Robot-assisted laparoscopic nephrectomy: early outcome measures with the implementation of multimodal analgesia and intrathecal morphine via the acute pain service.

PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to perform a retrospective cohort analysis, in which we measured the association of an acute pain service (APS)-driven multimodal analgesia protocol that included preoperative intrathecal morphine (ITM) compared to historic controls (i.e., surgeon-driven analgesia protocol without ITM) with postoperative opioid use. METHODS: This was a retrospective cohort study in which the primary objective was to determine whether there was a decrease in median 24-h opioid consumption (intravenous morphine equivalents [MEQ]) among robotic nephrectomy patients whose pain was managed by the surgical team prior to the APS, versus pain managed by APS. Secondary outcomes included opioid consumption during the 24-48 h and 48-72 h period and hospital length of stay. To create matched cohorts, we performed 1:1 (APS:non-APS) propensity score matching. Due to the cohorts occurring at the different time periods, we performed a segmented regression analysis of an interrupted time series. RESULTS: There were 76 patients in the propensity-matched cohorts, in which 38 (50.0%) were in the APS cohort. The median difference in 24-h opioid consumption in the pre-APS versus APS cohort was 23.0 mg [95% CI 15.0, 31.0] (p < 0.0001), in favor of APS. There were no differences in the secondary outcomes. On segmented regression, there was a statistically significant drop in 24-h opioid consumption in the APS cohort versus pre-APS cohort (p = 0.005). CONCLUSIONS: The implementation of an APS-driven multimodal analgesia protocol with ITM demonstrated a beneficial association with postoperative 24-h opioid consumption following robot-assisted nephrectomy.

Identification of Preanesthetic History Elements by a Natural Language Processing Engine.

BACKGROUND: Methods that can automate, support, and streamline the preanesthesia evaluation process may improve resource utilization and efficiency. Natural language processing (NLP) involves the extraction of relevant information from unstructured text data. We describe the utilization of a clinical NLP pipeline intended to identify elements relevant to preoperative medical history by analyzing clinical notes. We hypothesize that the NLP pipeline would identify a significant portion of pertinent history captured by a perioperative provider. METHODS: For each patient, we collected all pertinent notes from the institution's electronic medical record that were available no later than 1 day before their preoperative anesthesia clinic appointment. Pertinent notes included free-text notes consisting of history and physical, consultation, outpatient, inpatient progress, and previous preanesthetic evaluation notes. The free-text notes were processed by a Named Entity Recognition pipeline, an NLP machine learning model trained to recognize and label spans of text that corresponded to medical concepts. These medical concepts were then mapped to a list of medical conditions that were of interest for a preanesthesia evaluation. For each condition, we calculated the percentage of time across all patients in which (1) the NLP pipeline and the anesthesiologist both captured the condition; (2) the NLP pipeline captured the condition but the anesthesiologist did not; and (3) the NLP pipeline did not capture the condition but the anesthesiologist did. RESULTS: A total of 93 patients were included in the NLP pipeline input. Free-text notes were extracted from the electronic medical record of these patients for a total of 9765 notes. The NLP pipeline and anesthesiologist agreed in 81.24% of instances on the presence or absence of a specific condition. The NLP pipeline identified information that was not noted by the anesthesiologist in 16.57% of instances and did not identify a condition that was noted by the anesthesiologist's review in 2.19% of instances. CONCLUSIONS: In this proof-of-concept study, we demonstrated that utilization of NLP produced an output that identified medical conditions relevant to preanesthetic evaluation from unstructured free-text input. Automation of risk stratification tools may provide clinical decision support or recommend additional preoperative testing or evaluation. Future studies are needed to integrate these tools into clinical workflows and validate its efficacy.

