Preoperative physical performance as predictor of postoperative outcomes in patients aged 65 and older scheduled for major abdominal cancer surgery:A systematic review

Background: Abdominal cancer surgery is associated with considerable morbidity in older patients. Assessment of preoperative physical status is therefore essential. The aim of this review was to describe and compare the objective physical tests that are currently used in abdominal cancer surgery in the older patient population with regard to postoperative outcomes. Methods: Medline, Embase, CINAHL and Web of Science were searched until 31 December 2020. Non-interventional cohort studies were eligible if they included patients ≥65 years undergoing abdominal cancer surgery, reported results on objective preoperative physical assessment such as Cardiopulmonary Exercise Testing (CPET), field walk tests or muscle strength, and on postoperative outcomes. Results: 23 publications were included (10 CPET, 13 non-CPET including Timed Up & Go, grip strength, 6-minute walking test (6MWT) and incremental shuttle walk test (ISWT)). Meta-analysis was precluded due to heterogeneity between study cohorts, different cut-off points, and inconsistent reporting of outcomes. In CPET studies, ventilatory anaerobic threshold and minute ventilation/carbon dioxide production gradient were associated with adverse outcomes. ISWT and 6MWT predicted outcomes in two studies. Tests addressing muscle strength and function were of limited value. No study compared different physical tests. Discussion: CPET has the ability to predict adverse postoperative outcomes, but it is time-consuming and requires expert assessment. ISWT or 6MWT might be a feasible alternative to estimate aerobic capacity. Muscle strength and function tests currently have limited value in risk prediction. Future research should compare the predictive value of different physical instruments with regard to postoperative outcomes in older surgical patients

Association between postoperative muscle wasting and survival in older patients undergoing surgery for non-metastatic colorectal cancer

BACKGROUND: Preoperative sarcopenia in older patients is a risk factor for adverse outcomes after colorectal cancer (CRC) surgery. Longitudinal changes in muscle mass in this group have not been studied previously although muscle wasting may have prognostic significance regarding survival. We aimed to determine the association between muscle wasting and overall survival (OS) in older patients who underwent surgery for CRC.METHODS: Patients ≥70 years who underwent surgery for non-metastatic CRC in Gelre hospitals, The Netherlands, between 2011 and 2015 were included. Cross-sectional area of skeletal muscle was measured at the level of the 3rd lumbar vertebra on preoperative and postoperative abdominal CT-scans. Patients who had &gt;1 standard deviation decrease in muscle mass were considered to have muscle wasting. Cox regression analysis was used to evaluate associations between muscle wasting and OS.RESULTS: 233 patients were included (40% female, median age 76 years). Thirty-four patients had muscle wasting. After a median follow-up of 4.7 years, 53 (23%) patients died. The 3-year mortality rate was higher in patients with muscle wasting (27% vs 14%, p = .05). In multivariable analysis adjusted for age, recurrent disease and preoperative muscle mass, muscle wasting was associated with reduced OS (HR 2.8, 95% CI 1.5-5.4, p = .002).CONCLUSION: Muscle wasting predicted poorer survival in older patients who underwent CRC surgery. Measuring changes in muscle mass may improve risk prediction in this patient group. Future studies should address the etiology of muscle wasting in older patients with CRC. Whether perioperative exercise interventions can prevent muscle wasting also warrants further study.</p

Outcomes of surgical treatment of non-metastatic gastric cancer in patients aged 70 and older:A systematic review and meta-analysis

