Decreasing the Risk for Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 During In-Person Visitation Within a State Prison System.

To decrease the introduction of COVID-19, in-person visitation programs were temporarily limited at California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation facilities. After consultation with the California Department of Public Health, and in accordance with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines, in-person visitation was reintroduced on April 10, 2021, with COVID-19 mitigation strategies. To assess the risk of visitation as a mode of entry for COVID-19 into a prison setting, data were gathered demonstrating the number of visitors who were not allowed into the prison due to a positive COVID-19 test prior to visitation. The number of patients who tested positive for COVID-19 after interaction with visitors was also assessed. Between April 10 and June 27, 2021, 33,212 visitors participated in the in-person visiting program. Eight visitors received positive test results prior to entry. Between January 1 and October 1, 2021, 19,025 patients received a total of 93,135 visitations. Of these, 66 patients received positive test results from post-visit testing. These data suggest that when appropriate mitigation strategies are implemented, the visitation process is not a significant contributor to COVID-19 entry into the prison facility when compared with the total number of COVID-19 cases among patients.

Ultrasound diagnosis of molar pregnancy.

INTRODUCTION: The primary aims of this study were to establish what proportion of ultrasonically suspected molar pregnancies were proven on histological examination and what proportion of histologically diagnosed molar pregnancies were identified by ultrasound pre-operatively. The secondary aim was to review the features of these scans to help identify criteria that may improve ultrasound diagnosis. METHODS: This was a retrospective observational study conducted in the Early Pregnancy Unit at King's College Hospital London over an 11-year period. Cases of ultrasonically suspected molar pregnancy or other gestational trophoblastic disease were identified and compared with the final histopathological diagnosis. In addition, cases which were diagnosed on histopathology that were not suspected on ultrasound were also examined. In discrepant cases, the images were reviewed unblinded by two senior sonographers. Statistical analysis for likelihood ratio and post-test probabilities was performed. RESULTS: One hundred eighty-two women had gestational trophoblastic disease suspected on ultrasound examination (1:360, 0.3%); 106/182 (58.2%, 95% CI 51.0 to 65.2%) had histologically confirmed gestational trophoblastic disease. The likelihood ratio for gestational trophoblastic disease after a positive ultrasound was 607.27, with a post-test probability of 0.628.The sensitivity of ultrasound for gestational trophoblastic disease was 70.7% (95% CI 62.9% to 77.4%) with an estimated specificity of 99.88% (95% CI 99.85% to 99.91%); 102/143 (71.3%, 95% CI 63.4 to 78.1%) molar pregnancies were suspected on pre-op ultrasound; 60/68 (88.2%, 95% CI 78.2 to 94.2%) of complete moles were suspected on pre-op ultrasound, compared with 42/75 (56.0%, 95% CI 44.7 to 66.7%) of partial moles. On retrospective review of the pre-op ultrasound images, there were cases that could have been suspected prior to surgery. CONCLUSION: Detecting molar pregnancy by ultrasound remains a diagnostic challenge, particularly for partial moles. These data suggest that there has been an increase in both the predictive value and the sensitivity of ultrasound over time, with a high LR and post-test probability; however, the diagnostic criteria remain ill-defined and could be improved.

Sequential adjuvant chemotherapy and radiotherapy in endometrial cancer--results from two randomised studies.

INTRODUCTION: Endometrial cancer patients with high grade tumours, deep myometrial invasion or advanced stage disease have a poor prognosis. Randomised studies have demonstrated the prevention of loco-regional relapses with radiotherapy (RT) with no effect on overall survival (OS). The possible additive effect of chemotherapy (CT) remains unclear. Two randomised clinical trials (NSGO-EC-9501/EORTC-55991 and MaNGO ILIADE-III) were undertaken to clarify if sequential combination of chemotherapy and radiotherapy improves progression-free survival (PFS) in high-risk endometrial cancer. The two studies were pooled. METHODS: Patients (n=540; 534 evaluable) with operated endometrial cancer International Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (FIGO) stage I-III with no residual tumour and prognostic factors implying high-risk were randomly allocated to adjuvant radiotherapy with or without sequential chemotherapy. RESULTS: In the NSGO/EORTC study, the combined modality treatment was associated with 36% reduction in the risk for relapse or death (hazard ratio (HR) 0.64, 95%confidence interval (CI) 0.41-0.99; P=0.04); two-sided tests were used. The result from the Gynaecologic Oncology group at the Mario Negri Institute (MaNGO)-study pointed in the same direction (HR 0.61), but was not significant. In the combined analysis, the estimate of risk for relapse or death was similar but with narrower confidence limits (HR 0.63, CI 0.44-0.89; P=0.009). Neither study showed significant differences in the overall survival. In the combined analysis, overall survival approached statistical significance (HR 0.69, CI 0.46-1.03; P=0.07) and cancer-specific survival (CSS) was significant (HR 0.55, CI 0.35-0.88; P=0.01). CONCLUSION: Addition of adjuvant chemotherapy to radiation improves progression-free survival in operated endometrial cancer patients with no residual tumour and a high-risk profile. A remaining question for future studies is if addition of radiotherapy to chemotherapy improves the results.