A needs assessment of education research topics among surgical educators in the United States.

BACKGROUND: There are currently no courses that focus specifically on surgical education research. A needs assessment of surgical educators is required to best design these courses. METHODS: A cross-sectional survey-based study on all faculty members of the Association for Surgical Education was done to determine their education research needs. RESULTS: The overall response rate was 15% and the majority of the 78 respondents were physicians (63%) in their mid- to late career stage (65%). Participants thought research topics should be taught at an advanced level in a workshop format. Senior educators were less interested than junior educators in learning to create conceptual frameworks (p = 0.038) and presenting their research at national meetings (p = 0.014). CONCLUSIONS: Surgical educators desire more training in education research techniques that are taught in a workshop format at a national surgical education meeting. These workshops may lay the groundwork for a nationally recognized certificate in surgical education research.

Chronic allograft nephropathy score before sirolimus rescue predicts allograft function in renal transplant patients.

Chronic allograft nephropathy (CAN) is a major indication for initiation of sirolimus (SRL) in renal transplantation (TX) to prevent deterioration of renal function. We evaluated whether the CAN score at time of sirolimus rescue (SRL-R) predicts renal allograft function. CAN score is the sum of the following 4 categories: glomerulopathy (cg, 0-3), interstitial fibrosis (ci, 0-3), tubular atrophy (ct, 0-3), and vasculopathy (cv, 0-3). This is a retrospective cohort study of renal transplant recipients from July 2001 to March 2004. Immunosuppression consisted of preconditioning with rabbit anti-thymocyte globulin or alemtuzumab and maintenance with tacrolimus (TAC) monotherapy with spaced weaning, if applicable, SRL-R was achieved by conversion from TAC, or by addition to reduced doses of TAC. Ninety patients received SRL. Thirty-three of these patients met the inclusion criteria of the following: (1) receipt of SRL for >6 months, and (2) follow-up of > or =6 months. There were 16 patients in the low-CAN (0-4) group and 17 patients in the high-CAN (>4) group. Cockcroft-Gault (C-G) glomerular filtration rate (GFR) was calculated at SRL-R and at 1, 3, 6, and 12 months. The DeltaGFR was significantly better in the low-CAN group at 1, 3, and 6 months. A trend toward an improved DeltaGFR was present at 12 months in the low-CAN group (P = .16). CAN scoring at the time of SRL-R predicts recovery of renal allograft function (as measured using DeltaGFR), and should be used in preference to biochemical markers (Cr and C-G GFR), which may not be reliable predictors.

Acute appendicitis in a kidney-pancreas transplant recipient: report of a case.

The prompt diagnosis and management of acute surgical conditions in immunocompromised solid organ transplant recipients are of critical importance. These conditions may or may not be related or to the transplanted allograft(s). This is a case report of a 41-year-old woman who received a simultaneous pancreas-kidney transplant. Nine years after the transplant, she developed acute appendicitis with a periappendiceal abscess and a fecalith, and she was treated with percutaneous drainage of the abscess and eventual semielective appendectomy. This is the first known report of acute appendicitis in a pancreas allograft recipient in the English literature.