Etzioni, David A.

BACKGROUND: Acute diverticulitis in immunocompromised patients is associated with high morbidity and mortality rates with either medical or surgical treatment. Thus, management approach is controversial, especially for patients presenting with nonperforated disease. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to report the Mayo clinic experience of acute diverticulitis management in immunocompromised patients. DESIGN: This design is based on a retrospective cohort study. SETTING: This study was conducted with institutional data composed from 3 tertiary referral centers. PATIENTS: Immunocompromised patients presenting with acute diverticulitis at 3 Mayo clinic sites between 2016 and 2020 were included. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: The main outcome measures were the management algorithm and short-term outcomes. RESULTS: Immunocompromised patients presenting with acute uncomplicated diverticulitis (86) were all managed nonoperatively at presentation with a success rate of 93% (80/86). Two patients (2.3%, 2/86) required surgery during the same admission, and 4 patients (4.8%, 4/84) had 30-day readmission. Complicated diverticulitis patients with abscess (22) were all managed nonoperatively first with a success rate of 95.4% (21/22). One patient (4.6%, 1/22) required surgery during the same admission. All the patients who presented with obstruction (2), fistula (1), or free perforation (11) underwent surgery except one who chose hospice. Overall, the major complication rate was 50% (8/16) and mortality rate was 18.8% (3/16) among patients who underwent surgery during the same admission. For patients who presented with perforated diverticulitis, the mortality rate was 27.3% (3/11), compared with 0% (0/111) for patients who presented with nonperforated disease. LIMITATIONS: This cohort was limited by its retrospective nature and heterogeneity of the patient population. CONCLUSIONS: Nonoperative management was safe and feasible for immunocompromised patients with colonic diverticulitis without perforation at our center. Perforated colonic diverticulitis in immunocompromised patients was associated with high morbidity and mortality rate. See Video Abstract at http://links.lww.com/DCR/B988. MANEJO DE LA DIVERTICULITIS AGUDA EN PACIENTES INMUNOCOMPROMETIDOS: EXPERIENCIA DE LA CLINICA MAYO ANTECEDENTES: La diverticulitis aguda en pacientes inmunocomprometidos se asocia con una alta tasa de morbilidad y mortalidad con el tratamiento médico o quirúrgico. Por lo tanto, el enfoque de manejo es controvertido, especialmente para pacientes que presentan enfermedad no perforada. OBJETIVO: El propósito fue informar la experiencia de la clínica Mayo en el manejo de la diverticulitis aguda en pacientes inmunocomprometidos. DISEÑO: Este es un estudio de cohorte retrospectivo ENTORNO CLÍNICO: Este estudio se realizó con datos institucionales compuestos de tres centros de referencia terciarios. PACIENTES: Se incluyeron pacientes inmunocomprometidos que presentaron diverticulitis aguda en tres sitios de la clínica Mayo entre 2016 y 2020. RESULTADO PRINCIPAL: Algoritmo de gestión y resultados a corto plazo. RESULTADOS: Los pacientes inmunocomprometidos que presentaban diverticulitis aguda no complicada (86) fueron tratados de forma no quirúrgica en la presentación inicial con una tasa de éxito del 93 % (80/86). Dos pacientes (2,3%, 2/86) requirieron cirugía durante el mismo ingreso y cuatro pacientes (4,8%, 4/84) tuvieron reingreso a los 30 días. Todos los pacientes con diverticulitis complicada con absceso (22) fueron tratados primero de forma no quirúrgica con una tasa de éxito del 95,4 % (21/22). Un paciente (4,6%, 1/22) requirió cirugía durante el mismo ingreso. Todos los pacientes que presentaron obstrucción (2), fístula (1) o perforación libre (11) fueron intervenidos excepto uno que optó por hospicio. La tasa global de complicaciones mayores fue del 50 % (8/16) y la tasa de mortalidad fue del 18,8 % (3/16) entre los pacientes que se sometieron a cirugía durante el mismo ingreso. Para los pacientes que presentaban diverticulitis perforada, la tasa de mortalidad fue del 27,3 % (3/11), en comparación con el 0 % (0/111) de los pacientes que presentaban enfermedad no perforada. LIMITACIONES: Esta cohorte estuvo limitada por su naturaleza retrospectiva y la heterogeneidad de la población de pacientes. CoNCLUSIÓNES: El manejo no quirúrgico fue seguro y factible para pacientes inmunocomprometidos con diverticulitis colónica sin perforación en nuestro centro. La diverticulitis colónica perforada en pacientes inmunocomprometidos se asoció con una alta tasa de morbilidad y mortalidad. Consulte Video Resumen en http://links.lww.com/DCR/B988. (Traducción— Dr. Ingrid Melo)

