Recent Publications by CFE Educators

Aspergillus infection localized to the renal allograft is a rare and potentially life-threatening infection and typically requires a combination of operative and medical management. We report the case of a renal allograft aspergilloma in a renal transplant patient presenting 2 years post transplant, successfully managed non-surgically. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a patient presenting with an allograft aspergilloma so long after transplantation and being successfully managed with antifungal therapy alone.

PURPOSE

Subjective measures of success after urethroplasty have become increasingly valuable in postoperative monitoring. We examined patient reported satisfaction following anterior urethroplasty using objective measures as a proxy for success.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Men 18 years old or older with urethral strictures undergoing urethroplasty were prospectively enrolled in a longitudinal, multi-institutional urethroplasty outcomes database. Preoperative and postoperative assessment included questionnaires to assess lower urinary tract symptoms, pain, satisfaction and sexual health. Analyses controlling for stricture recurrence (defined as the inability to traverse the reconstructed urethra with a flexible cystoscope) were performed to determine independent predictors of dissatisfaction.

RESULTS

At a mean followup of 14 months we found a high 89.4% rate of overall postoperative satisfaction in 433 patients and a high 82.8% rate in those who would have chosen the operation again. Men with cystoscopic recurrence were more likely to report dissatisfaction (OR 4.96, 95% CI 2.07-11.90) and men reporting dissatisfaction had significantly worse uroflowmetry measures (each p 0.02). When controlling for recurrence, multivariate analysis revealed that urethra and bladder pain (OR 1.71, 95% CI 1.05-2.77 and OR 2.74, 95% CI 1.12-6.69, respectively), a postoperative decrease in sexual activity (OR 4.36, 95% CI 2.07-11.90) and persistent lower urinary tract symptoms (eg straining to urinate OR 3.23, 1.74-6.01) were independent predictors of dissatisfaction.

CONCLUSIONS

Overall satisfaction after anterior urethroplasty is high and traditional measures of surgical success strongly correlate with satisfaction. However, independently of the anatomical appearance of the reconstructed urethra, postoperative pain, sexual dysfunction and persistent lower urinary tract symptoms were predictors of patient dissatisfaction.

BACKGROUND

Osteomyelitis is not an uncommon emergency department diagnosis in pediatric patients, and most cases are in the lower extremities. Children can present with acute, subacute, or chronic erythema, pain, swelling, or decreased use of the extremity; some patients will also have fever or elevated serum inflammatory markers, or both.

CASE REPORT

We present the case of a healthy 5-year-old girl who presented to the emergency department with 3 weeks of painless chin swelling and 2 days of erythema and pain. While laboratory testing was normal, magnetic resonance imaging demonstrated osteomyelitis of the mandible, later confirmed by biopsy. After 4 weeks of intravenous antibiotics and an additional 2 weeks of oral antibiotics, the patient recovered completely without any residual findings. WHY SHOULD AN EMERGENCY PHYSICIAN BE AWARE OF THIS?: This case demonstrates that osteomyelitis can develop in previously healthy, fully vaccinated children with competent immune systems. Systemic findings (ie, fever and elevated serum inflammatory markers) may be absent, and osteomyelitis should always be considered in the differential diagnosis for a child presenting with subacute to chronic cutaneous findings without other clear explanation.

The US Multi-Society Task Force has developed updated recommendations to guide health care providers with the surveillance of patients after colorectal cancer (CRC) resection with curative intent. This document is based on a critical review of the literature regarding the role of colonoscopy, flexible sigmoidoscopy, endoscopic ultrasound, fecal testing and CT colonography in this setting. The document addresses the effect of surveillance, with focus on colonoscopy, on patient survival after CRC resection, the appropriate use and timing of colonoscopy for perioperative clearing and for postoperative prevention of metachronous CRC, specific considerations for the detection of local recurrence in the case of rectal cancer, as well as the place of CT colonography and fecal tests in post-CRC surveillance.

The US Multi-Society Task Force has developed updated recommendations to guide health care providers with the surveillance of patients after colorectal cancer (CRC) resection with curative intent. This document is based on a critical review of the literature regarding the role of colonoscopy, flexible sigmoidoscopy, endoscopic ultrasound, fecal testing and CT colonography in this setting. The document addresses the effect of surveillance, with focus on colonoscopy, on patient survival after CRC resection, the appropriate use and timing of colonoscopy for perioperative clearing and for postoperative prevention of metachronous CRC, specific considerations for the detection of local recurrence in the case of rectal cancer, as well as the place of CT colonography and fecal tests in post-CRC surveillance.

