What Pandemic Portraits Illuminate About Balancing Vulnerability and Inurement

Portraits of clinicians quickly became emblematic of what the COVID-19 pandemic has demanded of everyone, especially caregivers who witnessed deaths likely unprecedented in number during their careers. This article describes an arts-based research protocol exploring portraiture as a medium for representing and understanding clinicians’ experiences, mostly during the first year of the pandemic. This article presents Shadow of Corona, a large oil on canvas portrait commissioned by the AMA Journal of Ethics to commemorate the American Medical Association’s 175th year. The article also includes Sarah, a charcoal study drawing for that portrait, and Front Lines of Care, a 3 by 3 collection of 9 smaller oil on canvas portraits

Portraits of care: medical research through portraiture

The Portraits of Care study used portraiture to investigate ideas about care and care giving at the intersection of art and medicine. The study employed mixed methods involving both qualitative and quantitative research techniques. All aspects of the study were approved by the Institutional Review Board. The study included 26 patient and 20 caregiver subjects. Patient subjects were drawn from across the lifespan and included healthy and ill patients. Caregiver subjects included professional and familial caregivers. All subjects gave their informed consent for the study and the subsequent exhibition of artwork. The artist drew or painted 100 portraits during the 2-year study. A multi-disciplinary analysis team carried out the initial analysis of portraits and subject data. Findings from their qualitative analysis were used to develop a quantitative survey and qualitative journal tool that the public used to give feedback at the subsequent exhibition. Exhibition data confirmed the initial findings. Study results showed the introspection of subjects that revealed their sense of identity and psychological status. Patients appear as ‘whole people’, not fragmented by diagnosis. Caregivers\u27 portraits reveal their commitment to care. There is also a sense of mutuality and fluidity in the background stories of subjects. Many patient subjects have been caregivers and, at times, caregivers are also patients. Public data emphasised the identity transformation of subjects, the centrality of the idea of mortality, the presence of hope despite adversity, and the importance of empathy and compassion in care

Anthony and the Role of Silence in Portraiture in Clinical Settings

This article describes one collaborative arts-based research project. Portrait artist Mark Gilbert and coinvestigators consider lessons for art and healing from one patient, Anthony, whose experience of head and neck cancer diagnosis, surgery, and recovery suggests how silence is ethically, artistically, and clinically significant

Portrait of a process: arts-based research in a head and neck cancer clinic

The role of art in medicine is complex, varied and uncertain. To examine one aspect of the relationship between art and medicine, investigators analysed the interactions between a professional artist and five adult patients with head and neck cancer as they cocreated portraits in a clinical setting. The artist and four members of an interdisciplinary team analysed the portraits as well as journal entries, transcripts of portrait sessions and semistructured interviews. Over the course of 5 months, 24 artworks evolved from sittings that allowed both the patients and the artist to collaborate around stories of illness, suffering and recovery. Using narrative inquiry and qualitative arts-based research techniques five emergent themes were identified: embracing uncertainties; developing trusting relationships; engaging in reflective practices; creating shared stories; and empowerment. Similar themes are found in successful physician–patient relationships. This paper will discuss these findings and potential implications for healthcare and medical education

Diagnostic challenges and prognostic implications of extranodal extension in head and neck cancer: a state of the art review and gap analysis

Extranodal extension (ENE) is a pattern of cancer growth from within the lymph node (LN) outward into perinodal tissues, critically defined by disruption and penetration of the tumor through the entire thickness of the LN capsule. The presence of ENE is often associated with an aggressive cancer phenotype in various malignancies including head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). In HNSCC, ENE is associated with increased risk of distant metastasis and lower rates of locoregional control. ENE detected on histopathology (pathologic ENE; pENE) is now incorporated as a risk-stratification factor in human papillomavirus (HPV)-negative HNSCC in the eighth edition of the American Joint Committee on Cancer (AJCC) and the Union for International Cancer Control (UICC) TNM classification. Although ENE was first described almost a century ago, several issues remain unresolved, including lack of consensus on definitions, terminology, and widely accepted assessment criteria and grading systems for both pENE and ENE detected on radiological imaging (imaging-detected ENE; iENE). Moreover, there is conflicting data on the prognostic significance of iENE and pENE, particularly in the context of HPV-associated HNSCC. Herein, we review the existing literature on ENE in HNSCC, highlighting areas of controversy and identifying critical gaps requiring concerted research efforts

Hamartomas, teratomas and teratocarcinosarcomas of the head and neck: Report of 3 new cases with clinico-pathologic correlation, cytogenetic analysis, and review of the literature

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Germ-cell tumors (GCT) are a histologically and biologically diverse group of neoplasms which primarily occur in the gonads but also develop at different extragonadal sites in the midline of the body. The head and neck region including the upper respiratory tract is a very rare location for such tumors in both children and adults, which can cause diagnostic and therapeutic difficulties.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We describe here two new cases of multilineage tumors including sinonasal teratocarcinosarcoma [SNTCS], and congenital oronasopharyngeal teratoma (epignathus) and compare their features with those of a new case of a rare salivary gland anlage tumor [SGAT], an entity for which the pathogenesis is unclear (i.e. hamartoma versus neoplasm). We correlate their presenting clinico-pathological features and compare histologic and cytogenetic features in an attempt to elucidate their pathogenesis and biologic potentials.</p> <p>Results and discussion</p> <p>Cytogenetic analysis revealed chromosomal abnormalities only in the case of SNTCS that showed trisomy 12 and 1p deletion. Both cytogenetic abnormalities are characteristically present in malignant germ cell tumors providing for the first time evidence that this rare tumor type indeed might represent a variant of a germ cell neoplasm. The SGAT and epignathus carried no such cytogenetic abnormalities, in keeping with their limited and benign biologic potential.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The comparison of these three cases should serve to emphasize the diversity of multilineage tumors (hamartomas and GCT) of the upper respiratory tract in regards to their biology, age of presentation and clinical outcomes. Malignant tumors of germ cell origins are more likely to affect adults with insidious symptom development, while benign tumors can nevertheless cause dramatic clinical symptoms which, under certain circumstances, can be fatal.</p

Distribution of the head and neck surgical oncology workforce in the United States

BACKGROUNDThe recent trends in education and geographic distribution of the head and neck surgery workforce have not been studied extensively. METHODSWe reviewed publicly available sources to locate all fellowship-trained head and neck surgeons and recent graduates. The number of surgeons in each state was compared against head and neck cancer incidence data from the Centers for Disease Control. RESULTSThe number of graduates increased annually by 1 per 100 000 000 people from 2011-2020. The average number of fellowship-trained surgeons per state was 10 (SD: 12). The average number of new head and neck cancer cases per surgeon was 247 (SD: 135). Ten states (20%) had cases >1 SD above the national average/surgeon, while 3 (6%) had cases >1 SD below the national average. CONCLUSIONHead and neck surgeons are located in most states, but not uniformly. Most states have approximately average density of surgeons; however, several states are outliers