Emphysematous cystitis: mortality, risk factors, and pathogens of a rare disease

Although high mortality rates have been reported for emphysematous pyelonephritis (EP), information on emphysematous cystitis (EC), which is less common, is sparse. Here, we report one new case of severe EC and 136 cases of EC that occurred between 2007 and 2016, and review information about the characteristics, diagnosis, treatment and mortality of these patients, and the pathogens found in these patients. The mean age of the 136 patients was 67.9±14.2 years. Concurrent emphysematous infections of other organs were found in 21 patients (15.4%), with emphysematous pyelonephritis being the most common of these infections. The primary pathogen identified was Escherichia coli (54.4%). Patients were mainly treated by conservative management that included antibiotics (n=105; 77.2%). Ten of the 136 patients with EC died, yielding a mortality rate of 7.4%. Despite the relatively low mortality rate of EC compared with that of EP, a high degree of suspicion must be maintained to facilitate successful and conservative management

The relationship between health IT characteristics and organizational variables among German healthcare workers

Health information technologies (HITs) are widely employed in healthcare and are supposed to improve quality of care and patient safety. However, so far, their implementation has shown mixed results, which might be explainable by understudied psychological factors of human–HIT interaction. Therefore, the present study investigates the association between the perception of HIT characteristics and psychological and organizational variables among 445 healthcare workers via a cross-sectional online survey in Germany. The proposed hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling. The results showed that good HIT usability was associated with lower levels of techno-overload and lower IT-related strain. In turn, experiencing techno-overload and IT-related strain was associated with lower job satisfaction. An effective error management culture at the workplace was linked to higher job satisfaction and a slightly lower frequency of self-reported medical errors. About 69% of surveyed healthcare workers reported making errors less frequently than their colleagues, suggesting a bias in either the perception or reporting of errors. In conclusion, the study’s findings indicate that ensuring high perceived usability when implementing HITs is crucial to avoiding frustration among healthcare workers and keeping them satisfied. Additionally healthcare facilities should invest in error management programs since error management culture is linked to other important organizational variables

Additional Diffusion-Weighted Imaging with Background Body Signal Suppression (DWIBS) Improves Pre-Therapeutical Detection of Early-Stage (pT1a) Glottic Cancer: A Feasibility and Interobserver Reliability Study

Background: Early-stage glottic cancer is easily missed on magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI) may improve diagnostic accuracy. Therefore, our aim was to assess the value of adding diffusion-weighted imaging with background body signal suppression (DWIBS) to pre-therapeutic MRI staging. (2 Methods: Two radiologists with 8 and 13 years of experience, blinded to each other’s findings, initially interpreted only standard MRI, later DWIBS alone, and afterward, standard MRI + DWIBS in 41 patients with histopathologically proven pT1a laryngeal cancer of the glottis. Results: Detectability rates with standard MRI, DWIBS only, and standard MRI + DWIBS were 68–71%, 63–66%, and 73–76%, respectively. Moreover, interobserver reliability was calculated as good (κ = 0.712), very good (κ = 0.84), and good (κ = 0.69) for standard MRI, DWIBS only, and standard MRI + DWIBS, respectively. Conclusions: Standard MRI, DWIBS alone, and standard MRI + DWIBS showed an encouraging detection rate, as well as distinct interobserver reliability in the diagnosis of early-stage laryngeal cancer when compared to the definitive histopathologic report

Clinical Value of Diffusion-Weighted Whole-Body Imaging with Background Body Signal Suppression (DWIBS) for Staging of Patients with Suspected Head and Neck Cancer

(1) Background: To determine the importance of diffusion-weighted whole-body MRI with background body signal suppression (DWIBS) in the staging process of patients with suspected head and neck carcinomas. (2) Methods: A total of 30 patients (24 male, 6 female) with a median age of 67 years with clinically suspected head and neck carcinoma with pathologic cervical nodal swelling in ultrasound underwent the staging procedure with computed tomography (CT) and whole-body MRI including DWIBS. (3) Results: In a total of 9 patients, abnormalities in the routine work-up of pretherapeutic staging were found. Five cases of either secondary cancer or distant metastases were only visible in DWIBS, while being missed on CT. One diagnosis was only detectable in CT and not in DWIBS, whereas three diagnoses were recognizable in both modalities. (4) Conclusions: DWIBS in addition to a standard neck MRI in cervical lymphadenopathy suspicious for head and neck cancer yielded additional clinically relevant diagnoses in 17% of cases that would have been missed by current staging routine procedures. DWIBS offered a negative predictive value of 98.78% for ruling out distant metastases or secondary malignancies

Incidence of traumatic carotid and vertebral artery dissections: results of cervical vessel computed tomography angiogram as a mandatory scan component in severely injured patients

Purpose: The aim of this study was to evaluate the true incidence of cervical artery dissections (CeADs) in trauma patients with an Injury Severity Score (ISS) of >= 16, since head-and-neck computed tomography angiogram (CTA) is not a compulsory component of whole-body trauma computed tomography (CT) protocols. Patients and methods: A total of 230 consecutive trauma patients with an ISS of >= 16 admitted to our Level I trauma center during a 24-month period were prospectively included. Standardized whole-body CT in a 256-detector row scanner included a head-and-neck CTA. Incidence, mortality, patient and trauma characteristics, and concomitant injuries were recorded and analyzed retrospectively in patients with carotid artery dissection ( CAD) and vertebral artery dissection (VAD). Results: Of the 230 patients included, 6.5% had a CeAD, 5.2% had a CAD, and 1.7% had a VAD. One patient had both CAD and VAD. For both, CAD and VAD, mortality is 25%. One death was caused by fatal cerebral ischemia due to high-grade CAD. A total of 41.6% of the patients with traumatic CAD and 25% of the patients with VAD had neurological sequelae. Conclusion: Mandatory head-and-neck CTA yields higher CeAD incidence than reported before. We highly recommend the compulsory inclusion of a head-and-neck CTA to whole-body CT routines for severely injured patients

