Medicine
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Observational Study
Influence of patient and provider factors on the workload of on-call physicians: A general internal medicine cohort observational study.
Factors associated with the physician workload are scarcely reported. The study aims to investigate the associated factors of on-call physician workload based on a published conceptual framework. The study was conducted in a general internal medicine unit of National Taiwan University Hospital. ⋯ On-call physician workload is associated with patient factors and the training of nurses. Number of unstable patients in a shift may be considered in predicting workload. The training of nurses may improve patient safety and decrease demand for clinical procedure.
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Observational Study
Cerebral infarct volume measurements to improve patient selection for endovascular treatment.
Patients who have large cerebral infarctions may not be good candidates for endovascular treatment. Various methods for determining infarct volume have been used in clinical studies. We evaluated the effectiveness of several methods for measuring infarct volume, especially regarding futile outcomes despite endovascular treatment. ⋯ Regarding prediction of futile outcomes, area under ROC curve was 0.551 on NCCT ASPECTS and it was significantly smaller than that in PCCT ASPECTS (area under ROC 0.651, P = 0.030), DWI ASPECTS (0.733, P = 0.003), DWI stroke volume (0.702, P = 0.022), and infarct core volume (0.702, P = 0.021). Besides old age and high National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale score on admission, MRI parameters such as DWI ASPECTS and infarct core volume indicating large volumes were independently associated with futile outcomes in multivariable analyses. DWI ASPECTS can be a good parameter predicting futility, which is easily measured and has high prediction power.
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Chronic postsurgical pain (CPSP) is an important clinic problem. It is assessed that prevalence of chronic pain extends to 30% but it is contended that there are various risk factors. We aimed to evaluate the prevalence of chronic pain after hysterectomy, risk factors of chronicity, neuropathic features of pain, and sensorial alterations at surgery area. ⋯ Neuropathic symptoms were observed in 90 patients (96.8%). Sensorial alterations as hypoesthesia and hyperesthesia were detected around abdominal scar in 18 patients (19.4%) with pinprick test. Neuropathic symptoms should not be ignored in studies evaluating CPSP and a standard methodology should be designed for studies in this topic.
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Advanced melanoma is an incurable disease with complex and expensive treatments. The best approach to prevent melanoma at advanced stages is an early diagnosis. A knowledge of factors associated with the process of detecting cutaneous melanomas and the reasons for delays in diagnosis is essential for the improvement of the secondary prevention of the disease. ⋯ Improper treatments without a histopathological confirmation occurred in 14.7% of patients. A professional delay was related to both inappropriate treatments performed without histopathological confirmation (P = 0.003) and long requirements for medical referrals (P < 0.001). A deficient knowledge in the population regarding melanoma and physicians' misdiagnoses regarding suspicious lesions contributed to delays in diagnosis.
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Solid pseudopapillary neoplasms (SPNs) of the pancreas are uncommon neoplasms and are potentially malignant. Complete resection is advised due to rare recurrence and metastasis. Duodenum-preserving pancreatic head resection (DPPHR) is indicated for SPNs located in the pancreatic head and is only performed using the open approach. To the best of our knowledge, there are no reports describing laparoscopic DPPHR (LDPPHR) for SPNs. ⋯ LDPPHR is a safe, feasible, and effective surgical procedure for SPNs.