Symptomatic Fibroid Management: Systematic Review of the Literature

Background and Objectives:

Symptomatic uterine fibroids are a societal and healthcare burden with no clear consensus among medical professionals as to which procedural treatment is most appropriate for each symptomatic patient. Our purpose was to determine whether recommendations can be made regarding best practice based on review and analysis of the literature since 2006.

Database:

A systematic search of journal articles relevant to the treatment of symptomatic uterine fibroids was performed within PubMed, clinical society websites, and medical device manufacturers' websites. All clinical trials published in English, representing original research, and reporting clinical outcomes associated with interventions for the management of symptomatic uterine fibroids were considered. Each article was screened and selected based on study type, content, relevance, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists score, and internal/external validity. Outcomes of interest were patient baseline characteristics, fibroid characteristics, procedural details, complications, and long-term follow-up. Random-effects meta-analyses were used to test the quantitative data. Assessment of 143 full-length articles through January 2016 produced 45 articles for the quantitative analysis. The weighted combined results from hysterectomy trials were compared with those from uterine-preserving fibroid studies (myomectomy, uterine artery embolization, laparoscopic radiofrequency ablation, and magnetic resonance-guided focused ultrasound).

Conclusion:

We explored trends that might guide clinicians when counseling patients who need treatment of symptomatic fibroids. We found that fibroid therapy is trending toward uterine-conserving treatments and outcomes are comparable across those treatments. Since minimally invasive options are increasing, it is important for the clinician to provide the patient with evidence-based therapeutic strategies.

Respiratory care manpower issues

OBJECTIVE

Although respiratory care is a relatively new profession, its practitioners are deeply involved in providing patient care in the critical care. In preparation for writing this article, we sought to explore the respiratory therapy manpower needs and activities designed to fulfill those needs in critical care practice.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We began by delineating the historical development of respiratory care as a profession, the development of its education, and the professional credentialing system. We then conducted several literature reviews with few articles generated. We requested and received data from the American Association for Respiratory Care (AARC), The National Board for Respiratory Care (NBRC), and the Committee on Accreditation of Respiratory Care education (CoARC) relative to their membership, number of credentialed individuals, and educational program student and graduate data for 2000 through 2004. We then conducted two electronic surveys. Survey 1 was a six-item survey that examined the use of mandatory overtime in respiratory care departments. We used a convenience sample of 30 hospitals stratified by size (<or=200 beds, 201-499 beds, >or=500 beds). Survey 2 was a five-item instrument distributed by blast E-mail to the Society of Critical Care Medicine's Respiratory Care Section members and members of the RC_World list serve. This survey elicited 51 usable and non-duplicative responses from geographically and size-varied institutions. We analyzed these data in several ways from distribution analysis to one-way analysis of variance procedure and appropriate post hoc analysis techniques. Where appropriate, a matched-pairs analysis was performed and these were compared across the variables intensive care unit (ICU) beds per actual number of respiratory care practitioners (RCPs) and ICU beds per preferred number of RCPs.

RESULTS

The data gathered from the professional organizations indicated a relatively stable attrition rate (35.2%+/-1.7-3.1%), even in the face of varying enrollments (6,231 in 2004 vs. 4,589 in 2002). In survey 1, we looked at the institution of mandatory overtime policies and their use in 30 size-stratified hospitals. Mandatory overtime was selected as a survey topic under the supposition that manpower shortages might lead to the development of such procedures and also to their utilization. Fourteen of the 30 hospitals responding indicated that they had a policy addressing mandatory over time. Of the 14 hospitals with policies, only ten had disciplinary actions specific to refusing the overtime. Seven of the 30 hospitals indicated that they used mandatory overtime monthly of more frequently. Survey 2 data revealed that there was a wide variation in bed size, number of ICUs, and number of RCP staff assigned to the ICU. Serendipitously, our 51 responding centers were distributed among small (16), medium (19), and large (16) hospitals in a manner that appeared to reflect the national distribution pattern. We were able to use these data to develop a closeness of fit diagram ICU beds to preferred numbers of RCPs (DF=48; p<.0001; RSq=0.77; RMSE=4.114). The number of beds per preferred number of RCPs was 9.445 to 1.0 while the actual bed to RCP ratio was 10.75 to 1.

CONCLUSION

This article provides a short history of the development of respiratory care and its historical relationship with critical care. We have, perhaps for the first time, provided a unified data set of key demographic information from the three professional bodies guiding the development of the respiratory therapy profession. This data set provides time-linked data on admissions and graduations from the CoARC, membership numbers for the AARC, and the numbers of active credentialed RCP from the NBRC. By two focused surveys, we were able to show that while mandatory overtime is a common practice in respiratory care departments, it was not overwhelming utilized. We also learned that in most hospitals, regardless of bed size, there is a perceived need for 1.3 RCPs more than the actual staff and that it appears that the critical staffing level between actual to preferred RCP to beds is between 9 and 11 beds.

Survivorship analysis of pedicle spinal instrumentation

Between 1985 and 1989, the senior author performed 120 consecutive pedicle instrumentation cases--78 Steffee (VSP) procedures and 42 procedures using Cotrel-Dubousset instrumentation. Posterolateral or posterior fusions using autogenous iliac bone graft were performed across the instrumented vertebrae in all cases. Survivorship analysis was used to calculate a predicted cumulative rate of success for this series of patients over 10 years postoperative follow-up. The criteria of failure of pedicular instrumentation or "death" of an implant were defined as 1) screw bending, 2) screw breakage, 3) infection, 4) loosening of implants, 5) any rod or plate hardware problems, or 6) removal of hardware due to a neurologic complication. Out of 526 pedicle screws (175 Cotrel-Dubousset screws, 351 VSP screws) there were 22 problem screws (22/526 = 4.18%). Six screws had bent, none were infected, 16 screws had broken, and none were loose. The 22 problem screw events occurred in 12 patients. In seven patients, the instrumentation failure was an incidental radiographic finding, in that patients had a solid posterolateral fusion. The remaining five patients had screw breakage in association with a pseudarthrosis. Life table calculations predicted the survivorship of instrumentation without complications would be 80% at 10 years postoperative follow-up. Actuarial analysis predicted the survivorship of solid posterolateral fusion at 90% at 10 years follow-up. This survivorship rate is similar to those predicted at 10 years follow-up for other more widely used orthopedic surgical implants such as total hip arthroplasty components.