The optimal surgical treatment strategy for gastric cancer in older patients needs to be carefully evaluated due to increased vulnerability of older patients. We performed a database search for randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and cohort studies that included patients ≥70 years with potentially resectable stage I-III gastric cancer. Postoperative and survival outcomes were compared between groups undergoing 1) gastrectomy vs conservative treatment (best supportive care or non-operative treatment), 2) minimally invasive (MIG) vs open gastrectomy (OG), or 3) extended vs limited lymphadenectomy. When possible, results were pooled using risk ratios (RR). Thirty-one studies were included. Six retrospective studies compared overall survival (OS) between gastrectomy (N = 2332) and conservative treatment (N = 246). Longer OS was reported in the gastrectomy group in all studies, but study quality was low and meta-analysis was not feasible. Eighteen cohort studies compared MIG (N = 3626) and OG (N = 5193). MIG was associated with fewer complications (pooled RR 0.68, 95% confidence interval 0.54–0.84). OS was not different between the groups. Two RCTs and five cohort studies compared outcomes between extended (N = 709) and limited lymphadenectomy (N = 1323). Complication rates were comparable between the groups. Two cohort studies found longer OS or cancer-specific survival after extended lymphadenectomy. No quality of life (QoL) or functional outcomes were reported. In older patients with gastric cancer, there is low-quality evidence for better OS after gastrectomy vs conservative treatment. Compared to OG, MIG was associated with less postoperative morbidity. The evidence to support extended lymphadenectomy is limited. QoL and functional outcomes should be addressed in future studies

Implementation of prehabilitation in colorectal cancer surgery:qualitative research on how to strengthen facilitators and overcome barriers

Purpose Prehabilitation is increasingly offered to patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) undergoing surgery as it could prevent complications and facilitate recovery. However, implementation of such a complex multidisciplinary intervention is challenging. This study aims to explore perspectives of professionals involved in prehabilitation to gain understanding of barriers or facilitators to its implementation and to identify strategies to successful operationalization of prehabilitation. Methods In this qualitative study, semi-structured interviews were performed with healthcare professionals involved in prehabilitation for patients with CRC. Prehabilitation was defined as a preoperative program with the aim of improving physical fitness and nutritional status. Parallel with data collection, open coding was applied to the transcribed interviews. The Ottawa Model of Research Use (OMRU) framework, a comprehensive interdisciplinary model guide to promote implementation of research findings into healthcare practice, was used to categorize obtained codes and structure the barriers and facilitators into relevant themes for change. Results Thirteen interviews were conducted. Important barriers were the conflicting scientific evidence on (cost-)effectiveness of prehabilitation, the current inability to offer a personalized prehabilitation program, the complex logistic organization of the program, and the unawareness of (the importance of) a prehabilitation program among healthcare professionals and patients. Relevant facilitators were availability of program coordinators, availability of physician leadership, and involving skeptical colleagues in the implementation process from the start. Conclusions Important barriers to prehabilitation implementation are mainly related to the intervention being complex, relatively unknown and only evaluated in a research setting. Therefore, physicians' leadership is needed to transform care towards more integration of personalized prehabilitation programs. Implications for cancer survivors By strengthening prehabilitation programs and evidence of their efficacy using these recommendations, it should be possible to enhance both the pre- and postoperative quality of life for colorectal cancer patients during survivorship

An information-theoretic framework for semantic-multimedia retrieval

This article is set in the context of searching text and image repositories by keyword. We develop a unified probabilistic framework for text, image, and combined text and image retrieval that is based on the detection of keywords (concepts) using automated image annotation technology. Our framework is deeply rooted in information theory and lends itself to use with other media types. We estimate a statistical model in a multimodal feature space for each possible query keyword. The key element of our framework is to identify feature space transformations that make them comparable in complexity and density. We select the optimal multimodal feature space with a minimum description length criterion from a set of candidate feature spaces that are computed with the average-mutual-information criterion for the text part and hierarchical expectation maximization for the visual part of the data. We evaluate our approach in three retrieval experiments (only text retrieval, only image retrieval, and text combined with image retrieval), verify the framework’s low computational complexity, and compare with existing state-of-the-art ad-hoc models

Oral Nutrition as a Form of Pre-Operative Enhancement in Patients Undergoing Surgery for Colorectal Cancer:A Systematic Review

