1,720,966 research outputs found
Current perioperative management of radical cystectomy with intestinal urinary reconstruction for muscle-invasive bladder cancer and reduction of the incidence of postoperative ileus
Major abdominal surgery, and also radical cystectomy, is followed by a delayed return of bowel function attributable to postoperative ileus (POI), which, in addition, stands out as one of the most frequent complications that causes increased length of stay (LOS). Some variability exists in the definition of POI since time to return of peristalsis and time to first passage of flatus, which are commonly referred to as indicators of bowel activity, have their own weaknesses, observer dependent and time dependent, among other variables. A number of causes have been recognized to induce or maintain the condition of ileus. Some among them are part of the perioperative period. The practices of mechanical bowel preparation (MBP) and of fasting before surgery have been challenged and can be safely abandoned. The perception of pain is an acknowledged promoter of POI; therefore, providing complete pain control constitutes the rationale in favor of administering anesthesia and analgesia combined, both in the form of concurrent general and epidural anesthesia (i.e., at the thoracic level, T9, T11), and represents the mainstay of intraoperative measures. Hypovolemia is also associated with an increased risk of POI. The use of nasogastric tubing (NGT) has been associated with increased pulmonary complications; moreover, bowel resection can be performed safely without postoperative NGT. Early postoperative provision of artificial nutrients has shown beneficial effects, both in the form of total parenteral and enteral nutrition (PEN, EN). We devised a perioperative care regimen, adopting a multimodality approach aimed at minimizing the effects of the above listed factors to ascertain if they could contribute to preventing or reducing POI and the complications associated with radical cystectomy and intestinal urinary diversion. In addition, we investigated the impact of early artificial nutrition, combining PEN and EN via a jejunal nutrition cannula. Time to return of bowel movements, time to reinstitution of a regular diet, presence and duration of POI, and incidence and nature of complications constituted the study end points. Of 143 consecutive patients, 107 who underwent radical cystectomy with intestinal urinary reconstruction were able to be evaluated for results and complications. The male to female ratio was 86:21, the mean age was 74 years, and more than two-third belonged to the American Society of Anesthesiologists categories II and III. Pathologic stages of disease were bladder confined in 48 patients, locally advanced in 33, and extravesical in 26. Urinary diversion with intestine consisted in the configuration of heterotopic reservoirs in 39 patients, orthotopic substitution in 38, and uretero-ileo-cutaneostomy in 30. Bowel movements returned after a median time of 2 days (range, 1-6), and the median time to reinstitution of a regular diet was 4 days (range, 3-9). POI beyond postoperative day 4 was observed in 17.7% of the patients. Overall, a total of 28 patients (26.1%) experienced complications, specifically, medical complications in 19 patients and surgical complications leading to relaparotomy in 11. The mortality rate was 3.7%. No effects were observed on postoperative protein depletion, despite the provision of early artificial nutrition. Our results suggest that a short median time of return of both peristalsis and flatus, and to regular diet resumption with a low incidence of POI, can be obtained in the majority of patients with a perioperative regimen aimed at reducing the effect of some of the causes associated with induction or maintenance of POI. Further studies of multimodality perioperative care plans, similar to that used in the present study, are required
Fast-track surgery and technical nuances to reduce complications after radical cystectomy and intestinal urinary diversion with the modified Indiana pouch
Objectives: With the purpose to reduce the complications of radical cystectomy and intestinal urinary reconstruction a perioperative protocol based on fast-track surgery principles and technical modifications of the original surgical technique was applied to patient candidates for etherotopic bladder substitution. Our protocol included pre-, intra-, and postoperative interventions. The technical variations of the modified Indiana pouch technique were focused on intestinal anastomosis to restore bowel continuity, uretero-colonic anastomoses, and capacity of the reservoir. Results and limitations: From 2003 to 2010, 68 consecutive patients participated in the study. Two patients died due to surgical complications (2.9%). Overall, 24 of 68 