73 research outputs found
Talking lines: A research protocol integrating verbal and visual narratives to understand the experiences of people affected by rarer forms of dementia
People affected by rarer forms of dementia often have a long and difficult experience obtaining a diagnosis and appropriate support, impacting family, employment and social relationships, quality of life and wellbeing. For this population progressive cognitive symptoms affect skills other than memory and disproportionately occur under the age of 65 years, often resulting in misdiagnosis and lack of appropriate care pathways. The objective of this study will be to better understand the subjective experience of the time period from first noticing symptoms to obtaining a formal diagnosis, through to accessing support, and onward to the present time. Through the concurrent use of line drawings and video-recorded interviews we will collect the stories of people living with different rarer dementias and/or family members who are care partners in Canada and the United Kingdom. Narrative and visual analysis will be used in parallel to methodologically explore how line drawing and verbal discourse interact and inform each other to construct knowledge, and how the use of drawing lines might enrich research interviews and increase accessibility of research participation. This novel research approach may also have implications for clinical interviewing, support services, and public engagement. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to retrospectively explore over time the experiences of people affected by rarer forms of dementia from initial symptoms—to diagnosis—to accessing support—to the present, using visual and verbal methodologies
‘The oxygen of shared experience’: exploring social support processes within peer support groups for carers of people with non-memory-led and inherited dementias
Objectives: To explore support processes and behaviours taking place during online peer support groups for family carers of people living with rare, non-memory-led and inherited dementias (PLWRD).
Methods: Twenty-five family carers of PLWRD participated in a series of ongoing online peer supportgroups on the theme of ‘Independence and Identity’. Transcripts from 16 sessions were analysed using qualitative directed content analysis with a coding framework informed by Cutrona & Suhr’s (2004) Social Support Behaviour Code (SSBC).
Results: Most of the social support behaviours outlined in the SSBC were identified within the sessions, along with two novel social support categories – ‘Experiential Support’ and ‘Community Support’ – and novel support behaviours including ‘Advocacy and Collective Action’ and ‘Uses Humour’. The SSBC code ‘Relationship’ appeared to be of central importance.
Conclusions: This study sheds light on the unique challenges of the caring context for those affected by non-memory-led and inherited dementias and the significant contributions carers can offer to, and receive from, peers in similar situations. It highlights the importance of services which recognise the value of the informational and emotional expertise of carers of PLWRD and encourages the continued development and delivery of tailored support for these populations
Misdiagnosed and misunderstood’: Insights into rarer forms of dementia through a stepwise approach to co-constructed research poetry
This study investigated co-constructed research poetry as a way to understand the lived experiences of people affected by rarer dementia and as a means to use poetry to convey those experiences to healthcare professionals. Using mixed methods, 71 people living with rarer dementia and care-partners (stakeholders) contributed to co-constructing 27 poems with professional poets; stakeholders’ verbatim words were analysed with descriptive qualitative analysis. Stakeholders were also surveyed and interviewed about their participation. Healthcare professionals (n = 93) were surveyed to elicit their responses to learning through poetry and its acceptability as a learning tool. Poems conveyed a shared narrative of different aspects of lived experience, often owing to atypical symptoms, misunderstandings by professionals, lack of support pathways, and a continuous struggle to adapt. Stakeholder surveys indicated it was a valuable experience to both co-create and respond to the poems, whilst group interviews revealed people’s experiences of the research poetry were characterised by reflection on lived experience, curiosity and exploration. Healthcare professionals’ responses reinforced poetry’s capacity to stimulate cognitive and affective learning specific to rare dementia support and prompt both empathy and critical thinking in practice. As the largest poetry-based study that we are aware of, this novel accessible approach of creating group poems yielded substantial information about the experiences and needs of those affected by rarer dementia and how poetry can contribute to healthcare education and training
A mixed methods evaluation of a program exploring predeath grief and loss for carers of people with rarer dementias
Objectives: Predeath grief conceptualizes complex feelings of loss experienced for someone who is still living and is linked to poor emotional well-being. The Road Less Travelled program aimed to help carers of people with rarer dementias identify and process predeath grief. This study evaluated the feasibility, acceptability, and preliminary effectiveness of this program.
Design: Pre–post interventional mixed methods study.
Setting: Online videoconference group program for carers across the UK held in 2021.
Participants: Nine family carers of someone living with a rare form of dementia. Eight were female and one male
(mean age 58) with two facilitators.
