Text Messaging, Telephone, or In-Person Outpatient Visit to the Surgical Clinic: A Randomized Trial.

INTRODUCTION: Routine outpatient follow-up visits for surgical patients are a source of strain on health-care resources and patients. With the COVID-19 pandemic adding a new urgency to finding the safest follow-up arrangement, text message follow-up might prove an acceptable alternative to a phone call or an in-person clinic visit. METHODS: An open-label, three-arm, parallel randomized trial was conducted. The interventions were traditional in-person appointment, a telephone call, or a text message. The primary outcome was the number of postdischarge complications identified. The secondary outcomes were patient satisfaction with follow-up, future preference, default to follow-up, and preference to receiving medical information by text message. RESULTS: Two hundred eight patients underwent randomization: 50 in the in-person group, 80 in the telephone group, and 78 in the text message group. There was no difference in the number of reported complications: 5 (10%) patients in the in-person group, 7 (9%) patients in the text group, and 11 (14%) patients in the telephone group (P = 0.613). The preferred method of follow-up was by telephone (106, 61.6%). The least preferred was the in-person follow-up (15, 8.7%, P = 0.002), which also had the highest default rate (44%). CONCLUSIONS: There was no evidence that text messages and telephone calls are unsafe and ineffective methods of follow-up. Although most patients are happy to receive results by text message, the majority of patients would prefer a telephone follow-up and are less likely to default by this method. Health-care systems should develop telehealth initiatives when planning health-care services in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Obesity and outcomes in trauma - a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: The physiological abnormalities relating to obesity and metabolic syndrome can contribute to worse outcomes following trauma especially in class 2 and 3 obesity. The aim of this systematic review was to determine whether patients with a higher class of obesity who suffer traumatic injury have a higher risk of worse outcomes including in-hospital mortality than normal-weight patients. METHODS: A systematic search of MEDLINE, EMBASE, CENTRAL, Web of Science and CINAHL was performed for studies that reported a comparison of in-hospital obesity-related outcomes against normal-weight individuals aged 15 years and older following trauma. Single or multiple injuries from either blunt and/or penetrating trauma were included. Burn-related injuries, isolated head injury and studies focusing on orthopaedic related perioperative complications were excluded. RESULTS: The search yielded 7405 articles; 26 were included in this systematic review. 945,511 patients had a BMI>30. A random-effects meta-analysis was performed for analysis of all four outcomes. Patients with class 3 obesity (BMI>40) have significantly higher odds of in-hospital mortality than normal-BMI individuals following blunt and penetrating trauma (OR, 1.75; 95% CI, 1.39-2.19, p=<0.00001), significantly longer hospital LOS (SMD, 0.23; 95% CI, 0.21-0.25; p<0.00001) and significantly longer ICU LOS (SMD, 0.19; 95% CI, 0.12-0.26; p<0.0001). In contrast, studies that examined blunt and penetrating trauma and classified obesity with a threshold of BMI>30 found no significant difference in the odds of in-hospital mortality (OR, 0.94; 95% CI, 0.86-1.02, p=0.13). CONCLUSIONS: There is a higher risk of in-hospital mortality in patients living with class 3 obesity following trauma when compared with individuals with normal BMI. The management of patients with obesity is complex and trauma systems should develop specific weight related pathways to manage and anticipate the complications that arise in these patients. Systematic review registration number PROSPERO registration: CRD42021234482 Level of Evidence: Level 3.

Hepatic resection for breast cancer related liver metastases: A single institution experience.

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVE: Liver resection for breast cancer liver metastases is becoming a more widely accepted therapeutic option for selected groups of patients. The aim of this study was to describe the outcomes of patients undergoing liver resection for breast cancer-related liver metastases and identify any variables associated with recurrence or survival. METHODS: A retrospective review of a prospectively maintained database was undertaken for the 12 year period between 2009 and 2021. Clinicopathological, treatment, intraoperative, recurrence, survival and follow-up data were collected on all patients. Kaplan-Meier methods, the log-rank test and Cox proportional hazards regression analysis were used to identify variables that were associated with recurrence and survival. RESULTS: A total of 20 patients underwent 21 liver resections over the 12-year period. There were no deaths within 30 days of surgery and an operative morbidity occurred in 23.8% of cases. The median local recurrence free survival and disease free survival times were both 50 months, while the 5 year overall survival rate was 65%. The presence of extrahepatic metastases were associated with a decreased time to local recurrence (p < 0.01) and worse overall survival (p = 0.02). CONCLUSIONS: This study has demonstrated that liver resection for breast cancer-related liver metastases is feasible, safe and associated with prolonged disease free and overall survival in selected patients. It is likely that this option will be offered to more patients going forward, however, the difficulty lies in selecting out those who will benefit from liver resection particularly given the increasing number of systemic treatments and local ablative methods available that offer good long-term results.

