1,721,017 research outputs found
A Comparison of Open and Minimally Invasive Surgery for Hepatic and Pancreatic Resections Among the Medicare Population
No full textIntroduction: Minimally invasive surgery (MIS) has become standard of care for many gastrointestinal surgical procedures. Despite possible clinical benefits, MIS may be underutilized in some populations. The aim of this study was to access the utilization of MIS among Medicare patients undergoing hepatopancreatic procedures and define clinical outcomes, as well as costs, of minimally invasive techniques compared with the conventional open approach. Methods: The Medicare Provider Analysis and Review (MEDPAR) Inpatient Files were reviewed to identify Medicare patients who underwent pancreatic and liver procedures between 2013 and 2015. Primary outcomes of the analysis included perioperative clinical outcomes such as rates of complications, index hospitalization length-of-stay (LOS), failure-to-rescue, rates, and causes of 90-day readmission, as well as 90-day mortality. Secondary outcomes were Medicare payments for index hospitalization and readmission. Multivariable logistic regression was used to investigate the impact of MIS on clinical outcomes and health expenditures. Results: A total of 13,716 (90.6%) patients underwent open resection, while MIS was performed in 1424 (9.4%) patients. LOS was shorter among patients undergoing MIS (mean 7.3 ± SD 7.3) versus open (mean 9.3 ± SD 9.1) surgery (p 0.05). Mean total payments for open pancreatic surgery were on average $1421 higher in the open versus MIS pancreatic group (p = 0.01); in contrast, there was no difference in the overall payment for hepatic resection (p > 0.05). Conclusion: The MIS approach was underutilized among patients undergoing liver and pancreatic procedures. MIS was associated with lower complication and readmission and shorter LOS, as well as comparable/slightly lower Medicare payments, compared with the open approach. The MIS approach should strongly be considered among older patients undergoing liver and pancreatic procedures
Management and outcomes among patients with mixed hepatocholangiocellular carcinoma: A population-based analysis
No full textBackground: We sought to define the management of mixed hepatocellular carcinoma-intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma (HCC-ICC) as well as characterize short- and long-term outcomes of patients with mixed HCC-ICC. Methods: Patients diagnosed with HCC-ICC, HCC, or ICC between 2004 and 2015 were identified from the National Cancer Data Base using the International Classification of Diseases for Oncology codes. Short- and long-term outcomes were assessed using univariate and multivariate analyses. Results: Among 174 454 patients, 86.8% had HCC, 12.1% ICC, and 1.1% HCC-ICC. The incidence of lymphadenectomy was 55.6% among ICC patients vs 15.1% and 34.2% for HCC and HCC-ICC patients, respectively (P < 0.001). A 90-day mortality was comparable among patients with HCC (9.1%), ICC (8.8%), and HCC-ICC (10.5%) (all P > 0.2). While 42.0% of ICC patients received adjuvant chemotherapy, adjuvant chemotherapy among HCC and HCC-ICC patients was 13.1% and 27.4%, respectively (P < 0.001). A 5-year survival was 43.5% (95% CI, 42.5-44.5), 33.3% (95% CI, 31.4-35.3), 34.4% (95% CI, 29.1-39.8) for HCC, ICC, and HCC-ICC patients, respectively. Conclusion: Patients who underwent resection of mixed HCC-ICC had a prognosis that was comparable to ICC, yet worse than HCC. Utilization of lymphadenectomy and adjuvant therapy were low. HCC-ICC remains a rare disease with a guarded prognosis that should be treated in a multidisciplinary setting
Prognosis and Adherence with the National Comprehensive Cancer Network Guidelines of Patients with Biliary Tract Cancers: an Analysis of the National Cancer Database
No full textBackground: The National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines recommend chemotherapy for patients with inoperable biliary tract cancers (BTC), as well as patients following resection of BTC with lymph node metastasis (N1)/positive margins (R1). We sought to define overall adherence, as well as long-term outcomes, with the NCCN guidelines for BTC using the National Cancer Database (NCDB). Methods: A total of 176,536 patients diagnosed with BTC at a hospital participating in the NCDB between 2004 and 2015 were identified. Results: Among all patients, 63% of patients received medical therapy (chemotherapy or best supportive care), 11% underwent surgical palliation, and 26% underwent curative-intent surgery. According to the NCCN guidelines, 86% (n = 152,245) of patients were eligible for chemotherapy, yet, only 42.2% (n = 64,615) received chemotherapy. Factors associated with a lower adherence with NCCN guidelines included patient age (> 65 years: OR = 1.02), ethnicity (Black: OR = 1.14, Hispanic: OR = 1.21, Asian: OR = 1.24), and insurance status (non-private: OR = 1.45, all p < 0.001). A smaller subset of patients was either recommended chemotherapy but refused (n = 9269, 10.6%) or had medical factors that contraindicated chemotherapy (n = 8275, 9.4%). On multivariable analysis, adjusting for clinical and tumor-specific factors, adherence with NCCN guidelines was associated with a survival benefit for patients receiving medical therapies (HR = 0.74) or undergoing curative-intent surgery (HR = 0.73, both p < 0.001). Conclusion: Less than half of patients with BTC received systemic chemotherapy in adherence with NCCN guidelines. While a subset of patients had contraindications or refused chemotherapy, other factors such as insurance status and ethnicity were associated with adherence. Adherence with chemotherapy guidelines may influence long-term outcomes
Patterns of readmission among the elderly after hepatopancreatobiliary surgery