Intervention: The Road Less Travelled is an online, facilitated, group-based program that aims to help carers of people with rarer dementias to explore and accept feelings of grief and loss. It involved six fortnightly 2-hour sessions.
Measurements: We collected measures for a range of well-being outcomes at baseline (T1), post-intervention (T2), and 3 months post-intervention (T3). We conducted interviews with participants and facilitators at T2.
Results: Participant attendance was 98% across all sessions. Findings from the semistructured interviews supported the acceptability of the program and identified improvements in carer well-being. Trends in the outcome measures suggested an improvement in quality of life and a reduction in depression.
Conclusion: The program was feasible to conduct and acceptable to participants. Qualitative reports and high attendance suggest perceived benefits to carers, including increased acceptance of grief, and support the need for a larger-scale pilot study to determine effectiveness
The development of videoconference-based support for people living with rare dementias and their carers: Protocol for a 3-phase support group evaluation
Background:
People living with rarer dementias face considerable difficulty accessing tailored information, advice, and peer and professional support. Web-based meeting platforms offer a critical opportunity to connect with others through shared lived experiences, even if they are geographically dispersed, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Objective:
We aim to develop facilitated videoconferencing support groups (VSGs) tailored to people living with or caring for someone with familial or sporadic frontotemporal dementia or young-onset Alzheimer disease, primary progressive aphasia, posterior cortical atrophy, or Lewy body dementia. This paper describes the development, coproduction, field testing, and evaluation plan for these groups.
Methods:
We describe a 3-phase approach to development. First, information and knowledge were gathered as part of a coproduction process with members of the Rare Dementia Support service. This information, together with literature searches and consultation with experts by experience, clinicians, and academics, shaped the design of the VSGs and session themes. Second, field testing involved 154 Rare Dementia Support members (people living with dementia and carers) participating in 2 rounds of facilitated sessions across 7 themes (health and social care professionals, advance care planning, independence and identity, grief and loss, empowering your identity, couples, and hope and dementia). Third, a detailed evaluation plan for future rounds of VSGs was developed.
Results:
The development of the small groups program yielded content and structure for 9 themed VSGs (the 7 piloted themes plus a later stages program and creativity club for implementation in rounds 3 and beyond) to be delivered over 4 to 8 sessions. The evaluation plan incorporated a range of quantitative (attendance, demographics, and geography; pre-post well-being ratings and surveys; psycholinguistic analysis of conversation; facial emotion recognition; facilitator ratings; and economic analysis of program delivery) and qualitative (content and thematic analysis) approaches. Pilot data from round 2 groups on the pre-post 3-word surveys indicated an increase in the emotional valence of words selected after the sessions.
Conclusions:
The involvement of people with lived experience of a rare dementia was critical to the design, development, and delivery of the small virtual support group program, and evaluation of this program will yield convergent data about the impact of tailored support delivered to geographically dispersed communities. This is the first study to design and plan an evaluation of VSGs specifically for people affected by rare dementias, including both people living with a rare dementia and their carers, and the outcome of the evaluation will be hugely beneficial in shaping specific and targeted support, which is often lacking in this population
Framing rights and responsibilities: accounts of women with a history of AIDS activism
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In South Africa, policy with respect to HIV/AIDS has had a strong rights-based framing in line with international trends and in keeping with the constitutional overhaul in the post-Apartheid era. There have also been considerable advances since 1994 towards legal enshrinement of sexual and reproductive health rights and in the provision of related services. Since HIV in this setting has heavily affected women of reproductive age, there has been discussion about the particular needs of this subgroup, especially in the context of service integration. This paper is concerned with the way in which HIV positive women conceptualise these rights and whether they wish and are able to actualise them in their daily lives.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In 2003 a group of women involved with the Treatment Action Campaign and Medicines Sans Frontières participated in an initiative to ‘map’ their bodies as affected by the virus. A book containing the maps and narratives was published and used as a political tool to pressure the government of the day to roll out antiretroviral therapy (ART) to the population. In 2008, the authors coordinated an initiative that involved conducting follow-up in-depth interviews in which five of these women reflected on those body maps and on how their lives had changed in the intervening five years since gaining the right to treatment through the public sector.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Drawing upon this qualitative data and published sources, these new accounts are analysed in order to reflect the perspectives of these women living with chronic HIV with respect to their sexual relations and fertility desires. The paper reveals difficulties faced by these women in negotiating sexual relationships and disclosure of their HIV positive status. It focuses on how they perceive relative responsibilities in terms of taking preventative measures in sexual encounters. Women adopt tactics within a context characterised by various inequalities in order to ‘make do’, such as by remaining silent about their status. Concerns about childbearing can be addressed by information and support from a health care worker.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Women’s experience of HIV as a chronic illness and the need to adhere to ART, is linked to the way in which the language of responsibility can come to counter-balance a language of rights in treatment programmes.</p
Proceedings of the International Cancer Imaging Society (ICIS) 16th Annual Teaching Course
Table of contents
O1 Tumour heterogeneity: what does it mean?
