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

Application profiling and resource management for MapReduce

Scale of data generated and processed is exponential growth in the Big Data ear. It poses a challenge that is far beyond the goal of a single computing system. Processing such vast amount of data on a single machine is impracticable in term of time or cost. Hence, distributed systems, which can harness very large clusters of commodity computers and processing data within restrictive time deadlines, are imperative. In this thesis, we target two aspects of distributed systems: application profiling and resource management. We study a MapReduce system in detail, which is a programming paradigm for large scale distributed computing, and presents solutions to tackle three key problems. Firstly, this thesis analyzes the characteristics of jobs running on the MapReduce system to reveal the problem—the Application scope of MapReduce has been extended beyond the original design goal that was large-scale data processing. This problem enables us to present a Workload Characteristic Oriented Scheduler (WCO), which strives for co-locating tasks of possibly different MapReduce jobs with complementing resource usage characteristics. Secondly, this thesis studies the current job priority mechanism focusing on resource management. In the MapReduce system, job priority only exists at scheduling level. High priority jobs are placed at the front of the scheduling queue and dispatched first. Resource, however, is fairly shared among jobs running at the same worker node without any consideration for their priorities. In order to resolve this, this thesis presents a non-intrusive slot layering solution, which dynamically allocates resource between running jobs based on their priority and efficiently reduces the execution time of high priority jobs while improves overall throughput. Last, based on the fact of underutilization of resource at each individual worker node, this thesis propose a new way, Local Resource Shaper (LRS), to smooth resource consumption of each individual job by automatically tuning the execution of concurrent jobs to maximize resource utilization while minimizing resource contention

Sexual and urinary functioning after rectal surgery: a prospective comparative study with a median follow-up of 8.5 years

The purpose of this study was to prospectively compare rectal resection (RR) with colonic resection on sexual, urinary and bowel function and quality of life in both short-term and long-term. Eighty-three patients who underwent RR were compared to 53 patients who underwent a colonic resection leaving the rectum in situ (RIS). A questionnaire assessing sexual, urinary and bowel functioning with a quality of life questionnaire (SF-36) was sent to all participants preoperatively, 3 and 12 months postoperatively and approximately 8 years after the onset of the study. Short-term dysfunction included diminished sexual activity in female RR patients at 3 months and significantly more erectile dysfunction in RR patients 1 year postoperatively. Long-term dysfunction included more frequent and more severe erectile dysfunction in RR patients compared to RIS patients. These short-term and long-term outcomes did not influence overall quality of life. The incidence of urinary dysfunction was comparable between both groups. Bowel functioning was significantly better in the RIS group compared to the RR group 3 months and 1 year postoperatively. Patients who underwent RR experienced up to 1 year postoperatively more sexual and bowel function problems than RIS patients. However, short-term and long-term dysfunction did not influence overall quality of life. Erectile dysfunction in male RR patients persisted in time, whereas other aspects of sexual, urinary and bowel function after RR and colonic resection are similar after a median follow-up of 8.5 year

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

Aberrant Insertion of the Right Subclavian Artery: an Unusual Cause of Dysphagia in an Adult

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Survival of patients with colorectal liver metastases treated with and without preoperative chemotherapy:Nationwide propensity score-matched study

Introduction: Routine treatment with preoperative systemic chemotherapy (CTx) in patients with colorectal liver metastases (CRLM) remains controversial due to lack of consistent evidence demonstrating associated survival benefits. This study aimed to determine the effect of preoperative CTx on overall survival (OS) compared to surgery alone and to assess hospital and oncological network variation in 5-year OS. Methods: This was a population-based study of all patients who underwent liver resection for CRLM between 2014 and 2017 in the Netherlands. After 1:1 propensity score matching (PSM), OS was compared between patients treated with and without preoperative CTx. Hospital and oncological network variation in 5-year OS corrected for case-mix factors was calculated using an observed/expected ratio. Results: Of 2820 patients included, 852 (30.2%) and 1968 (69.8%) patients were treated with preoperative CTx and surgery alone, respectively. After PSM, 537 patients remained in each group, median number of CRLM; 3 [IQR 2–4], median size of CRLM; 28 mm [IQR 18–44], synchronous CLRM (71.1%). Median follow-up was 80.8 months. Five-year OS rates after PSM for patients treated with and without preoperative chemotherapy were 40.2% versus 38.3% (log-rank P = 0.734). After stratification for low, medium, and high tumour burden based on the tumour burden score (TBS) OS was similar for preoperative chemotherapy vs. surgery alone (log-rank P = 0.486, P = 0.914, and P = 0.744, respectively). After correction for non-modifiable patient and tumour characteristics, no relevant hospital or oncological network variation in five-year OS was observed. Conclusion: In patients eligible for surgical resection, preoperative chemotherapy does not provide an overall survival benefit compared to surgery alone.</p

