Project description:BackgroundClinical manifestation, radiologic examination, diagnostic criteria, classification, and nonoperative treatment strategies regarding chronic syndesmosis injury remain unclear.PurposeAn international group of experts representing the fields of sports injuries in the foot and ankle area were invited to collaboratively advance toward consensus opinions based on the best available evidence regarding chronic syndesmosis injuries. All were members of the Asia-Pacific Knee, Arthroscopy and Sports Medicine Society (APKASS).Study designConsensus statement.MethodsFrom November to December 2020, a total of 111 international experts on sports medicine or ankle surgery participated in a 2-stage Delphi process that included an anonymous online survey and an online meeting. A total of 13 items with 38 statements were drafted by 13 core authors. Of these, 4 items with 15 clinical questions and statements were related to the clinical manifestation, radiologic examination, diagnostic criteria, classification, and nonoperative treatment strategies for chronic syndesmosis injury and are presented here. Each statement was individually presented and discussed, followed by a general vote. The strength of consensus was characterized as follows: consensus, 51% to 74%; strong consensus, 75% to 99%; unanimous, 100%.ResultsOf the 15 questions and statements, 5 reached unanimous support and 10 achieved strong consensus.ConclusionThis APKASS consensus statement, developed by international experts in the field, will assist surgeons and physical therapists with diagnosis, classification, and nonoperative treatment strategies for chronic syndesmosis injury.
Project description:BackgroundQuestions regarding surgical fusion techniques, postoperative treatment, and indications for return to sport after chronic syndesmosis injury or its comorbidities remain unanswered.PurposeAn international group of experts representing the field of injuries in the foot and ankle area was invited to collaboratively advance toward consensus opinions based on the best available evidence regarding chronic syndesmosis injury. All were members of the Asia-Pacific Knee, Arthroscopy and Sports Medicine Society (APKASS).Study designConsensus statement.MethodsFrom November to December 2020, a total of 111 international experts on sports medicine or ankle surgery participated in a 2-stage Delphi process that included an anonymous online survey and an online meeting. A total of 13 items with 38 statements were drafted by 13 core authors. Of these, 4 items with 6 clinical questions and statements were related to surgical fusion techniques, comorbidity treatments, postoperative rehabilitation, and return-to-sports indications and are presented here. Each statement was individually presented and discussed, followed by a general vote. The strength of consensus was characterized as follows: consensus, 51% to 74%; strong consensus, 75% to 99%; and unanimous, 100%.ResultsOf the 6 questions and statements, 5 achieved unanimous support and 1 reached strong consensus.ConclusionThis APKASS consensus statement, developed by international experts in the field, will assist surgeons and physical therapists with surgical and postoperative treatment strategies for chronic syndesmosis injury.
Project description:BackgroundThe indications for surgical treatment of chronic syndesmosis injury are challenging for many orthopaedic clinicians, as there is no international consensus on the optimal management of these injuries.PurposeAn international group of experts representing the field of sports injuries in the foot and ankle area was invited to collaboratively advance toward consensus opinions based on the best available evidence regarding chronic syndesmosis injury. All were members of the Asia-Pacific Knee, Arthroscopy and Sports Medicine Society (APKASS).Study designConsensus statement.MethodsFrom November to December 2020, a total of 111 international experts on sports medicine or ankle surgery participated in a 2-stage Delphi process that included an anonymous online survey and an online meeting. A total of 13 items with 38 statements were drafted by 13 core authors. Of these, 9 items with 17 clinical questions and statements were related to indications for surgical treatment, arthroscopic versus open debridement, and suture button versus screw fixation reconstruction techniques and are presented here. Each statement was individually presented and discussed, followed by a general vote. The strength of consensus was characterized as follows: consensus, 51% to 74%; strong consensus, 75% to 99%; and unanimous, 100%.ResultsOf the 17 questions and statements, 4 achieved unanimous support, 11 reached strong consensus, and 2 reached consensus.ConclusionThis APKASS consensus statement, developed by international experts in the field, will assist surgeons and physical therapists with surgical indications and techniques for chronic syndesmosis injury.