Dow-Mu Koh
O2 Skeletal sequelae in adult survivors of childhood cancer
Sue Creviston Kaste
O3 Locoregional effects of breast cancer treatment
Sarah J Vinnicombe
O4 Imaging of cancer therapy-induced CNS toxicity
Giovanni Morana, Andrea Rossi
O5 Screening for lung cancer
Christian J. Herold
O6Risk stratification of lung nodules
Theresa C. McLoud
O7 PET imaging of pulmonary nodules
Kirk A Frey
O8 Transarterial tumour therapy
Bernhard Gebauer
O9 Interventional radiology in paediatric oncology
Derek Roebuck
O10 Image guided prostate interventions
Jurgen J. Fütterer
O11 Imaging cancer predisposition syndromes
Alexander J. Towbin
O12Chest and chest wall masses
Thierry AG Huisman
O13 Abdominal masses: good or bad?
Anne MJB Smets
O14 Hepatobiliary MR contrast: enhanced liver MRI for HCC diagnosis and management
Giovanni Morana
O15 Role of US elastography and multimodality fusion for managing patients with chronic liver disease and HCC
Jeong Min Lee
O16 Opportunities and challenges in imaging metastatic disease
Hersh Chandarana
O17 Diagnosis, treatment monitoring, and follow-up of lymphoma
Marius E. Mayerhoefer, Markus Raderer, Alexander Haug
O18 Managing high-risk and advanced prostate cancer
Matthias Eiber
O19 Immunotherapy: imaging challenges
Bernhard Gebauer
O20 RECIST and RECIST 1.1
Andrea Rockall
O21 Challenges of RECIST in oncology imaging basics for the trainee and novice
Aslam Sohaib
O22 Lymphoma: PET for interim and end of treatment response assessment: a users’ guide to the Deauville Score
Victoria S Warbey
O23 Available resources
Hebert Alberto Vargas
O24 ICIS e-portal and the online learning community
Dow-Mu Koh
O25 Benign lesions that mimic pancreatic cancer
Jay P Heiken
O26 Staging and reporting pancreatic malignancies
Isaac R Francis, Mahmoud, M Al-Hawary, Ravi K Kaza
O27 Intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasm
Giovanni Morana
O28 Cystic pancreatic tumours
Mirko D’Onofrio
O29 Diffusion-weighted imaging of head and neck tumours
Harriet C. Thoeny
O30 Radiation injury in the head and neck
Ann D King
O31 PET/MR of paediatric brain tumours
Giovanni Morana, Arnoldo Piccardo, Maria Luisa Garrè, Andrea Rossi
O32 Structured reporting and beyond
Hebert Alberto Vargas
O33 Massachusetts General Hospital experience with structured reporting
Theresa C. McLoud
O34 The oncologist’s perspective: what the oncologist needs to know
Nick Reed
O35 Towards the cure of all children with cancer: global initiatives in pediatric oncology
Carlos Rodriguez-Galindo
O36 Multiparametric imaging of renal cancers
Hersh Chandarana
O37 Linking imaging features of renal disease and their impact on management strategies
Hebert Alberto Vargas
O38 Adrenals, retroperitoneum and peritoneum
Isaac R Francis, Ashish P Wasnik
O39 Lung and pleura
Stefan Diederich
O40 Advances in MRI
Jurgen J. Fütterer
O41 Advances in molecular imaging
Wim J.G. Oyen
O42 Incorporating advanced imaging, impact on treatment selection and patient outcome
Cheng Lee Chaw, Nicholas van As
S1 Combining ADC-histogram features improves performance of MR diffusion-weighted imaging for Lymph node characterisation in cervical cancer
Igor Vieira, Frederik De Keyzer, Elleke Dresen, Sileny Han, Ignace Vergote, Philippe Moerman, Frederic Amant, Michel Koole, Vincent Vandecaveye
S2 Whole-body diffusion-weighted MRI for surgical planning in patients with colorectal cancer and peritoneal metastases
R Dresen, S De Vuysere, F De Keyzer, E Van Cutsem, A D’Hoore, A Wolthuis, V Vandecaveye
S3 Role of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) diffusion-weighted MRI for predicting extra capsular extension of prostate cancer.