Nationwide Association of Surgical Performance of Minimally Invasive Esophagectomy With Patient Outcomes

IMPORTANCE: Suboptimal surgical performance is hypothesized to be associated with less favorable patient outcomes in minimally invasive esophagectomy (MIE). Establishing this association may lead to programs that promote better surgical performance of MIE and improve patient outcomes.OBJECTIVE: To investigate associations between surgical performance and postoperative outcomes after MIE.DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS: In this nationwide cohort study of 15 Dutch hospitals that perform more than 20 MIEs per year, 7 masked expert MIE surgeons assessed surgical performance using videos and a previously developed and validated competency assessment tool (CAT). Each hospital submitted 2 representative videos of MIEs performed between November 4, 2021, and September 13, 2022. Patients registered in the Dutch Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer Audit between January 1, 2020, and December 31, 2021, were included to examine patient outcomes.EXPOSURE: Hospitals were divided into quartiles based on their MIE-CAT performance score. Outcomes were compared between highest (top 25%) and lowest (bottom 25%) performing quartiles. Transthoracic MIE with gastric tube reconstruction.MAIN OUTCOME AND MEASURE: The primary outcome was severe postoperative complications (Clavien-Dindo ≥3) within 30 days after surgery. Multilevel logistic regression, with clustering of patients within hospitals, was used to analyze associations between performance and outcomes.RESULTS:In total, 30 videos and 970 patients (mean [SD] age, 66.6 [9.1] years; 719 men [74.1%]) were included. The mean (SD) MIE-CAT score was 113.6 (5.5) in the highest performance quartile vs 94.1 (5.9) in the lowest. Severe postoperative complications occurred in 18.7% (41 of 219) of patients in the highest performance quartile vs 39.2% (40 of 102) in the lowest (risk ratio [RR], 0.50; 95% CI, 0.24-0.99). The highest vs the lowest performance quartile showed lower rates of conversions (1.8% vs 8.9%; RR, 0.21; 95% CI, 0.21-0.21), intraoperative complications (2.7% vs 7.8%; RR, 0.21; 95% CI, 0.04-0.94), and overall postoperative complications (46.1% vs 65.7%; RR, 0.54; 95% CI, 0.24-0.96). The R0 resection rate (96.8% vs 94.2%; RR, 1.03; 95% CI, 0.97-1.05) and lymph node yield (mean [SD], 38.9 [14.7] vs 26.2 [9.0]; RR, 3.20; 95% CI, 0.27-3.21) increased with oncologic-specific performance (eg, hiatus dissection, lymph node dissection). In addition, a high anastomotic phase score was associated with a lower anastomotic leakage rate (4.6% vs 17.7%; RR, 0.14; 95% CI, 0.06-0.31).CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: These findings suggest that better surgical performance is associated with fewer perioperative complications for patients with esophageal cancer on a national level. If surgical performance of MIE can be improved with MIE-CAT implementation, substantially better patient outcomes may be achievable.</p

Factors associated with failure to rescue after liver resection and impact on hospital variation:a nationwide population-based study