An Analysis of Clinicopathological Outcomes and the Utility of Preoperative MRI for Patients Undergoing Resection of Mucinous and Non-Mucinous Colorectal Cancer Liver Metastases.

Background and Aims: Mucinous colorectal cancer has traditionally been associated with high rates of recurrence and poor long-term survival. There is limited published data on outcomes for patients undergoing liver resection for metastatic mucinous colorectal cancer. The aim of this study was to compare the clinicopathological outcomes for patients with mucinous colorectal cancer liver metastases (CRCLM) undergoing liver resection to a matched group of patients with adenocarcinoma not otherwise specified (NOS) and to evaluate the accurary of preoperative magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) at detecting the presence of mucin in liver metastases. Materials and Methods: Patients with mucinous CRCLM undergoing liver resection were matched 1:3 to patients with adenocarcinoma NOS CRCLM. Clinicopathological data from the primary tumour and metastatic lesion were collected and compared between the groups. Hepatic recurrence-free, disease-free and overall survival were compared between the groups. The ability of preoperative MRI to detect mucin in CRCLM was also evaluated. Results: A total of 25 patients with mucinous CRCLM underwent surgery over the 12-year period and were matched to 75 patients with adenocarcinoma NOS. Clinicopathological findings were similar between the groups. Resection of mucinous CRCLM was feasible and safe with similar levels of morbidity to adenocarcinoma NOS. There were no differences identified in hepatic recurrence-free (p=0.85), disease-free (p=0.25) and overall survival (p=0.98) between the groups. MRI had a sensitivity of 31.3% in detecting the presence of mucin in CRCLM. Conclusion: Patients with mucinous CRCLM in this study had similar outcomes to patients with adenocarcinoma NOS. Based on our findings, histological subtype should not be taken into account when deciding on resectability of CRCLM.

Clinicopathological characteristics and survival outcomes for patients with mucinous colorectal cancer liver metastases undergoing hepatic resection: A systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Mucinous adenocarcinoma represents a distinct histological subtype of colorectal cancer. To date there has been limited data available for patients with colorectal cancer liver metastases (CRCLM) derived from mucinous adenocarcinoma. This systematic review and meta-analysis aims to provide data on the clinicopathological and survival outcomes of this cohort. METHODS: Databases were searched for studies comparing clinicopathological and survival outcomes between patients with mucinous CRCLM and CRCLM from adenocarcinoma not otherwise specified who underwent liver resection. A random-effects model was used for analysis. RESULTS: Eight studies describing 9157 patients were included. Mucinous CRCLM were positively associated with colon tumors (OR 1⋅64, P = 0⋅01), T3/T4 tumors (OR 1⋅58, P = 0⋅02), node positive tumors (OR 1⋅55, P = 0⋅005). The review also identified a trend towards worse overall survival in patients with mucinous CRCLM. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the distinct clinicopathological characteristics and impaired long term outcomes of mucinous CRCLM, resection should remain the gold standard where possible.

POST-OP: A Strategy to Improve Clinical Documentation in the Early Postoperative Period.

OBJECTIVE: To construct and pilot an educational tool to improve the quality of postoperative documentation at Mayo University Hospital. DESIGN: Retrospective data were collected from 100 consecutive patients treated surgically during October to November 2016. The first written ward based note following surgery was analyzed against RCS quality standards outlined in "Good Surgical Practice." An educational tool was then constructed to improve postoperative documentation. The mnemonic created was POST-OP-physiotherapy/mobilization, operative diagnosis, sepsis, thromboprophylaxis, oral intake/fluid balance, and pain. A second audit cycle involving 103 patients was carried out prospectively in March 2017. SETTING: Mayo University Hospital, a 330 bed teaching hospital affiliated with the National University of Ireland, Galway. PARTICIPANTS: All patients who had undergone either an elective or an emergency general surgery procedure over two 5-week periods. RESULTS: Comparing the 2 study periods, significant improvements in the quality of postoperative surgical documentation was observed. All standards improved including patient identification (17.8% vs 78.1%, p < 0.001) and name of note maker (54.7% vs 86.2%, p < 0.001). There was also improvement in the documentation of antibiotic use (23.8% vs 75.8%, p > 0.001), thromboprophylaxis (7.1% vs 75.8%, p < 0.001), analgesia (36.9% vs 74.7%, p < 0.001), operative diagnosis (66.6% vs 91.9%, p < 0.001), and mobilization (23.6% vs 78.1%, p < 0.001) following the introduction of the POST-OP tool. CONCLUSION: The design and introduction of the POST-OP education tool helped to significantly improve documentation and educate surgical residents on the essential components of postoperative care. The above data suggest that this effective mnemonic can improve the quality of postoperative documentation for surgical patients.