OBJECTIVE

To critically evaluate the use of uroflowmetry (UF) in a large urethral stricture disease cohort as a means to monitor for stricture recurrence.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

This study included men that underwent anterior urethroplasty and completed a study-specific follow-up protocol. Pre- and postoperative UF studies of men found to have cystoscopic recurrence were compared to UF studies from successful repairs. UF components of interest included maximum flow rate (Qm), average flow rate (Qa), and voided volume, in addition to the novel post-UF calculated value of Qm minus Qa (Qm-Qa). Area under the receiver operating characteristic curves (AUC) of individual UF parameters was compared.

RESULTS

Qm-Qa had the highest AUC (0.8295) followed by Qm (0.8241). UF performed significantly better in men ≤40 with an AUC of 0.9324 and 0.9224 for Qm-Qa and Qm respectively, as compared to 0.7484 and 0.7661 in men >40. Importantly, of men found to have anatomic recurrences, only 41% had a Qm of ≤15 mL/s at time of diagnostic cystoscopy, whereas over 83% were found to have a Qm-Qa of ≤10 mL/s.

CONCLUSION

Qm rate alone may not be sensitive enough to replace cystoscopy when screening for stricture recurrence in all patients, especially in younger men where baseline flow rates are higher. Qm-Qa is a novel calculated UF measure that appears to be more sensitive than Qm when using UF to screen for recurrence, as it may be a better numerical representation of the shape of the voiding curve.

INTRODUCTION

Previous studies on the identity development and motivation of faculty developers have occurred with seasoned developers in a research-rich environment. We sought to determine if the findings of those studies could be replicated with novice faculty developers in a resource-constrained environment.

METHODS

We interviewed 15 novice faculty developers from Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) who, at the time, had led faculty development activities for no more than two years. We conducted a qualitative analysis sensitized by the previous findings.

RESULTS

Results were very similar to the previous work. The developers described compartmentalized, hierarchical, and merged identities. The impact was on their teaching as well as on others at MUHAS and on the institution itself. The motivations related to mastery, purpose, duty, satisfaction, and relatedness.

CONCLUSION

This replication led us to conclude that identity development as a faculty developer occurs even in novice developers who do faculty development as only part of their work and despite constrained resources and a different culture. These developers find the work richly rewarding and their motivations benefit the institution. This body of research highlights how faculty development provides benefits to the institution as well as engaging career opportunities.

BACKGROUND

While an increased risk of thyroid cancer from post-Chernobyl exposure to Iodine-131 (I-131) in children and adolescents has been well-documented, risks of other cancers or leukemia as a result of residence in radioactively contaminated areas remain uncertain.

METHODS

We studied non-thyroid cancer incidence in a cohort of about 12,000 individuals from Belarus exposed under age of 18 years to Chernobyl fallout (median age at the time of Chernobyl accident of 7.9 years). During 15 years of follow-up from1997 through 2011, 54 incident cancers excluding thyroid were identified in the study cohort with 142,968 person-years at risk. We performed Standardized Incidence Ratio (SIR) analysis of all solid cancers excluding thyroid (n=42), of leukemia (n=6) and of lymphoma (n=6).

RESULTS

We found no significant increase in the incidence of non-thyroid solid cancer (SIR=0.83, 95% Confidence Interval [CI]: 0.61; 1.11), lymphoma (SIR=0.66, 95% CI: 0.26; 1.33) or leukemia (SIR=1.78, 95% CI: 0.71; 3.61) in the study cohort as compared with the sex-, age- and calendar-time-specific national rates. These findings may in part reflect the relatively young age of study subjects (median attained age of 33.4 years), and long latency for some radiation-related solid cancers.

CONCLUSIONS

We found no evidence of statistically significant increases in solid cancer, lymphoma and leukemia incidence 25 years after childhood exposure in the study cohort; however, it is important to continue follow-up non-thyroid cancers in individuals exposed to low-level radiation at radiosensitive ages.