Recent Publications by CFE Educators

Background

Molecular profiling is revolutionizing cancer diagnostics and leading to personalized therapeutic approaches. Herein we describe our clinical experience performing targeted sequencing for 31 pediatric neuro-oncology patients.

Methods

We sequenced 510 cancer-associated genes from tumor and peripheral blood to identify germline and somatic mutations, structural variants, and copy number changes.

Results

Genomic profiling was performed on 31 patients with tumors including 11 high-grade gliomas, 8 medulloblastomas, 6 low-grade gliomas, 1 embryonal tumor with multilayered rosettes, 1 pineoblastoma, 1 uveal ganglioneuroma, 1 choroid plexus carcinoma, 1 chordoma, and 1 high-grade neuroepithelial tumor. In 25 cases (81%), results impacted patient management by: (i) clarifying diagnosis, (ii) identifying pathogenic germline mutations, or (iii) detecting potentially targetable alterations. The pathologic diagnosis was amended after genomic profiling for 6 patients (19%), including a high-grade glioma to pilocytic astrocytoma, medulloblastoma to pineoblastoma, ependymoma to high-grade glioma, and medulloblastoma to CNS high-grade neuroepithelial tumor with BCOR alteration. Multiple patients had pathogenic germline mutations, many of which were previously unsuspected. Potentially targetable alterations were identified in 19 patients (61%). Additionally, novel likely pathogenic alterations were identified in 3 cases: an in-frame RAF1 fusion in a BRAF wild-type pleomorphic xanthoastrocytoma, an inactivating ASXL1 mutation in a histone H3 wild-type diffuse pontine glioma, and an in-frame deletion within exon 2 of MAP2K1 in a low-grade astrocytic neoplasm.

Conclusions

Our experience demonstrates the significant impact of molecular profiling on diagnosis and treatment of pediatric brain tumors and confirms its feasibility for use at the time of diagnosis or recurrence.

MitraClip is an approved therapy for mitral regurgitation (MR); however, health care resource utilization pre- and post-MitraClip remains understudied.

METHODS

Patients with functional and degenerative MR at high surgical risk in the EVEREST II High-Risk Registry and REALISM Continued-Access Study were linked to Medicare data. Pre- and post-MitraClip all-cause death, stroke, myocardial infarction, heart failure (HF), and bleeding hospitalizations were identified. Inpatient costs, adjusted to 2010 US dollars, were calculated, and event rate ratios and cost ratios were estimated with multivariable modeling.

RESULTS

Among 403 linked patients, the mean age was 80 years, 60% were male, mean baseline left ventricular ejection fraction was 49.6%, 83.3% were New York Heart Association class III/IV, 78.2% were MR grade 3+/4+, and 63.3% had functional MR. All-cause hospitalization decreased from 1,854 to 1,435/1,000 person-years (P.001). HF hospitalization decreased following MitraClip (749 vs 332/1000 person-years, P.001), but bleeding increased (199 vs 298/1000 person-years, P.001). Changes in stroke and myocardial infarction were not statistically significant. Overall mean Medicare costs per patient were similar pre- and post-MitraClip, although there was a significant decrease in mean costs among those that survived a full year after MitraClip ($18,131 [SD $25,130] vs $11,679 [SD $22,486], P=.02).

CONCLUSIONS

MitraClip was associated with a reduced rate of all-cause and HF hospitalizations and an increased rate of bleeding hospitalizations. One-year Medicare costs were reduced in those who survived a full year after the MitraClip procedure. Payors and providers seeking to reduce HF hospitalizations and associated Medicare costs may consider MitraClip among appropriate patients likely to survive 1 year.

Objective

To examine encounter-level factors associated with opioid dose increases during patients' first year on opioid therapy for chronic pain.

Design

Case-control study analyzing all opioid prescriptions for patients with chronic pain during their first year after opioid initiation. Cases were patients who experienced an overall dose escalation of ≥ 30 mg morphine equivalents over the 1-year period; controls did not experience overall dose escalation. Main measures were encounter type, opioid dose change, documented prescribing rationale, documentation of guideline-concordant opioid-prescribing practices. Two coders reviewed all encounters associated with opioid prescriptions. Analysis of factors associated with dose increases and provider documentation of prescribing rationale was conducted using multiple logistic regression.