Project description:Patient engagement has been recognized as a key priority in chronic care. However, scholars agree that guidelines are needed to ensure effective patient engagement strategies. To this end, a Consensus Conference process was promoted with the following methodological steps: (1) extensive literature review about patient engagement initiatives in chronic care; (2) a stakeholders survey to collect best practices and (3) workshops with experts. On the basis of the information collected, a consensus statement was drafted, revised, and finalized by a panel of select renowned experts. These experts agreed in defining engagement as an eco-systemic concept involving multiple actors all of which contribute to influence patients' willingness and ability to engage in chronic care. Moreover, experts recommended, whenever possible, to adopt standardized instruments to assess engagement levels and related unmet needs. Then, experts strongly advised appropriate trainings for healthcare professionals about patient engagement strategies. Furthermore, the importance of promoting healthcare professionals' wellbeing has been advocated. Family caregivers, as well as patients' organizations - should be trained and engaged to increase the effectiveness of interventions dedicated to patients. Finally, experts agreed that digital technologies should be considered as a crucial enhancer for patient engagement in chronic care.
Project description:This consensus statement on chronic hepatitis (CH) in dogs is based on the expert opinion of 7 specialists with extensive experience in diagnosing, treating, and conducting clinical research in hepatology in dogs. It was generated from expert opinion and information gathered from searching of PubMed for manuscripts on CH, the Veterinary Information Network for abstracts and conference proceeding from annual meetings of the American College of Veterinary Medicine and the European College of Veterinary Medicine, and selected manuscripts from the human literature on CH. The panel recognizes that the diagnosis and treatment of CH in the dog is a complex process that requires integration of clinical presentation with clinical pathology, diagnostic imaging, and hepatic biopsy. Essential to this process is an index of suspicion for CH, knowledge of how to best collect tissue samples, access to a pathologist with experience in assessing hepatic histopathology, knowledge of reasonable medical interventions, and a strategy for monitoring treatment response and complications.
Project description:An American Hepato-Pancreato-Biliary Association (AHPBA)-sponsored consensus meeting of expert panellists met on 15 January 2014 to review current evidence on the management of intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (ICC) in order to establish practice guidelines and to agree on consensus statements. The treatment of ICC requires a coordinated, multidisciplinary approach to optimize survival. Biopsy is not necessary if the surgeon suspects ICC and is planning curative resection, although biopsy should be obtained before systemic or locoregional therapies are initiated. Assessment of resectability is best accomplished using cross-sectional imaging [computed tomography (CT) or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)], but the role of positron emission tomography (PET) is unclear. Resectability in ICC is defined by the ability to completely remove the disease while leaving an adequate liver remnant. Extrahepatic disease, multiple bilobar or multicentric tumours, and lymph node metastases beyond the primary echelon are contraindications to resection. Regional lymphadenectomy should be considered a standard part of surgical therapy. In patients with high-risk features, the routine use of diagnostic laparoscopy is recommended. The preoperative diagnosis of combined hepatocellular carcinoma and cholangiocarcinoma (cHCC-CC) by imaging studies is extremely difficult. Surgical resection remains the mainstay of treatment, but survival is worse than in HCC alone. There are no adequately powered, randomized Phase III trials that can provide definitive recommendations for adjuvant therapy for ICC. Patients with high-risk features (lymphovascular invasion, multicentricity or satellitosis, large tumours) should be encouraged to enrol in clinical trials and to consider adjuvant therapy. Cisplatin plus gemcitabine represents the standard-of-care, front-line systemic therapy for metastatic ICC. Genomic analyses of biliary cancers support the development of targeted therapeutic interventions.
