability of the UCSF-CAPRA score to predict BCR. RESULTS: Median age was 64 years, and 52.8% of patients were preoperative D'Amico high risk. At RP, 41.4% had a positive surgical margin (PSM), and 12.2% had positive lymph nodes (LN). The most common sites of PSM were the peripheral zone (56.8%) and the apex (32.4%). Positive bladder neck margin (HR = 7.01, P = 0.035) and PSA 10-20 versus ≤10 (HR = 1.63, P = 0.047) predicted higher BCR in multivariable analyses. Median follow-up was 26 months, and 2-, 3-, and 5-year BCR-free rates were 56.1%, 49.0%, and 39.5%. Log rank tests showed that freedom from BCR was significantly less for Gleason 9-10, PSA >20, PSM, and N1 patients. The area under curve (AUC) for CAPRA in predicting BCR was 0.713 at 2 years, 0.692 at 3 years, and 0.641 at 5 years. Increasing CAPRA score was associated with an increased risk of BCR (HR = 1.33, P < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: pT3b prostate cancer is a heterogeneous disease commonly associated with several high-risk features. Stratifying men with SVI by prognostic features (i.e., Gleason, PSA, node status, surgical margin status) and using these features to augment the CAPRA score will improve identification of those at higher risk for BCR that should be strongly considered for adjuvant XRT.

Risk Factors for Priapism Readmission.

INTRODUCTION: Priapism is a urologic emergency with a tendency to recur in some patients. The frequency of, time to, and risk factors for priapism recurrence have not been well characterized. AIM: To identify predictors of priapism readmission. METHODS: We used the New York Statewide Planning and Research Cooperative System database to identify patients presenting to emergency departments with priapism from 2005 through 2014. Patients were tracked up to 12 months after initial presentation. Proportional hazards regression was used to identify risk factors for priapism readmission. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Readmissions for priapism. RESULTS: The analytic cohort included 3,372 men with a diagnosis of priapism. The average age at first presentation was 39 ± 18 years and 40% were black. Within 1 year, 24% of patients were readmitted for recurrent priapism, 68% of whom were readmitted within 60 days. On multivariate analysis, sickle cell disease (hazard ratio [HR] = 2.5, 95% CI = 2.0-3.0), drug abuse or psychiatric disease (HR = 1.9, 95% CI = 1.6-2.2), erectile dysfunction history (HR = 1.9, 95% CI = 1.5-2.3), other than commercial medical insurance (HR = 1.2, 95% CI = 1.0-1.4), and inpatient admission for initial priapism event (HR = 0.5, 95% CI = 0.4-0.6) were significant risk factors for readmission. CONCLUSION: Nearly one fourth of patients with priapism were readmitted for recurrent priapism within 1 year of initial presentation. Most readmissions were within 60 days. Future research should focus on strategies to decrease recurrences in high-risk patients.

Delay from biopsy to radical prostatectomy influences the rate of adverse pathologic outcomes.

BACKGROUND: We sought to determine maximum wait times between biopsy diagnosis and surgery for localized prostate cancer, beyond which the rate of adverse pathologic outcomes is increased. METHODS: We retrospectively reviewed 4,610 patients undergoing radical prostatectomy between 1990 and 2011. Patients were stratified by biopsy Gleason score and PSA value. For each stratification, χ2 analysis was used to determine the smallest 15-day multiple of surgical delay (e.g., 15, 30, 45…180 days) for which adverse pathologic outcomes were significantly more likely after the time interval than before. Adverse outcomes were defined as positive surgical margins, upgrading from biopsy, upstaging, seminal vesicle invasion, or positive lymph nodes. RESULTS: Two thousand two hundred twelve patients met inclusion criteria. Median delay was 64 days (mean 76, SD 47). One thousand six hundred seventy-five (75.7%), 537 (24.3%), and 60 (2.7%) patients had delays of <=90, >90, and >180 days, respectively. Twenty-six percent were upgraded on final pathology and 23% were upstaged. The positive surgical margin rate was 24.2% and the positive lymph node rate was 1.1%. Significant increases in the proportion of adverse pathological outcomes were found beyond 75 days in the overall cohort (P = 0.03), 150 days for patients with Gleason <=6, and PSA 0-10 (P = 0.038), 60 days for patients with Gleason 7 and PSA >20 (P = 0.032), and 30 days for patients with Gleason 8-10 and PSA 11-20 (0.041). CONCLUSION: In low-risk disease, there is a considerable but not unlimited surgical delay which will not adversely impact the rate of adverse pathologic features found. In higher risk disease, this time period is considerably shorter.