9034 Background: Routine imaging for staging of early stage cutaneous melanoma is not recommended by National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) guidelines. Besides the low probability of finding metastatic disease, detrimental aspects include false-positives and additive cost. We sought to investigate the use of imaging for staging of cutaneous melanoma in the United States. Methods: Patients with newly diagnosed clinically node negative cutaneous melanoma between 2000-2007 were identified from the Surveillance Epidemiology End Results-Medicare registry. Any imaging performed within 90 days following diagnosis was considered a staging study. Patients with metastatic disease were excluded. Results: A total of 25,643 patients were identified, of whom 10,775 (42%) underwent imaging. The mean age was 76.1 years, with the majority being male (61.8%) and Caucasian (98.4%). Breakdown by T classification of the primary was as follows: T1 (63%), T2 (17%), T3 (12%), and T4 (8%). A chest Xray was performed for 9,737 (38.0%), while 3,176 (12.4%) underwent advanced staging imaging studies; PET (7.2%), CT (5.9%), MRI (0.6%), and Ultrasound (0.4%). The use of advanced imaging steadily increased over the period of our study from 9.0% in 2000 to 16.3% in 2007 (p<0.001). When stratified by T classification, advanced imaging was used for 8.9% of T1, 14.5% of T2, 18.8% of T3 and 27.0% of T4 tumors (p<0.001). Similarly, node positive patients (4.7%) underwent advanced imaging 33.4% of the time compared to 11.3% for node negative patients (p<0.001). On multivariate analysis, factors predictive of advanced imaging include higher T classification (OR 3.12 T4 vs. T1, CI 2.77-3.52, p<0.001), node positivity (OR 2.70, CI 2.36-3.09, p<0.001), more recent year of diagnosis (OR 2.01 2007 vs. 2000, CI 1.71-2.37, p=0.006), high school education (OR 1.62, CI 1.43-1.83, p<0.001), non-Caucasian race (OR 1.37, CI 1.05-1.77, p=0.018), and male gender (OR 1.12, CI 1.03-1.21, p=0.006). Conclusions: Contrary to current recommendations, performance of advanced imaging for staging of early stage cutaneous melanoma is increasing in the Medicare population. Further research is needed to identify factors driving this increase.

Objective: To characterize agreement between administrative and registry data in the determination of patient-level comorbidities. Background: Previous research finds poor agreement between these 2 types of data in the determination of outcomes. We hypothesized that concordance between administrative and registry data would also be poor. Methods: A cohort of inpatient operations (length of stay 1 day or greater) was obtained from a consortium of 8 hospitals. Within each hospital, National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) data were merged with intra-institutional inpatient administrative data. Twelve different comorbidities (diabetes, hypertension, congestive heart failure, hemodialysis-dependence, cancer diagnosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, ascites, sepsis, smoking, steroid, congestive heart failure, acute renal failure, and dyspnea) were analyzed in terms of agreement between administrative and NSQIP data. Results: Forty-one thousand four hundred thirty-two inpatient surgical hospitalizations were analyzed in this study. Concordance (Cohen Kappa value) between the 2 data sources varied from 0.79 (diabetes) to 0.02 (dyspnea). Hospital variation in concordance (intersite variation) was quantified using a test of homogeneity. This test found significant intersite variation at a level of P < 0.001 for each of the comorbidities except for dialysis (P = 0.07) and acute renal failure (P = 0.19). These findings imply significant differences between hospitals in their generation of comorbidity data. Conclusion: This study finds significant differences in how administrative versus registry data assess patient-level comorbidity. These differences are of concern to patients, payers, and providers, each of which had a stake in the integrity of these data. Standardized definitions of comorbidity and periodic audits are necessary to ensure data accuracy and minimize bias.

Objective: To characterize agreement in the ascertainment of surgical site infections (SSIs) between the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP), National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN), and administrative data. Background: The NSQIP, NHSN, and administrative data are the primary systems used to monitor and report SSIs for the purpose of quality control and benchmarking of hospitals and surgeons. These systems have different methods for identifying SSIs. Methods: We queried the NHSN, NSQIP, and administrative data systems for patients who had an operation at 1 of 4 hospitals within a single health system between January 2013 and September 2015. The detection of an SSI during a postoperative hospitalization was the outcome of analysis. Any SSI detected by one (or more) of these systems was analyzed by 2 reviewers to determine the presence of discrete elements of documentation constituting evidence of SSI. Concordance between the 3 systems (NHSN, NSQIP, and administrative data) was analyzed using Cohen's kappa. Results: After application of appropriate exclusion criteria, a cohort of 9447 inpatient operations was analyzed. In total, 130 SSIs were detected by 1 or more of the 3 systems, with reported SSI rates of 0.5% (NHSN), 0.7% (administrative data), and 1.0% (NSQIP). Of these 130 SSIs, only 17 SSIs were reported by all 3 systems. The concordance between these 3 systems was moderate (kappa values NSQIP-NHSN = 0.50 [0.40–0.60], administrative-NHSN = 0.36 [0.24–0.47], and administrative-NSQIP = 0.47 [0.38–0.57]). Chart review found that reasons for discordance were related to issues of different criteria as well as inaccuracies. Conclusion: There is significant discordance in the determination of SSIs reported by the NHSN, NSQIP, and administrative data. The differences and limitations of each of these systems have to be recognized, especially when using these data for quality reports and pay for performance.

