Lumbar Spine Osteomyelitis After Permanent Spinal Cord Stimulator Implantation: A Case Report.

A spinal cord stimulator (SCS) is an intervention that has become increasingly popular due to its efficacy in treating pain. With the increasing number of SCSs implanted annually, there has been an equal increase in complications, which include infections. We present a patient who underwent an uncomplicated permanent placement of SCS and later developed worsening back pain, weakness, and fever after a mechanical fall and was subsequently found to have vertebral osteomyelitis without an identifiable infection source. While no source or definitive pathogen was discovered, if there is a concern for osteomyelitis radiographically, even in an uncommon situation when medical workup returns inconclusive, explant of the SCS is warranted.

The association of sex with pain scores and perioperative opioid administration following laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy.

Aim: We investigated whether sex is associated with pain scores and opioid administration after laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy. Materials & methods: We performed a single-center, retrospective analysis of laparoscopic sleeve gastrectomy patients from December 2016-July 2018. Multivariable linear regressions were performed to investigate the association of sex with pain scores and opioid administration. Results: Baseline pain scores were similar between women and men (n = 266; 78% women). Men reported lower pain scores in all phases of care and received more opioids during their hospitalization (ß = 25.48; 95% CI: 5.77-45.20; p = 0.01), compared with women. Conclusion: Our data suggest that women self-report greater postoperative pain scores, while men received more opioids during their hospitalization. Further studies are needed to understand the reasons for such differences in postoperative pain management.

Men are at higher risk for long-term opioid use compared with women, but it remains unclear whether perioperative management is a sentinel event for such outcomes. Since patients who receive higher amounts of postoperative opioids are more likely to remain on long term narcotics, we investigated whether sex is associated with pain scores and opioid administration after bariatric surgery. We demonstrate that men self-report lower pain scores in the postanesthesia care unit, surgical floor and at discharge, compared with women. We also show that while men and women received comparable doses of opioids in the operating room and postanesthesia care unit, men received more opioids on the surgical floor. Our findings suggest that strategies to reduce opioid administration after bariatric surgery should largely focus on care after the immediate postoperative period.

Improving accuracy of American Society of Anesthesiologists Physical Status using audit and feedback and artificial intelligence: a time-series analysis.

BACKGROUND: While the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) Physical Status (PS) is used to adjust for greater mortality risk with higher ASA PS classification, inaccurate classification can lead to an inaccurate comparison of institutions. OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this study was to assess the effect of audit and feedback with a rule-based artificial intelligence algorithm on the accuracy of ASA PS classification. METHODS: We reviewed 78 121 anesthetic records from 1 January 2017 to 19 February 2020. The first intervention entailed audit and feedback emphasizing accurately documenting ASA PS classification using body mass index (BMI), while the second intervention consisted of implementing a rule-based artificial intelligence algorithm. If a patient with a BMI ≥40 kg/m2 had a documented ASA PS classification of 1 or 2, the provider was alerted to change the ASA PS classification to 3 or above. The primary outcome was the overall proportion of patients with inaccurate ASA PS classification based on BMI per month. Secondary outcomes included the proportion of patients with a BMI ≥40 or a BMI 30-39.9 who had inaccurate ASA PS classification and the proportion of patients documented as having ASA 3-5. Data were analyzed using interrupted time-series analysis. RESULTS: For the primary outcome, the slope for ASA PS classification inaccurately incorporating BMI was unchanging before the first intervention (parameter coefficient 0.002, 95% CI -0.034 to 0.038; P = 0.911). Following the first intervention, there was an immediate level change (parameter coefficient -0.821, 95% CI -1.236 to -0.0406; P < 0.001) without significant change in slope (parameter coefficient -0.048, 95% CI -0.100 to 0.004; P = 0.067). The post-intervention slope was negative (parameter coefficient -0.046, 95% CI -0.083 to -0.009; P = 0.017). Following the second intervention, there was no level change (parameter coefficient 0.203, 95% CI -0.380 to 0.463; P = 0.839) and no significant change in slope (parameter coefficient 0.013, 95% CI -0.043 to 0.043; P = 0.641). The post-intervention slope was not significant (parameter coefficient -0.034, 95% CI -0.078 to 0.010; P = 0.121). The proportion of patients whose ASA PS classification inaccurately incorporated BMI at the first and final timepoint of the study was 2.6% and 0.8%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Our quality improvement efforts successfully modified clinician behavior to accurately incorporate BMI into the ASA PS classification. By combining audit and feedback methodology with a rule-based artificial intelligence algorithm, we created a process that resulted in immediate and sustained effects. Improving ASA PS classification accuracy is important because it affects quality metrics, research design, resource allocation and workflow processes.

Malformation of the Posterior Cerebellar Vermis Is a Common Neuroanatomical Phenotype of Genetically Engineered Mice on the C57BL/6 Background.

C57BL/6 mice exhibit spontaneous cerebellar malformations consisting of heterotopic neurons and glia in the molecular layer of the posterior vermis, indicative of neuronal migration defect during cerebellar development. Recognizing that many genetically engineered (GE) mouse lines are produced from C57BL/6 ES cells or backcrossed to this strain, we performed histological analyses and found that cerebellar heterotopia were a common feature present in the majority of GE lines on this background. Furthermore, we identify GE mouse lines that will be valuable in the study of cerebellar malformations including diverse driver, reporter, and optogenetic lines. Finally, we discuss the implications that these data have on the use of C57BL/6 mice and GE mice on this background in studies of cerebellar development or as models of disease.