Background: Nutritional status has major impacts on the outcome of surgery, in particular in patients with cancer. The aim of this review was to assess the merit of oral pre-operative nutritional support as a part of prehabilitation in patients undergoing surgery for colorectal cancer. Methods: A systematic literature search and meta-analysis was performed according to the Preferred Reporting of Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) recommendations in order to review all trials investigating the effect of oral pre-operative nutritional support in patients undergoing colorectal surgery. The primary outcome was overall complication rate. Secondary outcomes were incision infection rate, anastomotic leakage rate, and length of hospital stay. Results: Five randomized controlled trials and one controlled trial were included. The studies contained a total of 583 patients with an average age of 63y (range 23-88y), of whom 87% had colorectal cancer. Malnourishment rates ranged from 8%-68%. All investigators provided an oral protein supplement. Overall patient compliance rates ranged from 72%-100%. There was no significant reduction in the overall complication rate in the interventional groups (odds ratio 0.82; 95% confidence interval 0.52-1.25). Conclusion: Current studies are too heterogeneous to conclude that pre-operative oral nutritional support could enhance the condition of patients undergoing colorectal surgery. Patients at risk have a relatively lean body mass deficit (sarcopenia) rather than an absolute malnourished status. Compliance is an important element of prehabilitation. Targeting patients at risk, combining protein supplements with strength training, and defining standardized patient-related outcomes will be essential to obtain satisfactory result

The implementation of a nationwide anomaly screening programme improves prenatal detection of major cardiac defects : an 11-year national population-based cohort study

Objective To evaluate whether a nationwide prenatal anomaly screening programme improves detection rates of univentricular heart (UVH) and transposition of great arteries (TGA), and whether maternal risk factors for severe fetal heart disease affect prenatal detection. Design Population-based cohort study. Setting Nationwide data from Finnish registries 2004-14. Population A total of 642 456 parturients and 3449 terminated pregnancies due to severe fetal anomaly. Methods Prenatal detection rates were calculated in three time periods (prescreening, transition and screening phase). The effect of maternal risk factors (obesity, in vitro fertilisation, pregestational diabetes and smoking) was evaluated. Main outcome measures Change in detection rates and impact of maternal risk factors on screening programme efficacy. Results In total, 483 cases of UVH and 184 of TGA were detected. The prenatal detection rate of UVH increased from 50.4% to 82.8% and of TGA from 12.3% to 41.0% (P <0.0001). Maternal risk factors did not affect prenatal detection rate, but detection rate differed substantially by region. Conclusions A nationwide screening programme improved overall UVH and TGA detection rates, but regional differences were observed. Obesity or other maternal risk factors did not affect the screening programme efficacy. The establishment of structured guidelines and recommendations is essential when implementing the screening programme. In addition, a prospective screening register is highly recommended to ensure high quality of screening.Peer reviewe

Paediatric and adult congenital cardiology education and training in Europe

Background: Limited data exist on training of European paediatric and adult congenital cardiologists. Methods: A structured and approved questionnaire was circulated to national delegates of Association for European Paediatric and Congenital Cardiology in 33 European countries. Results: Delegates from 30 countries (91%) responded. Paediatric cardiology was not recognised as a distinct speciality by the respective ministry of Health in seven countries (23%). Twenty countries (67%) have formally accredited paediatric cardiology training programmes, seven (23%) have substantial informal (not accredited or certified) training, and three (10%) have very limited or no programme. Twenty-two countries have a curriculum. Twelve countries have a national training director. There was one paediatric cardiology centre per 2.66 million population (range 0.87-9.64 million), one cardiac surgical centre per 4.73 million population (range 1.63-10.72 million), and one training centre per 4.29 million population (range 1.63-10.72 million population). The median number of paediatric cardiology fellows per training programme was 4 (range 1-17), and duration of training was 3 years (range 2-5 years). An exit examination in paediatric cardiology was conducted in 16 countries (53%) and certification provided by 20 countries (67%). Paediatric cardiologist number is affected by gross domestic product (R-2 = 0.41). Conclusion: Training varies markedly across European countries. Although formal fellowship programmes exist in many countries, several countries have informal training or no training. Only a minority of countries provide both exit examination and certification. Harmonisation of training and standardisation of exit examination and certification could reduce variation in training thereby promoting high-quality care by European congenital cardiologists.Developmen