P. Pricolo ([email protected]), S. Alessi, P. Summers, E. Tagliabue, G. Petralia
S4 Generating evidence for clinical benefit of PET/CT – are management studies sufficient as surrogate for patient outcome?
C. Pfannenberg, B. Gückel, SC Schüle, AC Müller, S. Kaufmann, N. Schwenzer, M. Reimold,C. la Fougere, K. Nikolaou, P. Martus
S5 Heterogeneity of treatment response in skeletal metastases from breast cancer with 18F-fluoride and 18F-FDG PET
GJ Cook, GK Azad, BP Taylor, M Siddique, J John, J Mansi, M Harries, V Goh
S6 Accuracy of suspicious breast imaging—can we tell the patient?
S Seth, R Burgul, A Seth
S7 Measurement method of tumour volume changes during neoadjuvant chemotherapy affects ability to predict pathological response
S Waugh, N Muhammad Gowdh, C Purdie, A Evans, E Crowe, A Thompson, S Vinnicombe
S8 Diagnostic yield of CT IVU in haematuria screening
F. Arfeen, T. Campion, E. Goldstraw
S9 Percutaneous radiofrequency ablation of unresectable locally advanced pancreatic cancer: preliminary results
D’Onofrio M, Ciaravino V, Crosara S, De Robertis R, Pozzi Mucelli R
S10 Iodine maps from dual energy CT improve detection of metastases in staging examinations of melanoma patients
M. Uhrig, D. Simons, H. Schlemmer
S11Can contrast enhanced CT predict pelvic nodal status in malignant melanoma of the lower limb?
Kate Downey
S12 Current practice in the investigation for suspected Paraneoplastic Neurological Syndromes (PNS) and positive malignancy yield.
S Murdoch, AS Al-adhami, S Viswanathan
P1 Technical success and efficacy of Pulmonary Radiofrequency ablation: an analysis of 207 ablations
S Smith, P Jennings, D Bowers, R Soomal
P2 Lesion control and patient outcome: prospective analysis of radiofrequency abaltion in pulmonary colorectal cancer metastatic disease
S Smith, P Jennings, D Bowers, R Soomal
P3 Hepatocellular carcinoma in a post-TB patient: case of tropical infections and oncologic imaging challenges
TM Mutala, AO Odhiambo, N Harish
P4 Role of apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC) diffusion-weighted MRI for predicting extracapsular extension of prostate cancer
P. Pricolo, S. Alessi, P. Summers, E. Tagliabue, G. Petralia
P5 What a difference a decade makes; comparison of lung biopsies in Glasgow 2005 and 2015
M. Hall, M. Sproule, S. Sheridan
P6 Solid pseudopapillary tumour of pancreas: imaging features of a rare neoplasm
KY Thein, CH Tan, YL Thian, CM Ho
P7 MDCT - pathological correlation in colon adenocarcinoma staging: preliminary experience
S De Luca, C Carrera, V Blanchet, L Alarcón, E Eyheremnedy
P8 Image guided biopsy of thoracic masses and reduction of pneumothorax risk: 25 years experience
B K Choudhury, K Bujarbarua, G Barman
P9 Tumour heterogeneity analysis of 18F-FDG-PET for characterisation of malignant peripheral nerve sheath tumours in neurofibromatosis-1
GJ Cook, E Lovat, M Siddique, V Goh, R Ferner, VS Warbey
P10 Impact of introduction of vacuum assisted excision (VAE) on screen detected high risk breast lesions
L Potti, B Kaye, A Beattie, K Dutton
P11 Can we reduce prevalent recall rate in breast screening?
AA Seth, F Constantinidis, H Dobson
P12 How to reduce prevalent recall rate? Identifying mammographic lesions with low Positive Predictive Value (PPV)
AA Seth ([email protected]), F Constantinidis, H Dobson
P13 Behaviour of untreated pulmonary thrombus in oncology patients diagnosed with incidental pulmonary embolism on CT
R. Bradley, G. Bozas, G. Avery, A. Stephens, A. Maraveyas
P14 A one-stop lymphoma biopsy service – is it possible?