Frailty Index as a Predictor of Readmission in Patients With Head and Neck Cancer.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the predictive utility of the Hospital Frailty Risk Score (HFRS), a stratification tool based on the ICD-10 (International Classification of Disease, Tenth Revision), and other risk factors for 30-day readmissions and mortality in a nationally representative cohort. STUDY DESIGN: Retrospective database review. SETTING: Nationwide Readmissions Database (2017). METHODS: Patients with head and neck cancer who underwent major surgical procedures were identified from the 2017 Nationwide Readmissions Database, representing 116 medical centers nationwide. Bivariate and multivariable logistic regression methods were used to identify factors associated with unplanned 30-day readmission, 30-day readmission mortality, and increased length of hospital stay. RESULTS: A total of 14,420 patients underwent major head and neck cancer surgery. Unplanned readmission occurred in 11% of patients. The most common reasons for unplanned readmission were procedural complications (26.5%), sepsis (7.3%), and respiratory failure (3.9%). Elevated frailty index (HFRS ≥5) was identified in 22% of patients. Frailty was associated with higher 30-day readmission rates (18.0% vs 9.5%, P < .01), which held on multivariate modeling (odds ratio [OR], 1.59 [95% CI, 1.37-1.85]). Frail patients spent more days in the hospital (8.2 vs 6.8, P = .02) and incurred more charges across hospital stays ($275,000 vs $188,000, P < .01). Patients >75 years old (OR, 1.26 [1.03-1.55]) and patients with electrolyte abnormalities (OR, 1.25 [1.07-1.46] were significantly more likely to be readmitted. CONCLUSION: In this head and neck cancer surgical population, HFRS significantly predicted unplanned readmission. HFRS is a potential risk stratification tool and should be compared with other methods and explored in other cancer populations. Beyond the challenge of identifying at-risk patients, future work should explore potential interventions aimed at mitigating readmission.

The Implementation of an Acute Pain Service for Patients Undergoing Open Ventral Hernia Repair with Mesh and Abdominal Wall Reconstruction.

INTRODUCTION: In this retrospective cohort single-institutional study, we report the outcomes of implementing a standardized protocol of multimodal pain management with thoracic epidural analgesia via the acute pain service (APS) for patients undergoing ventral hernia repair with mesh placement and abdominal wall reconstruction. METHODS: The primary outcome evaluated was postoperative 72-h opioid consumption, measured in intravenous morphine equivalents (MEQ). Secondary outcomes included hospital length of stay (LOS) among other outcomes. The two cohorts were the APS versus non-APS group, in which the former cohort had an APS providing epidural and multimodal analgesia and the latter utilized pain management per surgical team, which mostly consisted of opioid therapy. Using1:1 propensity-score-matched cohorts, Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to calculate the differences in outcomes. A p < 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: There were 83 patients, wherein 51 (61.4%) were in the APS group. Between matched cohorts, the non-APS cohort's median [quartiles] total opioid consumption during the first three days was 85.6 mg MEQs [58.9, 112.8 mg MEQs]. The APS cohort was 31.7 mg MEQs [16.0, 55.3 mg MEQs] (p < 0.0001). The non-APS hospital LOS median [quartiles] was 5 days [4, 7 days] versus 4 days [4, 5 days] in the APS group (p = 0.01). DISCUSSION: A dedicated APS was associated with decreased opioid consumption by 75%, as well as a decreased hospital LOS. We report no differences in ICU length of stay, time to oral intake, time to ambulation or time to urinary catheter removal.

Association of trainee involvement in an acute pain service with postoperative opioid use in patients undergoing cytoreductive surgery with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND: Several hospitals have implemented a multidisciplinary Acute Pain Service (APS) to execute surgery-specific opioid sparing analgesic pathways. Implementation of an anesthesia attending-only APS has been associated with decreased postoperative opioid consumption, time to ambulation, and time to solid food intake for patients undergoing cytoreductive surgery with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy. In this study, we evaluated the impact of introducing an APS trainee on postoperative opioid consumption in patients undergoing hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy during POD 0-3. METHODS: We performed a retrospective propensity-matched cohort study where we compared opioid consumption and hospital length of stay among two historical cohorts: attending-only APS service versus service involving a regional anesthesia fellow. RESULTS: In the matched cohorts, the median postoperative day (POD) 0-3 opioid use [25%, 75% quartile] for the single attending and trainee involvement cohort were 38.5 mg morphine equivalents (MEQ) [14.1 mg, 106.3 mg] and 50.4 mg MEQ [28.4 mg, 91.2 mg], respectively. The median difference was -9.8 mg MEQ (95% CI -30.7-16.5 mg; P = 0.43). There was no difference in hospital length of stay between both cohorts (P = 0.67). CONCLUSIONS: We found that the addition of a regional anesthesia fellow to the APS team was not associated with statistically significant differences in total opioid consumption or hospital length of stay in this surgical population. The addition of trainees to the infrastructure, with vigilant supervision, is not associated with change in outcomes.

