Project description:Peritoneal surface malignancy (PSM) is a common manifestation of digestive and gynecologic malignancies alike. At present, patients with isolated PSM are treated with a combination therapy of cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (HIPEC). The combination of CRS and intraperitoneal (IP) chemotherapy should now be considered standard of care for PSM from appendiceal epithelial cancers, colorectal cancer and peritoneal mesothelioma. Although there is a near universal standardization regarding the CRS, we are still lacking a much-needed standardization among the various IP chemotherapy treatment modalities used today in clinical practice. Pharmacologic evidence should be generated to answer important questions raised by the myriad of variables associated with IP chemotherapy.
Project description:IntroductionPerioperative care is a broad field covering an array of elective and emergency procedures. Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for perioperative care exist with various degrees of methodological quality. We intend to critically appraise them using AGREE II instrument and investigate the use of Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluations (GRADE).Methods and analysisWe searched MEDLINE (Ovid), Epistemonikos, Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews and PROSPERO and did not identify any similar systematic review in this area. We will search databases, repositories and websites of guideline developers and medical societies, including MEDLINE (Ovid), Embase (Ovid), DynaMed, the GIN international guideline library and registry of guidelines in development, BIGG international database of GRADE guidelines, ECRI Guideline Trust or National Institute for Clinical Evidence to identify all CPGs for perioperative care in an adult population in a general clinical setting. We will include CPGs, expert guidance, position papers, guidance documents and consensus statements published in the last 5 years by experts or international organisations that provide guidance or recommendations in the available full text with no geographical or language limitation. Excluded will be those containing only good practice statements. Two independent reviewers will perform critical appraisal using the AGREE II tool. The data presented in a narrative and tabular form will include the results of the critical appraisal for all identified CPGs for all AGREE II domains and an assessment of the use of the GRADE approach.Ethics and disseminationEthics approval is not required. We will disseminate the findings through professional networks and conference presentations and will publish the results.
Project description:Hyperglycemia is the major risk factor for microvascular complications in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2D). However, cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the principal cause of death, and lowering HbA1c has only a modest effect on reducing CVD risk and mortality. The recently published LEADER and SUSTAIN-6 trials demonstrate that, in T2D patients with high CVD risk, the glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists liraglutide and semaglutide reduce the primary major adverse cardiac events (MACE) end point (cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke) by 13% and 24%, respectively. The EMPA-REG OUTCOME, IRIS (subjects without diabetes), and PROactive (second principal end point) studies also demonstrated a significant reduction in cardiovascular events in T2D patients treated with empagliflozin and pioglitazone. However, the benefit of these four antidiabetes agents (liraglutide, semaglutide, empagliflozin, and pioglitazone) on the three individual MACE end points differed, suggesting that different underlying mechanisms were responsible for the reduction in cardiovascular events. Since liraglutide, semaglutide, pioglitazone, and empagliflozin similarly lower the plasma glucose concentration but appear to reduce CVD risk by different mechanisms, there emerges the intriguing possibility that, if used in combination, the effects of these antidiabetes agents may be additive or even multiplicative with regard to cardiovascular benefit.
Project description:BackgroundOne of the main elements of patient-centered care is an enhancement of patient preparedness. Thus, pre-visit planning assessment tools was emerged to prepare and involve patients in their treatment process.ObjectiveThe main objective of this article was to review the applied tools and techniques for consideration of putting pre-visit planning into practice.MethodsWeb of Science, Scopus, IEEE, and PubMed databases were searched using keywords from January 2001 to November 2020. The review was completed according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses checklist. Then, qualitative analysis was done to suggest an appropriate framework by mapping the main concepts.ResultsOut of 385 citations were retrieved in initial database searches, 49 studies from ten countries were included. Applied pre-visit techniques can be classified into eight categories. Our results showed that almost 81% of studies were related to procedures that were done between each visit, while 42% of articles were related to before visits. Accordingly, the main approach of included articles was patient preparedness. While 38 studies reported this approach is effective, three studies reported the effectiveness of such tools as moderate, only two articles believed it had a low effect on improving patient-centered care.ConclusionThis survey summarized the characteristics of published studies on pre-visit planning in the proposed framework. This approach could enhance the quality of patient care alongside enhancement patient-provider communication. However, such an approach can also be helpful to control pandemic diseases by reducing unnecessary referrals.
Project description:BACKGROUND: The value of adjuvant chemotherapy in colorectal cancer is well studied, and guidelines have been established. Little is known about how treatment guidelines are implemented in the everyday clinical setting. METHODS: This national population-based study on nearly 34,000 patients with colorectal cancer evaluates the adherence to present clinical guidelines for adjuvant chemotherapy. Virtually all patients with colorectal cancer in Sweden during the years 2007-2012 and data from the Swedish Colorectal Cancer Registry were included. RESULTS: In colon cancer stage III, adherence to national guidelines was associated with lower age, presence of multidisciplinary team (MDT) conference, low co-morbidity, and worse N stage. The MDT forum also affected whether or not high-risk stage II colon cancer patients were considered for adjuvant chemotherapy. Rectal cancer patients both in stage II and III were considered for adjuvant chemotherapy less often than colon cancer patients, but the same factors influenced the decision. Adjuvant chemotherapy was started later than eight weeks after surgery in 30% of colon cancer patients and in 38% of rectal cancer patients. CONCLUSIONS: In Sweden, the adherence to national guidelines for adjuvant chemotherapy in colon cancer stage III is acceptable in younger and healthier patients. MDT conferences are of major importance and affect whether patients are recommended for adjuvant chemotherapy. Special consideration needs to be given to certain subgroups of patients, particularly older patients and patients with poorly differentiated tumors. There is a need to shorten the waiting time until start of chemotherapy.
