Physical Medicine Rehabilitation Consults and 30 Day Readmissions: A Retrospective Chart Review

Cardiovascular disease is a common comorbidity associated with an aging population. However, there is a unique group of individuals whose age-defying qualities are still being investigated. This retrospective chart review analyzed various cardiac and metabolic health parameters to characterize the prevalence of heart failure and metabolic derangements in individuals aged 90 years old or older in central Arkansas. Only 236 of the 291 patients in our study cohort had blood pressures recorded. Of these, 50% had systolic blood pressures ≥140 mmHg. Additionally, 77% had pulse pressures ≥50 mmHg. Of the 96 patients with BNP data, 44% had values ≥300 pg/mL. There was a slight positive correlation between aging and HDL cholesterol, while there was a negative correlation between aging and both total cholesterol and LDL cholesterol. A majority of our patients had both elevated systolic blood pressures and elevated pulse pressures. A majority also had high BNP values, indicative of some degree of heart failure. Additionally, atrial fibrillation was a common arrhythmia identified on EKG. However, these oldest of the old patients had fewer documented metabolic derangements. These findings lay important groundwork for further investigation into lifestyle and genetic components that allow them to live exceptionally long with such comorbidities.

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Esophageal dysmotility and lung disease in patients with systemic sclerosis: is there a possible association or correlation? A retrospective chart review

Rheumatology International ◽

10.1007/s00296-021-04880-w ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Navya Kuchipudi ◽

Shweta Kishore ◽

Chia-Ling Kuo ◽

Santhanam Lakshminarayanan ◽

Ranadeep Mandhadi

Keyword(s):

Systemic Sclerosis ◽

Lung Disease ◽

Chart Review ◽

Retrospective Chart Review ◽

Esophageal Dysmotility

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Harnessing the Chaplain’s Capacity to Identify Unmet Palliative Needs of Vulnerable Older Adults in the Emergency Department

Journal of Palliative Care ◽

10.1177/08258597211003359 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 082585972110033

Author(s):

Elizabeth Hamill Howard ◽

Rachel Schwartz ◽

Bruce Feldstein ◽

Marita Grudzen ◽

Lori Klein ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Emergency Department ◽

Palliative Care ◽

End Of Life Care ◽

Older Patients ◽

Chart Review ◽

Retrospective Chart Review ◽

Life Care ◽

Emergency Medicine Physician ◽

Medicine Physician ◽

One Year

Objective: To explore chaplains’ ability to identify unmet palliative care (PC) needs in older emergency department (ED) patients. Methods: A palliative chaplain-fellow conducted a retrospective chart review evaluating 580 ED patients, age ≥80 using the Palliative Care and Rapid Emergency Screening (P-CaRES) tool. An emergency medicine physician and chaplain-fellow screened 10% of these charts to provide a clinical assessment. One year post-study, charts were re-examined to identify which patients received PC consultation (PCC) or died, providing an objective metric for comparing predicted needs with services received. Results: Within one year of ED presentation, 31% of the patient sub-sample received PCC; 17% died. Forty percent of deceased patients did not receive PCC. Of this 40%, chaplain screening for P-CaRES eligibility correctly identified 75% of the deceased as needing PCC. Conclusion: Establishing chaplain-led PC screenings as standard practice in the ED setting may improve end-of-life care for older patients.

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Real-life use of talimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC) in melanoma patients in centers in Austria, Switzerland and Germany

Journal for ImmunoTherapy of Cancer ◽

10.1136/jitc-2020-001701 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 9 (2) ◽

pp. e001701

Author(s):

Julia Maria Ressler ◽

Matthias Karasek ◽

Lukas Koch ◽

Rita Silmbrod ◽

Joanna Mangana ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Chart Review ◽

Progressive Disease ◽

Overall Response Rate ◽

Real Life ◽

Retrospective Chart Review ◽

Distant Metastases ◽

Complete Response ◽

Talimogene Laherparepvec ◽

Metastatic Lesions ◽

Melanoma Patients

BackgroundTalimogene laherparepvec (T-VEC) is a licensed therapy for use in melanoma patients of stage IIIB-IVM1a with injectable, unresectable metastatic lesions in Europe. Approval was based on the Oncovex Pivotal Trial in Melanoma study, which also included patients with distant metastases and demonstrated an overall response rate (ORR) of 40.5% and a complete response (CR) rate of 16.6%.ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to assess the outcome of melanoma patients treated with T-VEC in a real-life clinical setting.MethodsBased on data from 10 melanoma centers in Austria, Switzerland and southern Germany, we conducted a retrospective chart review, which included 88 patients (44 male, 44 female) with a median age of 72 years (range 36–95 years) treated with T-VEC during the period from May 2016 to January 2020.Results88 patients fulfilled the inclusion criteria for analysis. The ORR was 63.7%. 38 patients (43.2%) showed a CR, 18 (20.5%) had a partial response, 8 (9.1%) had stable disease and 24 (27.3%) patients had a progressive disease. The median treatment period was 19 weeks (range: 1–65), an average of 11 doses (range: 1–36) were applied. 39 (45.3%) patients developed adverse events, mostly mild, grade I (64.1%).ConclusionThis real-life cohort treatment with T-VEC showed a high ORR and a large number of durable CRs.

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Comparative Morbidity Profile of Elective vs Therapeutic Neck Dissection

Otolaryngology ◽

10.1177/01945998211008915 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 019459982110089

Author(s):

Quinn Dunlap ◽

James Reed Gardner ◽

Amanda Ederle ◽

Deanne King ◽

Maya Merriweather ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Neck Dissection ◽

Surgical Complications ◽

Chart Review ◽

Care Center ◽

Tertiary Care ◽

Retrospective Chart Review ◽

Neck Surgery ◽

Continuous Variables ◽

Significant Difference ◽

History Of

Objective Neck dissection (ND) is one of the most commonly performed procedures in head and neck surgery. We sought to compare the morbidity of elective ND (END) versus therapeutic ND (TND). Study Design Retrospective chart review. Setting Academic tertiary care center. Methods Retrospective chart review of 373 NDs performed from January 2015 to December 2018. Patients with radical ND or inadequate chart documentation were excluded. Demographics, clinicopathologic data, complications, and sacrificed structures during ND were retrieved. Statistical analysis was performed with χ2 and analysis of variance for comparison of categorical and continuous variables, respectively, with statistical alpha set a 0.05. Results Patients examined consisted of 224 males (60%) with a mean age of 60 years. TND accounted for 79% (n = 296) as compared with 21% (n = 77) for END. Other than a significantly higher history of radiation (37% vs 7%, P < .001) and endocrine pathology (34% vs 2.6%, P < .001) in the TND group, no significant differences in demographics were found between the therapeutic and elective groups. A significantly higher rate of structure sacrifice and extranodal extension within the TND group was noted to hold in overall and subgroup comparisons. No significant difference in rate of surgical complications was appreciated between groups in overall or subgroup analysis. Conclusion While the significantly higher rate of structure sacrifice among the TND population represents an increased morbidity profile in these patients, no significant difference was found in the rate of surgical complications between groups. The significant difference seen between groups regarding history of radiation and endocrine pathology likely represents selection bias.

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