Cardiorespiratory morbidity and mortality of opioid overdose during admission to safety-net hospitals.

STUDY OBJECTIVE: Safety-net hospitals disproportionately care for high-risk patients. Prior work has shown safety-net hospitals to have inferior postoperative outcomes with higher cost and worse patient ratings. We aim to examine the association of hospital safety-net burden with morbidity and mortality in patients with opioid overdose hospital admission. DESIGN: Retrospective cross-sectional analysis using the National Inpatient Sample registry from 2010 to 2014. SETTING: Multi-institutional. PATIENTS: We included 547, 399 patients admitted to a United States hospital with an International Classification of Disease, Ninth Revision, code of opioid overdose. To study the association of hospital safety-net burden on mortality and morbidity, we calculated hospital safety-net burden defined as the percent of Medicaid or uninsured among all admitted patients. Hospitals were categorized into one of three categories: low burden hospitals, medium burden hospitals, and high burden hospitals (i.e., safety-net hospitals). We performed a mixed effects multivariable logistic regression analysis to assess the association of hospital safety-net burden with short-term inpatient outcomes. INTERVENTION: None. MEASUREMENTS: The primary outcomes were inpatient mortality and morbidity. MAIN RESULTS: Compared to MBHs and LBHs, HBHs had a greater proportion of minority patients (i.e., Black, Hispanic, and Native American) and patients with median household income in the lowest quartile (p < 0.001). Among prescription opioid overdose admissions, the odds of inpatient mortality and pulmonary and cardiac morbidity were also not significantly higher between HBHs versus LBHs (p > 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Safety-net hospital disproportionately care for vulnerable populations, however the odds of poor outcomes were no different in opioid overdose. Safety-net hospitals should have equal access to the funding and resources that allows them to deliver the same standard of care as their counterparts.

A Dedicated Acute Pain Service Is Associated With Reduced Postoperative Opioid Requirements in Patients Undergoing Cytoreductive Surgery With Hyperthermic Intraperitoneal Chemotherapy.

BACKGROUND: The Acute Pain Service (APS) was initially introduced to optimize multimodal postoperative pain control. The aim of this study was to evaluate the association between the implementation of an APS and postoperative pain management and outcomes for patients undergoing cytoreductive surgery with hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy (CRS-HIPEC). METHODS: In this propensity-matched retrospective cohort study, we performed a before-after study without a concurrent control group. Outcomes were compared among patients undergoing CRS-HIPEC when APS was implemented versus historical controls (non-APS). The primary objective was to determine if there was a decrease in median total opioid consumption during postoperative days 0-3 among patients managed by the APS. Secondary outcomes included opioid consumption on each postoperative day (0-6), time to ambulation, time to solid intake, and hospital length of stay. RESULTS: After exclusion, there were a total of 122 patients, of which 51 and 71 were in the APS and non-APS cohort, respectively. Between propensity-matched groups, the median (quartiles) total opioid consumption during postoperative days 0-3 was 27.5 mg intravenous morphine equivalents (MEQs) (7.6-106.3 mg MEQs) versus 144.0 mg MEQs (68.9-238.3 mg MEQs), respectively. The median difference was 80.8 mg MEQs (95% confidence interval, 46.1-124.0; P < .0001). There were statistically significant decreases in time to ambulation and time to solid diet intake in the APS cohort. CONCLUSIONS: After implementing the APS, CRS-HIPEC patients had decreased opioid consumption by >50%, as well as shorter time to ambulation and time to solid intake. Implementation of an APS may improve outcomes in CRS-HIPEC patients.