patients experienced complications (35.3%). Surgery was needed under general anaesthesia for seven patients (10.2%) and under local anaesthesia for four (5.9%). Medical complications were encountered in 13 of 68 patients (19.1%). According to Clavien grading, complications were grade 5 in two patients, grade 4 in two patients, grade 3b in five patients, grade 3a in four patients, grade 2 in nine patients, and grade 1b in two patients. A limitation of our series is that patients were recruited at a single urologic centre and were operated by a single surgeon. Findings need validation. Conclusions: Progress in the perioperative management of major surgery and technical refinements can contribute to reduced complications. In addition, the use of objective reporting tools will facilitate comparison of studies
Multimodal Perioperative Plan for Radical Cystectomy and Intestinal Urinary Diversion. I. Effect on Recovery of Intestinal Function and Occurrence of Complications
Objectives: To discuss a multimodal perioperative plan aimed at reducing postoperative ileus and complications associated with radical cystectomy and urinary reconstruction. Methods: The protocol consisted of preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative measures. The clinical parameters assessed were the time to the return of bowel movements, the presence and duration of postoperative ileus, the presence and duration of an intolerance to oral feeding, the interval to re-institution of a regular diet, and complications. The biochemical parameters (serum total protein and albumin levels and lymphocyte counts) were also assessed. A sample of 40 patients treated before the implementation of this protocol was included for comparison. Results: A total of 71 patients, mean age 74 years and American Society of Anesthesiologists status 2 and 3, consecutively underwent radical surgery for bladder cancer and were evaluable for results and complications. Urinary diversion was a heterotopic neobladder in 27 patients (38%), orthotopic in 23 (32.3%), and an ileal conduit in 21 (29.5%). Bowel movements returned after a median of 2 days (range 1 to 6), intolerance to oral feeding was observed in 17 (23.9%) of 71 patients, and the median time to re-institution of a regular diet was 4 days (range 3 to 9). The complication rate was 26.7%, and the mortality rate was 4.2%. No effects were observed on postoperative protein depletion. In the historical group, the median time to diet resumption was 8 days (range 7 to 12). Conclusions: A short time to the resumption of normal intestinal function and a low incidence of postoperative ileus after cystectomy was observed. However, the incidence of postoperative protein depletion was unaffected. Additional studies should address this subject
A Multimodal Perioperative Plan for Radical Cystectomy and Urinary Intestinal Diversion: Effects, Limits and Complications of Early Artificial Nutrition
Purpose: We evaluated the effects of early parenteral and enteral postoperative nutritional support on the restoration of normal bowel function, on the protein depletion that follows cystectomy and on observed complications. Materials and Methods: Immediate parenteral nutrition was initiated after surgery. It was progressively shifted to the enteral route through a needle catheter jejunostomy inserted at surgery. Results: A total of 28 patients with a mean age of 74.2 years (range 55 to 82) were enrolled into the study. Disease was pathologically confined to the bladder in 22 patients, locally advanced in 3 and extravesical in 3. Urinary diversions included an ileocolonic pouch in 15 patients and an orthotopic ileal reservoir in 13. Of the 28 patients 15 (53.6%) completed the protocol, whereas 13 (46.4%) did not. Median time to peristalsis and spontaneous passage of flatus was postoperative day 2 (range 2 to 5) and median time to normal diet resumption was postoperative day 4 (range 3 to 8). No significant differences were observed between patients who completed the protocol and those who did not with regard to the restoration of normal bowel function, and total protein, serum albumin and lymphocyte count. Minor complications were observed in 9 patients and major complications developed in 4. Conclusions: Early postoperative artificial nutrition did not affect the return of bowel function or postoperative protein depletion. Different strategies for more effective nutritional support will be explored in further studies
Going Beyond Counting First Authors in Author Co-citation Analysis
The 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
Variations on the Author
“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
We 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
We 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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