S Bhuva, CA Johnson, M Subesinghe, N Taylor
P15 Changes in the new TNM classification for lung cancer (8th edition, effective January 2017)
LE Quint, RM Reddy, GP Kalemkerian
P16 Cancer immunotherapy: a review of adequate imaging assessment
G González Zapico, E Gainza Jauregui, R Álvarez Francisco, S Ibáñez Alonso, I Tavera Bahillo, L Múgica Álvarez
P17 Succinate dehydrogenase mutations and their associated tumours
O Francies, R Wheeler, L Childs, A Adams, A Sahdev
P18 Initial experience in the usefulness of dual energy technique in the abdomen
SE De Luca, ME Casalini Vañek, MD Pascuzzi, T Gillanders, PM Ramos, EP Eyheremendy
P19 Recognising the serious complication of Richter’s transformation in CLL patients
C Stove, M Digby
P20 Body diffusion-weighted MRI in oncologic practice: truths, tricks and tips
M. Nazar, M. Wirtz, MD. Pascuzzi, F. Troncoso, F. Saguier, EP. Eyheremendy
P21 Methotrexate-induced leukoencephalopathy in paediatric ALL Patients
D.J. Quint, L. Dang, M. Carlson, S. Leber, F. Silverstein
P22 Pitfalls in oncology CT reporting. A pictorial review
R Rueben, S Viswanathan
P23 Imaging of perineural extension in head and neck tumours
B Nazir, TH Teo, JB Khoo
P24 MRI findings of molecular subtypes of breast cancer: a pictorial primer
K Sharma, N Gupta, B Mathew, T Jeyakumar, K Harkins
P25 When cancer can’t wait! A pictorial review of oncological emergencies
K Sharma, B Mathew, N Gupta, T Jeyakumar, S Joshua
P26 MRI of pancreatic neuroendocrine tumours: an approach to interpretation
D Christodoulou, S Gourtsoyianni, A Jacques, N Griffin, V Goh
P27 Gynaecological cancers in pregnancy: a review of imaging
CA Johnson, J Lee
P28 Suspected paraneoplastic neurological syndromes - review of published recommendations to date, with proposed guideline/flowchart
JA Goodfellow, AS Al-adhami, S Viswanathan
P29 Multi-parametric MRI of the pelvis for suspected local recurrence of prostate cancer after radical prostatectomy
R Bradley
P30 Utilisation of PI-RADS version 2 in multi-parametric MRI of the prostate; 12-months experience
R Bradley
P31 Radiological assessment of the post-chemotherapy liver
A Yong, S Jenkins, G Joseph
P32 Skeletal staging with MRI in breast cancer – what the radiologist needs to know
S Bhuva, K Partington
P33 Perineural spread of lympoma: an educational review of an unusual distribution of disease
CA Johnson, S Bhuva, M Subesinghe, N Taylor
P34 Visually isoattenuating pancreatic adenocarcinoma. Diagnostic imaging tools.
C Carrera, A Zanfardini, S De Luca, L Alarcón, V Blanchet, EP Eyheremendy
P35 Imaging of larynx cancer: when is CT, MRI or FDG PET/CT the best test?
K Cavanagh, E Lauhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/134651/1/40644_2016_Article_79.pd
Outcomes of obstructed abdominal wall hernia: results from the UK national small bowel obstruction audit
Background:
Abdominal wall hernia is a common surgical condition. Patients may present in an emergency with bowel obstruction, incarceration or strangulation. Small bowel obstruction (SBO) is a serious surgical condition associated with significant morbidity. The aim of this study was to describe current management and outcomes of patients with obstructed hernia in the UK as identified in the National Audit of Small Bowel Obstruction (NASBO).
Methods:
NASBO collated data on adults treated for SBO at 131 UK hospitals between January and March 2017. Those with obstruction due to abdominal wall hernia were included in this study. Demographics, co-morbidity, imaging, operative treatment, and in-hospital outcomes were recorded. Modelling for factors associated with mortality and complications was undertaken using Cox proportional hazards and multivariable regression modelling.