BACKGROUND: Failure to rescue (FTR) is defined as postoperative complications leading to mortality. This nationwide study aimed to assess factors associated with FTR and hospital variation in FTR after liver surgery. METHODS: All patients who underwent liver resection between 2014 and 2017 in the Netherlands were included. FTR was defined as in-hospital or 30-day mortality after complications Dindo grade ≥3a. Variables associated with FTR and nationwide hospital variation were assessed using multivariable logistic regression. RESULTS: Of 4961 patients included, 3707 (74.4%) underwent liver resection for colorectal liver metastases, 379 (7.6%) for other metastases, 526 (10.6%) for hepatocellular carcinoma and 349 (7.0%) for biliary cancer. Thirty-day major morbidity was 11.5%. Overall mortality was 2.3%. FTR was 19.1%. Age 65-80 (aOR: 2.86, CI:1.01-12.0, p = 0.049), ASA 3+ (aOR:2.59, CI: 1.66-4.02, p < 0.001), liver cirrhosis (aOR:4.15, CI:1.81-9.22, p < 0.001), biliary cancer (aOR:3.47, CI: 1.73-6.96, p < 0.001), and major resection (aOR:6.46, CI: 3.91-10.9, p < 0.001) were associated with FTR. Postoperative liver failure (aOR: 26.9, CI: 14.6-51.2, p < 0.001), cardiac (aOR: 2.62, CI: 1.27-5.29, p = 0.008) and thromboembolic complications (aOR: 2.49, CI: 1.16-5.22, p = 0.017) were associated with FTR. After case-mix correction, no hospital variation in FTR was observed. CONCLUSION: FTR is influenced by patient demographics, disease and procedural burden. Prevention of postoperative liver failure, cardiac and thromboembolic complications could decrease FTR

Effect of Early Surgery vs Endoscopy-First Approach on Pain in Patients With Chronic Pancreatitis The ESCAPE Randomized Clinical Trial:The ESCAPE Randomized Clinical Trial

IMPORTANCE For patients with painful chronic pancreatitis, surgical treatment is postponed until medical and endoscopic treatment have failed. Observational studies have suggested that earlier surgery could mitigate disease progression, providing better pain control and preserving pancreatic function. OBJECTIVE To determine whether early surgery is more effective than the endoscopy-first approach in terms of clinical outcomes. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS The ESCAPE trial was an unblinded, multicenter, randomized clinical superiority trial involving 30 Dutch hospitals participating in the Dutch Pancreatitis Study Group. From April 2011 until September 2016, a total of 88 patients with chronic pancreatitis, a dilated main pancreatic duct, and who only recently started using prescribed opioids for severe pain (strong opioids for INTERVENTIONS There were 44 patients randomized to the early surgery group who underwent pancreatic drainage surgery within 6 weeks after randomization and 44 patients randomized to the endoscopy-first approach group who underwent medical treatment, endoscopy including lithotripsy if needed, and surgery if needed. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was pain, measured on the Izbicki pain score and integrated over 18 months (range, 0-100 [increasing score indicates more pain severity]). Secondary outcomes were pain relief at the end of follow-up; number of interventions, complications, hospital admissions; pancreatic function; quality of life (measured on the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey [SF-36]); and mortality. RESULTS Among 88 patients who were randomized (mean age, 52 years; 21 (24%) women), 85 (97%) completed the trial. During 18 months of follow-up, patients in the early surgery group had a lower Izbicki pain score than patients in the group randomized to receive the endoscopy-first approach group (37 vs 49; between-group difference, -12 points [95% CI, -22 to -2]; P = .02). Complete or partial pain relief at end of follow-up was achieved in 23 of 40 patients (58%) in the early surgery vs 16 of 41 (39%)in the endoscopy-first approach group (P = .10). The total number of interventions was lower in the early surgery group (median, 1 vs 3; P <.001). Treatment complications (27% vs 25%), mortality (0% vs 0%), hospital admissions, pancreatic function, and quality of life were not significantly different between early surgery and the endoscopy-first approach. CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE Among patients with chronic pancreatitis, early surgery compared with an endoscopy-first approach resulted in lower pain scores when integrated over 18 months. However, further research is needed to assess persistence of differences over time and to replicate the study findings