131 Background: Research demonstrating a volume-outcome relationship has resulted in regionalization of complex cancer surgery to high volume hospitals. A simultaneous national trend towards improved surgical outcomes brings into question whether the potential benefits of regionalization are still relevant. We hypothesize that the difference in adjusted post-operative mortality between low and high volume hospitals has decreased over time. Methods: The National Cancer Database (NCDB) was used to identify patients with colon, esophageal, and pancreatic cancer undergoing curative intent surgery from 2003-2011. Hospitals were divided into low ( < 25th percentile), medium (25th-75th) and high ( > 75thpercentile) volume groups depending on annual volume of cancer-specific surgery. Year-specific hospital averaged observed/expected (O/E) ratios were calculated for 90-day mortality. Poisson regression was used to model hospital averaged O/E ratios over time. Results: Our study population included 343,929 patients with colon (88%), esophageal (5%) and pancreatic (7%) cancer. There were significant (p < 0.05) improvements in adjusted 90-day mortality from 2003 and 2011 for all volume categories and cancer types, except in high volume hospitals for esophageal cancer. In 2003, high volume hospitals had significantly better outcomes compared to low volume hospitals for all cancer types, as suggested by lower O/E ratios for 90 day mortality (p < 0.05). However, by 2011 the difference in O/E ratios for 90 day mortality was no longer significantly lower for high compared to low volume hospitals (p > 0.05); this was true for all three cancer types (Figure1). Conclusions: During the period of our study, 90-day mortality following gastrointestinal cancer surgery improved in low, medium and high volume hospitals. However, by 2011 the difference in adjusted post-operative mortality between low and high volume hospitals was not significantly different, likely due to global improvements in operative and peri-operative care. This attenuation of the volume-outcome curve has important implications for policy pertaining to regionalization of cancer care in the US.

Background Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is an important driver of mortality after kidney transplantation. Its broader impact on posttransplant health care utilization in US hospitals is unknown. Methods We used administrative claims data from the Nationwide Inpatient Sample and the American Hospital Association Annual Survey to identify hospitalizations for kidney transplant patients with a cardiovascular diagnosis from 2005 to 2011. CVD hospitalizations were stratified by transplant hospital status to characterize patterns in inpatient health care utilization and outcomes. Based on these analyses, the domestic burden of treatment for posttransplant CVD (myocardial infarction, stroke, congestive heart failure, dysrhythmia, cardiac arrest, malignant hypertension) was estimated. Results The total domestic burden of post-kidney transplant hospitalization between 2005 and 2011 is estimated at 389 138 of which 26.5% of episodes were related to CVD (n = 103 118). CVD was responsible for a growing proportion of post-transplant hospitalizations over time (24.4%-30.4%, P < 0.001). Compared with nontransplant hospitals, transplant hospitals had similar length of stay (median length of stay, 3.7 days), higher median costs per hospitalization (US $10 364 vs US $8606, overall US $9324), and lower adjusted mortality (3.2% vs 3.9%, overall 3.6%; P = 0.003). Conclusions Inpatient CVD care is increasing over time for kidney transplant patients, accounting for 30% of all post-transplant hospitalizations. Variation exists in the inpatient care, outcomes, and costs between by hospital type. Further studies are needed to better understand the mechanisms behind these phenomena.

AbstractAimSurgery aims to prevent cancer‐related morbidity for patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) associated dysplasia. The literature varies widely regarding the likelihood of dysplastic progression to higher grades of dysplasia or cancer. The aim of this study was to characterize the likelihood of the development of colorectal cancer (CRC) of patients with UC‐associated dysplasia who chose to defer surgery.MethodA retrospective review was carried out of patients undergoing surgery for UC at the Mayo Clinic, who were diagnosed to have dysplasia between August 1993 and July 2012. The relationships between grade of dysplasia, time to surgery and the detection of unsuspected carcinoma were investigated.ResultsIn all, 175 patients underwent surgery at a median of 4.9 (interquartile range 2.5–8.9) months after a diagnosis of dysplasia. Their median age was 52 (interquartile range 43−59) years. An initial diagnosis of indeterminate dysplasia was not associated with CRC [0/23; 17.7 (8.1−29.6) months]. Thirty‐six patients who had an initial diagnosis of dysplasia progressed from indeterminate to low‐grade dysplasia [24.2 (11.0−30.4) months]. Low‐grade dysplasia was associated with a 2% (1/56; T2N0M0) risk of CRC when present in random surveillance biopsies and a 3% (2/61; T1N0M0, T4N0M0) risk if detected in endoscopically visible lesions [7.4 (5.2−33.3) months]. Eighteen patients progressed from indeterminate to high‐grade dysplasia [19.1 (9.2−133.9) months]. Seventeen patients progressed from low to high‐grade dysplasia [11.0 (5.8−30.1) months]. None of the patients with high‐grade dysplasia (0/35) progressed to CRC [4.5 (1.7−9.9) months].ConclusionDysplasia was associated with a low incidence of node negative CRC if surgery was deferred for up to 5 years. These findings may help inform the decision‐making process for asymptomatic patients who are having to decide between intensive surveillance or surgery for UC‐associated dysplasia.