Results

There were 674 encounters coded for 66 patients (22 cases, 44 controls). Fifty-three percent of opioid prescriptions were associated with telephone encounters; 13% were associated with e-mail encounters. No prescribing rationale was documented for 43% of all opioid prescriptions and 25% of dose increases. Likelihood of dose increase and documentation of prescribing rationale did not significantly differ for cases versus controls. Compared with face-to-face encounters, dose increases were significantly less likely for telephone (OR 0.18, 95% CI 0.11-0.28) and e-mail (OR 0.23, 95% CI 0.12-0.47) encounters; documentation of prescribing rationale was significantly more likely for e-mail (OR 5.06, 95% CI 1.87-13.72) and less likely for telephone (OR 0.30, 95% CI 0.18-0.51) encounters.

Conclusion

Most opioid prescriptions were written without face-to-face encounters. One quarter of dose increases contained no documented prescribing rationale. Documented encounter-level factors were not significantly associated with overall opioid dose escalation.

PURPOSE

Early workplace learning experiences may be effective for learning systems-based practice. This study explores systems-oriented workplace learning experiences (SOWLEs) for early learners to suggest a framework for their development.

METHOD

The authors used a two-phase qualitative case study design. In Phase 1 (spring 2014), they prepared case write-ups based on transcribed interviews from 10 SOWLE leaders at the authors' institution and, through comparative analysis of cases, identified three SOWLE models. In Phase 2 (summer 2014), studying seven 8-week SOWLE pilots, the authors used interview and observational data collected from the seven participating medical students, two pharmacy students, and site leaders to construct case write-ups of each pilot and to verify and elaborate the models.

RESULTS

In Model 1, students performed specific patient care activities that addressed a system gap. Some site leaders helped students connect the activities to larger systems problems and potential improvements. In Model 2, students participated in predetermined systems improvement (SI) projects, gaining experience in the improvement process. Site leaders had experience in SI and often had significant roles in the projects. In Model 3, students worked with key stakeholders to develop a project and conduct a small test of change. They experienced most elements of an improvement cycle. Site leaders often had experience with SI and knew how to guide and support students' learning.

CONCLUSIONS

Each model could offer systems-oriented learning opportunities provided that key elements are in place including site leaders facile in SI concepts and able to guide students in SOWLE activities.

BACKGROUND

Faculty experts (FE) and crowd workers (CW) can assess technical skill, but assessment of operative technique has not been explored. We sought to evaluate if CW could be taught to assess completion of the critical view of safety (CVS) in laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

METHODS

We prepared 160 blinded, surgical videos of laparoscopic cholecystectomy from public domain websites. Videos were edited to ≤60 s, ending when a structure was cut/clipped. CW analyzed videos using Global Objective Assessment of Laparoscopic Skills (GOALS) and CVS criteria assessment tools after watching an instructional tutorial. Ten videos were randomly selected from each performance quartile based on GOALS. Five FE rated the 40 videos using GOALS and CVS. Linear mixed effects models derived average CW and FE ratings for GOALS and CVS for each video. Spearman correlation coefficients (SCC) were used to assess the degree of correlation between performance measures. Satisfactory completion of the CVS was defined as scoring an average CVS ≥ 5. Videos with an average GOALS ≥ 15 were considered top technical performers.

RESULTS

A high degree of correlation was seen between all performance measures: CVS ratings between CW and FE, SCC 0.89 (p  0.001); GOALS and CVS ratings SCC 0.77 (p  0.001) for CW, and SCC 0.71 (p  0.001) for FE. Sixteen videos were assigned top technical performer ratings by both CW and FE but the average CVS was inadequate (3.8 and 3.6, respectively), and the percentage of satisfactory CVS ≥ 5 was 12.5%.

CONCLUSIONS

A high degree of correlation was found between CW and FE in assessment of the CVS. However, in this video analysis, high technical performers did not achieve a complete CVS in most cases. Educating CW to assess operative technique for the identification of low or average performers is feasible and may broaden the application of this assessment and feedback tool.