Phase II trial of intravesical nanoparticle albumin bound paclitaxel for the treatment of nonmuscle invasive urothelial carcinoma of the bladder after bacillus Calmette-Guérin treatment failure.

PURPOSE: Response rates to current second line intravesical therapies for recurrent nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer range between 10% and 30%. Nanoparticle albumin bound (nab-)paclitaxel has increased solubility and lower toxicity compared to other taxanes. Results of the phase I intravesical trial of this compound demonstrated minimal toxicity during dose escalation. We now report the results of a phase II trial to assess efficacy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This study was an investigator initiated, single center, single arm, phase II trial investigating the use of nab-paclitaxel in patients with recurrent Tis, T1 and Ta urothelial carcinoma in whom at least 1 prior regimen of intravesical bacillus Calmette-Guérin failed. Patients received 500 mg/100 ml nab-paclitaxel administered in 6 weekly intravesical instillations. Efficacy was evaluated with cystoscopy, biopsy, cytology and imaging. If complete response was achieved, patients were treated with full dose monthly maintenance treatments for 6 months. RESULTS: A total of 28 patients were enrolled in the study. Of these patients 10 (35.7%) exhibited a complete response after initial treatment. At 1 year all of these responses remained durable after maintenance therapy. At a mean followup of 21 months (range 5 to 47) 19 of 28 (67.8%) patients retained their bladders without progression or distant metastases. A single patient had progression to muscle invasive disease at radical cystectomy. Treatment related adverse events were noted in 9 of 28 (32.1%) patients and were limited to grade 1 or 2. CONCLUSIONS: Intravesical nab-paclitaxel has minimal toxicity and a 35.7% response rate in patients with nonmuscle invasive bladder cancer and previous bacillus Calmette-Guérin failure. Complete response remained durable at 1 year followup in this heavily pretreated patient population.

Prevalence of spinal meningeal diverticula in autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD) patients develop cysts in the kidneys, liver, spleen, pancreas, prostate and arachnoid spaces. In addition, spinal meningeal diverticula have been reported. To determine whether spinal meningeal diverticula are associated with ADPKD, we compare their prevalence in ADPKD subjects to a control cohort without ADPKD. MATERIALS AND METHODS: ADPKD subjects and age-and gender-matched controls without ADPKD undergoing abdominal MRI from mid-thorax to the pelvis from 2003 to 2023 were retrospectively evaluated for spinal meningeal diverticula by 4 blinded observers. Prevalence of spinal meningeal diverticula in ADPKD was compared to control subjects, using t-test and correlated with clinical and laboratory data, and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) features, including cyst volumes and cyst counts. RESULTS: Identification of spinal meningeal diverticula in ADPKD (n=285, median age, 47 [37,56]; 54% female) and control (n=285, median age, 47 [37,57]; 54% female) subjects had high inter-observer agreement (Pairwise Cohen kappa=0.74). Spinal meningeal diverticula were observed in 145 of 285 (51%) ADPKD subjects compared with 66 of 285 (23%) control subjects without ADPKD (p<0.001). Spinal meningeal diverticula in ADPKD were more prevalent in women (98 of 153 [64%]) than men (47 of 132 [36%], p<0.001). The mean number of spinal meningeal diverticula per affected ADPKD subject was 3.6 + 2.9 compared to 2.4 + 1.9 in controls with cysts (p<0.001). The median volume/interquartile range (IQR, 25%/75%) of spinal meningeal diverticula was 400 mm3 (210, 740) in ADPKD compared to 250 mm3 (180, 440) in controls (p<0.001). Mean/SD spinal meningeal diverticulum diameter was greater in the sacrum (7.3 + 4.1 mm) compared to thoracic (5.4 + 1.8 mm) and lumbar spine (5.8 + 2.0 mm), p<0.001, suggesting that that hydrostatic pressure contributed to enlargement. CONCLUSIONS: ADPKD has a high prevalence of spinal meningeal diverticula, particularly in women. ABBREVIATIONS: ADPKD = Autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease.

Aspiring to clinical significance: Insights from developing and evaluating a machine learning model to predict emergency department return visit admissions.