No full textBackground: The objective of this study was to examine risk factors and outcomes of hospital readmission following complex hepatopancreatobiliary (HPB) surgery among the elderly. Methods: The Nationwide Readmissions Database was queried for patients ≥ 60 years who underwent HPB surgery during 2010–2015. Results: The incidence of 30- and 90-day readmission was similar among patients 60–74 vs. ≥75 (P > 0.05). Patients age 60–74 years with ≥2 comorbidities had an increased odds of 30-day (OR 1.13, p = 0.021) and 90-day (OR 1.13, p = 0.005) readmission. Patients ≥75 years with ≥2 comorbidities had the highest in-hospital mortality (5%) whereas patients 60–74 years with 0 or 1 comorbidity had the lowest in-hospital mortality on readmission (3%). Conclusion: Following an HPB procedure, roughly 1 in 7 elderly patients were readmitted within 30 days and 1 in 4 patients within 90 days. Elderly patients with multiple comorbidities were more likely to be readmitted at non-index hospitals
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
Full text linkThe present study examines one of the fundamental aspects of author co-citation analysis (ACA) - the way co-citation
counts are defined. Co-citation counting provides the data on which all subsequent statistical analyses and mappings
are based, and we compare ACA results based on two different types of co-citation counting - the traditional type that
only counts the first one among a cited work's authors on the one hand and a non-traditional type that takes into
account the first 5 authors of a cited work on the other hand. Results indicate that the picture produced through this non-traditional author co-citation counting contains more coherent author groups and is therefore considerably clearer. However, this picture represents fewer specialties in the research field being studied than that produced through the traditional first-author co-citation counting when the same number of top-ranked authors is selected and analyzed. Reasons for these effects are discussed
Trends in centralization of surgical care and compliance with National Cancer Center Network guidelines for resected cholangiocarcinoma
No full textBackground: A retrospective study was performed to characterize trends in centralization of care and compliance with National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines for resected cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), and their impact on overall survival (OS). Methods: Using the National Cancer Database (NCDB) 2004–2015 we identified patients undergoing resection for CCA. Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) analyses identified time periods and hospital volume groups for comparison. Propensity score matching provided case-mix adjusted patient cohorts. Cox hazard analysis identified risk factors for OS. Results: Among the 40,338 patients undergoing resection for CCA, the proportion of patients undergoing surgery at high volume hospitals increased over time (25%–44%, p < 0.001), while the proportion of patients undergoing surgery at low volume hospitals decreased (30%–15%, p < 0.001). Using ROC analyses, a hospital volume of 14 operations/year was the most sensitive and specific value associated with mortality. Surgery at high volume hospitals [HR] = 0.92, 95% CI: 0.88–0.97, p < 0.001) and receipt of care compliant with NCCN guidelines (HR = 0.87, 95% CI: 0.83–0.91, p < 0.001) were independently associated with improved OS. Conclusions: Both centralization of surgery for CCA to high volume hospitals and increased compliance with NCCN guidelines were associated with significant improvements in overall survival
Variations on the Author
Full text link“Variations on the Author” discusses two of Eduardo Coutinho’s recent films (Um Dia na Vida, from 2010, and Últimas Conversas, posthumously released in 2015) and their contribution to the general question of documentary authorship. The director’s filmography is characterized by a consistent yet self-effacing form of authorial self-inscription: Coutinho often features as an interviewer that rather than express opinions propels discourses; an interviewer that is good at listening. This mode of self-inscription characterizes him as an author who is not expressive but who is nonetheless markedly present on the screen. In Um Dia na Vida, however, Coutinho is completely absent form the image, while Últimas Conversas, on the contrary, includes a confessional prologue that moves the director from the margins to the center of his films. This article examines the ways in which these works stand out in the filmography of a director who offers new insights into the notion of cinematic authorship
Appropriate Similarity Measures for Author Cocitation Analysis
Full text linkWe provide a number of new insights into the methodological discussion about author cocitation analysis. We first argue that the use of the Pearson correlation for measuring the similarity between authors’ cocitation profiles is not very satisfactory. We then discuss what kind of similarity measures may be used as an alternative to the Pearson correlation. We consider three similarity measures in particular. One is the well-known cosine. The other two similarity measures have not been used before in the bibliometric literature. Finally, we show by means of an example that our findings have a high practical relevance.information science;Pearson correlation;cosine;similarity measure;author cocitation analysis
Dispelling the Myths Behind First-author Citation Counts
Full text linkWe conducted a full-scale evaluative citation analysis study of scholars in the XML research field to explore just how different from each other author rankings resulting from different citation counting methods actually are, and to demonstrate the capability of emerging data and tools on the Web in supporting more realistic citation counting methods. Our results contest some common arguments for the continued
use of first-author citation counts in the evaluation of scholars, such as high correlations between author rankings by first-author citation counts and other citation
counting methods, and high costs of using more realistic citation counting methods that are not well-supported by the ISI databases. It is argued that increasingly available digital full text research papers make it possible for citation analysis studies to go beyond what the ISI databases have directly supported and to employ more
sophisticated methods
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