Project description:Large amounts of new data on the natural history and treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection have become available since 2005. These include long-term follow-up studies in large community-based cohorts or asymptomatic subjects with chronic HBV infection, further studies on the role of HBV genotype/naturally occurring HBV mutations, treatment of drug resistance and new therapies. In addition, Pegylated interferon alpha2a, entecavir and telbivudine have been approved globally. To update HBV management guidelines, relevant new data were reviewed and assessed by experts from the region, and the significance of the reported findings were discussed and debated. The earlier "Asian-Pacific consensus statement on the management of chronic hepatitis B" was revised accordingly. The key terms used in the statement were also defined. The new guidelines include general management, special indications for liver biopsy in patients with persistently normal alanine aminotransferase, time to start or stop drug therapy, choice of drug to initiate therapy, when and how to monitor the patients during and after stopping drug therapy. Recommendations on the therapy of patients in special circumstances, including women in childbearing age, patients with antiviral drug resistance, concurrent viral infection, hepatic decompensation, patients receiving immune-suppressive medications or chemotherapy and patients in the setting of liver transplantation, are also included.
Project description:The use of digital technology is increasing rapidly across surgical specialities, yet there is no consensus for the term 'digital surgery'. This is critical as digital health technologies present technical, governance, and legal challenges which are unique to the surgeon and surgical patient. We aim to define the term digital surgery and the ethical issues surrounding its clinical application, and to identify barriers and research goals for future practice. 38 international experts, across the fields of surgery, AI, industry, law, ethics and policy, participated in a four-round Delphi exercise. Issues were generated by an expert panel and public panel through a scoping questionnaire around key themes identified from the literature and voted upon in two subsequent questionnaire rounds. Consensus was defined if >70% of the panel deemed the statement important and <30% unimportant. A final online meeting was held to discuss consensus statements. The definition of digital surgery as the use of technology for the enhancement of preoperative planning, surgical performance, therapeutic support, or training, to improve outcomes and reduce harm achieved 100% consensus agreement. We highlight key ethical issues concerning data, privacy, confidentiality and public trust, consent, law, litigation and liability, and commercial partnerships within digital surgery and identify barriers and research goals for future practice. Developers and users of digital surgery must not only have an awareness of the ethical issues surrounding digital applications in healthcare, but also the ethical considerations unique to digital surgery. Future research into these issues must involve all digital surgery stakeholders including patients.
Project description:ObjectiveAlthough relatively costly and non-scalable, non-invasive neuromodulation interventions are treatment alternatives for neuropsychiatric disorders. The recent developments of highly-deployable transcranial electric stimulation (tES) systems, combined with mobile-Health technologies, could be incorporated in digital trials to overcome methodological barriers and increase equity of access. The study aims are to discuss the implementation of tES digital trials by performing a systematic scoping review and strategic process mapping, evaluate methodological aspects of tES digital trial designs, and provide Delphi-based recommendations for implementing digital trials using tES.MethodsWe convened 61 highly-productive specialists and contacted 8 tES companies to assess 71 issues related to tES digitalization readiness, and processes, barriers, advantages, and opportunities for implementing tES digital trials. Delphi-based recommendations (>60% agreement) were provided.ResultsThe main strengths/opportunities of tES were: (i) non-pharmacological nature (92% of agreement), safety of these techniques (80%), affordability (88%), and potential scalability (78%). As for weaknesses/threats, we listed insufficient supervision (76%) and unclear regulatory status (69%). Many issues related to methodological biases did not reach consensus. Device appraisal showed moderate digitalization readiness, with high safety and potential for trial implementation, but low connectivity.ConclusionsPanelists recognized the potential of tES for scalability, generalizability, and leverage of digital trials processes; with no consensus about aspects regarding methodological biases.SignificanceWe further propose and discuss a conceptual framework for exploiting shared aspects between mobile-Health tES technologies with digital trials methodology to drive future efforts for digitizing tES trials.