Advanced Monitoring Is Associated with Fewer Alarm Events During Planned Moderate Procedure-Related Sedation: A 2-Part Pilot Trial.

BACKGROUND: Diagnostic and interventional procedures are often facilitated by moderate procedure-related sedation. Many studies support the overall safety of this sedation; however, adverse cardiovascular and respiratory events are reported in up to 70% of these procedures, more frequently in very young, very old, or sicker patients. Monitoring with pulse oximetry may underreport hypoventilation during sedation, particularly if supplemental oxygen is provided. Capnometry may result in false alarms during sedation when patients mouth breathe or displace sampling devices. Advanced monitor use during sedation may allow event detection before complications develop. This 2-part pilot study used advanced monitors during planned moderate sedation to (1) determine incidences of desaturation, low respiratory rate, and deeper than intended sedation alarm events; and (2) determine whether advanced monitor use is associated with fewer alarm events. METHODS: Adult patients undergoing scheduled gastroenterology or interventional radiology procedures with planned moderate sedation given by dedicated sedation nurses under the direction of procedural physicians (procedural sedation team) were monitored per standard protocols (electrocardiography blood pressure, pulse oximetry, and capnometry) and advanced monitors (acoustic respiratory monitoring and processed electroencephalograpy). Data were collected to computers for analysis. Advanced monitor parameters were not visible to teams in part 1 (standard) but were visible to teams in part 2 (advanced). Alarm events were defined as desaturation-SpO2 ≤92%; respiratory depression, acoustic respiratory rate ≤8 breaths per minute, and deeper than intended sedation, indicated by processed electroencephalograpy. The number of alarm events was compared. RESULTS: Of 100 patients enrolled, 10 were excluded for data collection computer malfunction or consent withdrawal. Data were analyzed from 90 patients (44 standard and 46 advanced). Advanced had fewer total alarms than standard (Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney = 2.073, P = 0.038; Wilcoxon-Mann-Whitney odds, 1.67; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.04-2.88). Similar numbers of standard and advanced had ≥1 alarm event (Wald difference, -10.2%; 95% CI, -26.4% to 7.0%; P = 0.237). Fewer advanced patients had ≥1 respiratory depression event (Wald difference, -22.1%; 95% CI, -40.9% to -2.4%; P = 0.036) or ≥1 desaturation event (Wald difference, -24.2%; 95% CI, -42.8% to -3.6%; P = 0.021); but there was no significant difference in deeper than intended sedation events (Wald difference, -1.38%; 95% CI, -20.21% to 17.49%; P = 0.887). CONCLUSIONS: Use of advanced monitoring parameters during planned moderate sedation was associated with fewer alarm events, patients experiencing desaturation, and patients experiencing respiratory depression alarm events. This pilot study suggests that further study into the safety and outcome impacts of advanced monitoring during procedure-related sedation is warranted.

Cognitive dysfunction following desflurane versus sevoflurane general anesthesia in elderly patients: a randomized controlled trial.