Results:
NASBO included 2341 patients, of whom 415 (17·7 per cent) had SBO due to hernia. Surgery was performed in 312 (75·2 per cent) of the 415 patients; small bowel resection was required in 198 (63·5 per cent) of these operations. Non-operative management was reported in 35 (54 per cent) of 65 patients with a parastomal hernia and in 34 (32·1 per cent) of 106 patients with an incisional hernia. The in-hospital mortality rate was 9·4 per cent (39 of 415), and was highest in patients with a groin hernia (11·1 per cent, 17 of 153). Complications were common, including lower respiratory tract infection in 16·3 per cent of patients with a groin hernia. Increased age was associated with an increased risk of death (hazard ratio 1·05, 95 per cent c.i. 1·01 to 1·10; P = 0·009) and complications (odds ratio 1·05, 95 per cent c.i. 1·02 to 1·09; P = 0·001).
Conclusion:
NASBO has highlighted poor outcomes for patients with SBO due to hernia, highlighting the need for quality improvement initiatives in this group
Elective Cancer Surgery in COVID-19-Free Surgical Pathways During the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: An International, Multicenter, Comparative Cohort Study.
PURPOSE: As cancer surgery restarts after the first COVID-19 wave, health care providers urgently require data to determine where elective surgery is best performed. This study aimed to determine whether COVID-19-free surgical pathways were associated with lower postoperative pulmonary complication rates compared with hospitals with no defined pathway. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This international, multicenter cohort study included patients who underwent elective surgery for 10 solid cancer types without preoperative suspicion of SARS-CoV-2. Participating hospitals included patients from local emergence of SARS-CoV-2 until April 19, 2020. At the time of surgery, hospitals were defined as having a COVID-19-free surgical pathway (complete segregation of the operating theater, critical care, and inpatient ward areas) or no defined pathway (incomplete or no segregation, areas shared with patients with COVID-19). The primary outcome was 30-day postoperative pulmonary complications (pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, unexpected ventilation). RESULTS: Of 9,171 patients from 447 hospitals in 55 countries, 2,481 were operated on in COVID-19-free surgical pathways. Patients who underwent surgery within COVID-19-free surgical pathways were younger with fewer comorbidities than those in hospitals with no defined pathway but with similar proportions of major surgery. After adjustment, pulmonary complication rates were lower with COVID-19-free surgical pathways (2.2% v 4.9%; adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.62; 95% CI, 0.44 to 0.86). This was consistent in sensitivity analyses for low-risk patients (American Society of Anesthesiologists grade 1/2), propensity score-matched models, and patients with negative SARS-CoV-2 preoperative tests. The postoperative SARS-CoV-2 infection rate was also lower in COVID-19-free surgical pathways (2.1% v 3.6%; aOR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.36 to 0.76). CONCLUSION: Within available resources, dedicated COVID-19-free surgical pathways should be established to provide safe elective cancer surgery during current and before future SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks
Elective cancer surgery in COVID-19-free surgical pathways during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic: An international, multicenter, comparative cohort study
PURPOSE As cancer surgery restarts after the first COVID-19 wave, health care providers urgently require data to determine where elective surgery is best performed. This study aimed to determine whether COVID-19–free surgical pathways were associated with lower postoperative pulmonary complication rates compared with hospitals with no defined pathway. PATIENTS AND METHODS This international, multicenter cohort study included patients who underwent elective surgery for 10 solid cancer types without preoperative suspicion of SARS-CoV-2. Participating hospitals included patients from local emergence of SARS-CoV-2 until April 19, 2020. At the time of surgery, hospitals were defined as having a COVID-19–free surgical pathway (complete segregation of the operating theater, critical care, and inpatient ward areas) or no defined pathway (incomplete or no segregation, areas shared with patients with COVID-19). The primary outcome was 30-day postoperative pulmonary complications (pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, unexpected ventilation). RESULTS Of 9,171 patients from 447 hospitals in 55 countries, 2,481 were operated on in COVID-19–free surgical pathways. Patients who underwent surgery within COVID-19–free surgical pathways were younger with fewer comorbidities than those in hospitals with no defined pathway but with similar proportions of major surgery. After adjustment, pulmonary complication rates were lower with COVID-19–free surgical pathways (2.2% v 4.9%; adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.62; 95% CI, 0.44 to 0.86). This was consistent in sensitivity analyses for low-risk patients (American Society of Anesthesiologists grade 1/2), propensity score–matched models, and patients with negative SARS-CoV-2 preoperative tests. The postoperative SARS-CoV-2 infection rate was also lower in COVID-19–free surgical pathways (2.1% v 3.6%; aOR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.36 to 0.76). CONCLUSION Within available resources, dedicated COVID-19–free surgical pathways should be established to provide safe elective cancer surgery during current and before future SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks
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