Safety and efficacy of transarterial chemoembolization with degradable starch microspheres (DSM-TACE) in the treatment of secondary liver malignancies

Purpose: To evaluate the safety and efficacy of degradable starch microspheres (DSM) as embolic agents in transarterial chemoembolization (TACE) in the treatment of secondary liver metastases. Methods: This was a national, multicenter observational study. Primary endpoints were safety and treatment response according to Modified Response Evaluation Criteria in Solid Tumors (mRECIST) criteria. Results: A total of 77 DSM-TACE procedures were performed in 20 patients. Minor immediate adverse events (AEs) were epigastric pain with an incidence of 45.5% (35/77), and nausea and vomiting at an incidence of 23.4% (18/77). Delayed minor AEs were epigastric pain in 13/77 (16.9%) treatments and nausea and vomiting in 10 (13.0%) treatments. No severe AEs were documented. Therapeutic efficacy of DSM-TACE procedures according to mRECIST was as follows: complete response 0/77, partial response 17/77, stable disease 33/77 and progressive disease 6/77, no data was available for 21/77 treatments. Overall, objective response was achieved in 8 of 20 patients (40.0%). Conclusion: DSM as embolic agent for TACE is safe in the treatment of liver metastases. An objective response in 40.0% of patients and disease control in 64.9% of procedures was achieved, and this should lead to further evaluation of DSM-TACE as treatment option for nonresectable liver metastases

Early Detection of Local Tumor Progression after Irreversible Electroporation (IRE) of a Hepatocellular Carcinoma Using Gd-EOB-DTPA-Based MR Imaging at 3T

Simple Summary Liver tumors like hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) can be treated minimally invasive, e.g., by Irreversible Electroporation (IRE), which destroys the cancer. As it is possible that the tumor re-grows due to single tumor cells inadvertently not covered by the treatment, follow-up imaging of the liver is important for early detection of local tumor progression. As ablation leaves scarred tissue, recurrent tumor after IRE can appear vastly different than before treatment and thus can be hard to detect on MRI via classical imaging features. We here examined cases of local tumor progression after IRE of HCC and found distinct MR-imaging features helpful for the identification of re-grown viable tumor, namely T2 BLADE and diffusion weighted images (DWI) at the ablation zone border and T1 portal-venous and delayed phase post-contrast images in the center of the ablation zone. This knowledge will help in early detection and re-treatment of HCC for a prolonged survival. Abstract This single-center retrospective study was conducted to improve the early detection of local tumor progression (LTP) after irreversible electroporation (IRE) of a hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) using gadolinium ethoxybenzyl diethylenetriamine pentaacetic acid (Gd-EOB-DTPA)-based 3T MR imaging and to identify helpful signal characteristics by comparing 23 patients with and 60 patients without LTP. To identify the differences in the sensitivity of MRI sequences, the specificity, positive prediction value, negative prediction value (NPV) and diagnostic odds ratio were calculated. A chi-squared test, two-tailed student’s t-test and binary logistic regression model were used to detect distinct patient characteristics and variables for the prediction of LTP. LTP was mostly detected in the peripheral ablation zone (82.6%) within the first six months (87.0%). The central LTP ablation area presented more hypointensities in T1 p.v. (sensitivity: 95.0%; NPV: 90.0%) and in T1 d.p. (sensitivity: 100.0%; NPV: 100.0) while its peripheral part showed more hyperintensities in T2 BLADE (sensitivity: 95.5%; NPV: 80.0%) and in diffusion sequences (sensitivity: 90.0%). Liver cirrhosis seems to be an unfavorable prognosticator for LTP (p = 0.039). In conclusion, LTP mostly occurs in the peripheral ablation zone within six months after IRE. Despite often exhibiting atypical Gd-EOB-DTPA MR signal characteristics, T2 BLADE and diffusion sequences were helpful for their detection in the peripheral zone while T1 p.v. and T1 d.p. had the highest sensitivity in the central zone

Long-term survival after percutaneous irreversible electroporation of inoperable colorectal liver metastases

Background: For colorectal liver metastases (CRLM) that are not amenable to surgery or thermal ablation, irreversible electroporation (IRE) is a novel local treatment modality and additional option. Methods: This study is a retrospective long-term follow-up of patients with CRLM who underwent IRE as salvage treatment. Results: Of the 24 included patients, 18(75.0%) were male, and the median age was 57 (range: 28-75) years. The mean time elapsed from diagnosis to IRE was 37.9 +/- 37.3 months. Mean overall survival was 26.5 months after IRE (range: 2.5-69.2 months) and 58.1 months after diagnosis (range: 14.8-180.1 months). One-, three-, and five-year survival rates after initial diagnosis were 100.0%, 79.2%, and 41.2%; after IRE, the respective survival rates were 79.1%, 25.0%, and 8.3%. There were no statistically significant differences detected in survival after IRE with respect to gender, age, T- or N-stage at the time of diagnosis, size of metastases subject to IRE, number of hepatic lesions, or time elapsed between IRE and diagnosis. Conclusion: For nonresectable CRLM, long-term survival data emphasize the value of IRE as a new minimally invasive local therapeutic approach in multimodal palliative treatment, which is currently limited to systemic or regional therapies in this setting