Return visit admissions (RVA), which are instances where patients discharged from the emergency department (ED) rapidly return and require hospital admission, have been associated with quality issues and adverse outcomes. We developed and validated a machine learning model to predict 72-hour RVA using electronic health records (EHR) data. Study data were extracted from EHR data in 2019 from three urban EDs. The development and independent validation datasets included 62,154 patients from two EDs and 73,453 patients from one ED, respectively. Multiple machine learning algorithms were evaluated, including deep significance clustering (DICE), regularized logistic regression (LR), Gradient Boosting Decision Tree, and XGBoost. These machine learning models were also compared against an existing clinical risk score. To support clinical actionability, clinician investigators conducted manual chart reviews of the cases identified by the model. Chart reviews categorized predicted cases across index ED discharge diagnosis and RVA root cause classifications. The best-performing model achieved an AUC of 0.87 in the development site (test set) and 0.75 in the independent validation set. The model, which combined DICE and LR, boosted predictive performance while providing well-defined features. The model was relatively robust to sensitivity analyses regarding performance across age, race, and by varying predictor availability but less robust across diagnostic groups. Clinician examination demonstrated discrete model performance characteristics within clinical subtypes of RVA. This machine learning model demonstrated a strong predictive performance for 72- RVA. Despite the limited clinical actionability potentially due to model complexity, the rarity of the outcome, and variable relevance, the clinical examination offered guidance on further variable inclusion for enhanced predictive accuracy and actionability.

Acceptability and usability of the Planning Advance Care Together (PACT) website for improving patients' engagement in advance care planning.

Objectives: Most prior advance care planning (ACP) interventions lack integration of the social context of patients' ACP process, which patients indicate is critically important. The current study developed the Planning Advance Care Together (PACT) website to foster inclusion of loved ones in the ACP process. Methods: To provide feedback about the PACT website, patients with advanced cancer (N = 11), their caregivers (N = 11), and experts (N = 10) participated in semi-structured interviews. Patients and caregivers also completed standardized ratings of acceptability and usability. Results: Overall, patient (n = 11) and caregiver (n = 11) ratings of acceptability and usability of the website exceeded benchmark cut-offs (≥24 on the Acceptability E-Scale and ≥ 68 on the System Usability Scale). Patients, caregivers, and experts liked the topic of ACP but felt that it could be emotionally challenging. They recommended focusing more on planning and less on end of life. They appreciated being able to include loved ones and recommended adding resources for caregivers. Conclusions: Study findings support the preliminary usability and acceptability of the PACT website. Findings will be used to inform a modified prototype of the PACT website that is interactive and ready for field testing with patients with advanced cancer and their loved ones. Innovation: We utilized a novel application of the shared mind framework to support patients with advanced cancer in engaging their loved ones in the ACP process.

Reasons for Discordance between 68Ga-PSMA-PET and Magnetic Resonance Imaging in Men with Metastatic Prostate Cancer.

BACKGROUND: PSMA PET has emerged as a "gold standard" imaging modality for assessing prostate cancer metastases. However, it is not universally available, and this limits its impact. In contrast, whole-body MRI is much more widely available but misses more lesions. This study aims to improve the interpretation of whole-body MRI by comparing false negative scans retrospectively to PSMA PET. METHODS: This study was a retrospective sub-analysis of a prospectively collected database of patients who participated in a clinical trial of PSMA PET/MRI comparing PSMA PET and whole-body MRI from 2018-2021. Subjects whose separately read PSMA PET and MRI diagnostic reports showed discrepancies ("false negative" MRI cases) were selected for sub-analysis. The cases were reviewed by the same attending radiologist who originally read the scans. The radiologist noted specific features on MRI indicating metastatic disease that were initially missed. RESULTS: Of 263 cases, 38 (14%) met the inclusion criteria and were reviewed. Six classes of mpMRI false negatives were identified: anatomically normal (18, 47%), atypical MRI appearance (6, 16%), mischaracterization (1, 3%), undercall (6, 16%), obscured (4, 11%), and no abnormality on MRI (3, 8%). Considering that the atypical and undercalled cases could have been adjusted in retrospect, and that 4 additional cases had positive lesions to the same extent and 11 further cases had disease confined to the pelvis, only 11 (4%) of the original 263 would have had disease outside of a conventional radiation treatment plan. CONCLUSION: Notably, almost 50% of the cases, including most lymph node metastases, were anatomically normal using standard criteria. This suggests that current anatomic criteria for evaluating prostate cancer lymph node metastases are not ideal, and there is a need for improved criteria. In addition, 32% of cases involved some element of human interpretive error, and, therefore, improving reader training may lead to more accurate results.