UNLABELLED: As life expectancy increases, more patients ≥65 years undergo general anesthesia. Anesthetic agents may contribute to postoperative cognitive dysfunction, and incidence may differ with anesthetic agents or intraoperative anesthesia depth. Responses to anesthetic adjuvants vary among elderly patients. Processed electroencephalography guidance of anesthetic may better ensure equivalent cerebral suppression. This study investigates postoperative cognitive dysfunction differences in elderly patients given desflurane or sevoflurane using processed electroencephalography guidance.IRB approved, randomized trial enrolled consenting patients ≥65 years scheduled for elective surgery requiring general anesthesia ≥120 minute duration. After written informed consent, patients were randomly assigned to sevoflurane or desflurane. No perioperative benzodiazepines were administered. Cognitive impairment was measured by an investigator blinded to group assignment using mini-Mental Status Examination (MMSE) at baseline; 1, 6, and 24 hours after the end of anesthesia. Mean arterial pressure was maintained within 20% of baseline. Anesthetic dose was adjusted to maintain moderate general anesthesia per processed electroencephalograpy (Patient State Index 25 to 50). The primary outcome measure was intergroup difference in MMSE change 1 hour after anesthesia (median; 95% confidence interval).110 patients consented; 26 were not included for analysis (no general anesthesia; withdrew consent; baseline MMSE abnormality; inability to perform postoperative MMSE; data capture failure); 47 sevoflurane and 37 desflurane were analyzed. There were no significant differences in patient characteristics; intraoperative mean blood pressure (desflurane 86.4; 81.3 to 89.6 versus sevoflurane 82.5; 80.2 to 86.1 mmHg; p = 0.42) or Patient State Index (desflurane 41.9; 39.0 to 44.0 versus sevoflurane 41.0; 37.5 to 44.0; p = 0.60) despite a lower MAC fraction in desflurane (0.82; 0.77 to 0.86) versus sevoflurane (0.96; 0.91 to 1.03; p < 0.001). MMSE decreased 1 hour after anesthesia (p < 0.001). The decrease at one hour was larger in sevoflurane (-2.5; -3.3 to -1.8) than desflurane (-1.3; -2.2 to -0.5; p = 0.03). MMSE returned to baseline by 6 hours after anesthesia. CONCLUSIONS: For elderly patients in whom depth of anesthesia is maintained in the moderate range, both desflurane and sevoflurane are associated with transient decreases in cognitive function as measured by MMSE after anesthesia, with clinically insignificant differences between them in this setting. TRIAL REGISTRY: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01199913.

The relationship of intravenous dextrose administration during emergence from anesthesia to postoperative nausea and vomiting: a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) may occur despite antiemetic prophylaxis and is associated with unanticipated hospital admission, financial impact, and patient dissatisfaction. Previous studies have shown variable impact of IV dextrose on PONV. We sought to determine the relationship of IV dextrose administered during emergence from anesthesia to PONV. METHODS: This was a prospective, double-blind randomized placebo-controlled trial. Adult female ASA physical status I and II nondiabetic patients scheduled for outpatient gynecologic, urologic, or breast surgery were randomly assigned to infusion of 250 mL lactated Ringer's solution (group P; n = 75) or dextrose 5% in lactated Ringer's solution (group D; n = 87) over 2 hours beginning with surgical closing. Blood glucose was determined using a point-of-care device before transfer to the operating room, in the operating room immediately before study fluid infusion, and in the recovery room after study fluid infusion. No antiemetics were given before arrival in the recovery room. PONV scores were recorded at 0, 30, 60, and 120 minutes and 24 hours after arrival in the recovery room. Medication administration was recorded. RESULTS: Data from 162 patients with normal baseline blood glucose were analyzed. There were no significant intergroup differences in demographics, history of PONV, or tobacco use. There was no significant intergroup difference in PONV during the first 2 hours after anesthesia (group D 52.9% vs group P 46.7%; difference, 6.2%; 95% confidence interval [CI], -9.2% to 21.6%; P = 0.43). Patients in groups D or P who developed PONV within 2 hours of anesthesia had similar number of severity scores ≥1 during recovery stay (1.5 vs 1.0; difference, 0; 95% CI, 0%-0%; P = 0.93); and similar proportions of: PONV onset within 30 minutes of recovery room arrival (65.2% vs 57.1%; difference, 8.1%; 95% CI, -13.1% to 28.8%; P = 0.46); more than 1 dose of antiemetic medication (56.5% vs 62.9%; difference, 6.3%; 95% CI, -26.9% to 15.1%; P= 0.65); or more than 1 class of antiemetic medication (50.0% vs 54.3%; difference, 4.3%; 95% CI, -25.5% to 17.4%; P = 0.82). CONCLUSIONS: The administration of dextrose during emergence from anesthesia was not associated with a difference in the incidence of PONV exceeding 20% or in the severity of PONV in the first 2 hours after anesthesia. The relationship between PONV and the optimal dose and timing of IV dextrose administration remains unclear and may warrant further study.