Project description:Achondroplasia (ACH) is a skeletal dysplasia that presents with limb shortening, short stature, and characteristic facial configuration. ACH is caused by mutations of the FGFR3 gene, leading to constantly activated FGFR3 and activation of its downstream intracellular signaling pathway. This results in the suppression of chondrocyte differentiation and proliferation, which in turn impairs endochondral ossification and causes short-limb short stature. ACH also causes characteristic clinical symptoms, including foramen magnum narrowing, ventricular enlargement, sleep apnea, upper airway stenosis, otitis media, a narrow thorax, spinal canal stenosis, spinal kyphosis, and deformities of the lower extremities. Although outside Japan, papers on health supervision are available, they are based on reports and questionnaire survey results. Considering the scarcity of high levels of evidence and clinical guidelines for patients with ACH, clinical practical guidelines have been developed to assist both healthcare professionals and patients in making appropriate decisions in specific clinical situations. Eleven clinical questions were established and a systematic literature search was conducted using PubMed/MEDLINE. Evidence-based recommendations were developed, and the guidelines describe the recommendations related to the clinical management of ACH. We anticipate that these clinical practice guidelines for ACH will be useful for healthcare professionals and patients alike.
Project description:Perioperative and palliative chemotherapy for esophageal carcinoma has undergone substantial changes in recent years. The implementation of trastuzumab in the treatment of HER2-positive advanced adenocarcinoma is a milestone as it marked the introduction of the first molecularly targeted treatment of gastric cancer. Current studies are investigating whether anti-HER2-directed treatment also proves effective in the perioperative setting. Data from the CROSS study on neoadjuvant radio-/chemotherapy with paclitaxel and carboplatin have helped to establish a new standard of care for the treatment of localized esophageal cancer. Finally, preliminary experience in potentially curative treatment approaches for oligometastatic tumor stages may offer new treatment options for patients with stage IV gastric cancer. However, some of these innovative approaches urgently require validation in larger, prospective, and controlled multicenter studies. Highly active forms of radiotherapy, radio-/chemotherapy, or chemoimmunotherapy can achieve complete tumor remissions in some patients. Despite these advances, life expectancy unfortunately continues to be very limited in the majority of patients with locally advanced or metastatic esophageal carcinoma.
Project description:Although cytoreductive surgery (CRS) and hyperthermic perioperative chemotherapy (HIPEC) have not been shown to be effective by themselves, as a combined treatment they are now standard of care for peritoneal metastases from appendiceal cancer and from colorectal cancer as well as peritoneal mesothelioma. The timing of the HIPEC in relation to the CRS is crucial in that the HIPEC is to destroy minimal residual disease that remains following the CRS and prevent microscopic tumor emboli within the abdomen and pelvis from implanting within the resection site, within fibrinous clot, or within blood clot. Proper selection of chemotherapy agents is crucial to the long-term benefit of CRS and HIPEC. One must consider the response expected with the cancer chemotherapy agent, its area under the curve (AUC) ratio indicating the amount of dose intensity within the peritoneal space, and the drug retention within the peritoneal space for a prolonged exposure. Hyperthermia will augment the cytotoxicity of the cancer chemotherapy agents and improve drug penetration. Irrigation techniques should not be overlooked as an important means of reducing the cancer cell burden within the abdomen and pelvis. Multiple technologies for HIPEC exist and these have advantages and disadvantages. The techniques vary from a totally open technique with a vapor barrier over the open abdominal space to a totally closed technique whereby the HIPEC is administered at the completion of the surgical procedure. The open techniques depend on a table-mounted retractor for suspension of the skin edges allowing a reservoir to occur within the abdomen and pelvis. There are nearly a dozen commercially available hyperthermia pumps, all of which seem to perform adequately for HIPEC although there is a variable degree of convenience and documentation of the HIPEC procedure. As the management of peritoneal metastases has progressed over three decades, early cases are now seen in which a laparoscopic CRS and HIPEC may be appropriate. Also, prophylactic use of laparoscopic HIPEC with perforated appendiceal malignancies and T4 colon cancers may be appropriate.
Project description:Pharmacogenetics seeks to elucidate the variations in individual's genetic sequences in order to better understand the differences seen in pharmacokinetics, drug metabolism, and efficacy between patients. This area of research is rapidly accelerating, aided by the use of novel and more economical molecular technologies. A substantial evidence base is being generated with the hopes that in the future it may be used to generate personalised treatment regimens in order to improve patient comfort and safety and reduce incidences of morbidity and mortality. Anaesthetics is an area of particular interest in this field, with previous research leading to better informed practice, specifically with regards to pseudocholinesterase deficiency and malignant hyperthermia. In this review, recent pharmacogenetic data pertaining to anaesthetic drugs will be presented and possible future applications and implications for practice will be discussed.