ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Current European guidelines recommend both eversion carotid endarterectomy (CEA) and conventional CEA with routine patch closure, rather than routine primary closure. Polyester and polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE) have been used as patch material for a long time. More recently, bovine pericardium has been used; however, there are few studies comparing long term results between bovine pericardium and other patch types. The aim of this study was to investigate the short and long term results after CEA depending on surgical technique and patch material. METHODS: A registry based study on all primary CEAs (n = 9 205) performed for symptomatic carotid artery stenosis in Sweden from July 2008 to December 2019, cross linked with data from the Swedish stroke registry, Riksstroke, and chart review for evaluation of any events occurring during follow up. The primary endpoint was ipsilateral stroke < 30 days. Secondary endpoints included re-operations due to neck haematoma and < 30 day ipsilateral stroke, > 30 day ipsilateral stroke, all stroke > 30 days, and all cause mortality. RESULTS: 2 495 patients underwent eversion CEA and 6 710 conventional CEA for symptomatic carotid stenosis. The most commonly used patch material was Dacron (n = 3 921), followed by PTFE (n = 588) and bovine pericardium (n = 413). A total of 1 788 patients underwent conventional CEA with primary closure. Two hundred and seventy-three patients (3.0%) had a stroke < 30 days. Primary closure was associated with an increased risk of ipsilateral stroke and stroke or death <30 days: odds ratio 1.7 (95% confidence interval [CI] 1.2 - 2.4, p = .002); and 1.5 (95% CI 1.2 - 2.0), respectively. During follow up (median 4.2 years), 592 patients had any form of stroke and 1 492 died. There was no significant difference in long term risk of ipsilateral stroke, all stroke, or death depending on surgical technique or patch material. CONCLUSION: There was an increased risk of ipsilateral stroke < 30 days in patients operated on with primary closure compared with eversion CEA and patch angioplasty. There was no difference between primary closure, different patch types, or eversion after the peri-operative phase.
ABSTRACT
Community Health Workers (CHW) perform important healthcare and health promotion in many low and middle income countries. They are increasingly supported in their work by the use of mHealth. This study aims to explore how mHealth services can support the everyday work for CHWs when delivering home care in rural areas in South Africa. A single case study was performed, mapping CHWs workflow and investigating where and when CHW can be supported by mHealth services. Despite the very positive feedback from the CHWs and the fact that the studied mHealth solutions appears to support the majority of the important activities in the CHWs work process, the application is no longer in use. Financial and strategic decisions are behind the discontinuation of the project, further stressing the importance of taking all socio-technical dimensions into account when evaluating success or failure of implementation projects.
Subject(s)
Telemedicine , Workflow , Community Health Workers , Delivery of Health Care , Humans , South AfricaABSTRACT
With an ageing population and limited resources in healthcare, many high-income countries such as Sweden see an increase in homecare and mobile work for healthcare professionals. In this case study, we explore how mHealth services can support the everyday work for healthcare professionals when delivering home care in rural areas in Sweden. The studied mHealth application had failed to be adopted among district nurses, despite a great expressed need for mobile tools. The results indicate that the mHealth solution did not live up the healthcare professionals' expectations in terms of providing the same functions as the regular electronic health record systems, and with poor integration into the existing eco-system of eHealth applications. In conclusion, in order for a mHealth application to be successfully implemented in a context where many digital services are already in use, it is not enough to support important activities in the current workflow. The mHealth application will need to be carefully integrated into the existing eco-system of healthcare applications to increase the chances of adoption.
