[Experience in measuring the quality of treatment in interventional pain therapy : The Activity Index on a touchscreen PC]. / Erfahrungen bei der Messung der Ergebnisqualität in der interventionellen Schmerztherapie : Der Activity Index auf einem Touchscreen-PC.

BACKGROUND: There is a growing interest in patient-related outcome measurement. In this field questionnaires on touch screens are becoming more common. This study was designed to identify problems in usability and feasibility of a web-based questionnaire. STUDY PARTICIPANTS AND METHODS: Patients who underwent a lumbar infiltration were recruited in 5 centers and 50 patients participated of which half were older than 62 years. One third of the patients had basically no former experience with computers or touch screens. The outcome was assessed before treatment and during follow-up on a simple web-based patient questionnaire, the Activity Index. Results were presented graphically and discussed during consultation. Patients, nurses and doctors were asked for standardized feedback. RESULTS: Of the patients 84% completed the questionnaire in up to 6 min. An adapted form of the system usability scale (SUS) achieved an acceptance score of 71.8%. Problems in handling occurred mostly in older patients (>65 years). The system was scored with 72.9% and 78.5% in efficiency and handling, respectively, by the nurses. The attending physicians rated the usefulness and comprehensibility of the graphical representation of the results on average as 83.3% and both were scored neutral to positive; however, an average of 11.6% rated some aspects of the report to be suboptimal. CONCLUSION: This web-based questionnaire is the first of its kind to be evaluated in everyday practice of interventional pain therapy for lumbar back pain. The vast majority of the patients were able to efficiently complete the questionnaire. The questionnaire was highly acceptable to patients, nurses and doctors. We found some usability problems but mainly in the older age group.

[Experimental studies of plasmacytoma. The idiotype as "marker"]. / Experimentelle Untersuchungen zum Plasmozytom. Der Idiotyp als "Marker".

The idiotype is a product of malignant plasmacells and can be identified in a highly specific manner by antiidiotypic antisera. The idiotype is usefull as a tumor-specific marker in myelomas and has been worked with in different problems. The main methods used were: immunofluorescence, internal labeling of immunoglobulins with radioactive-labeled aminoacids, radio-immunobinding-inhibition assay. The results are as follows: 1. Idiotype bearing precursor-cells are detectable in the periphery of myeloma patients. But in our experimental approach we were not able to demonstrate, that these cells are in fact synthesizing the idiotype although the methode has been proved to be sensitive enough. 2. The idiotypic proportion of the total immunoglobulin-fraction (= M-component in the electrophorisis) in myelomasera ranges between 40 and 90%. This percentage remains in the order of 40% even in complete remission. 3. The idiotype as tumorspecific marker is only usefull as an early detector of relapse in patients with complete remission.