Trial of remote continuous versus intermittent NEWS monitoring after major surgery (TRaCINg): a feasibility randomised controlled trial

BACKGROUND

Despite medical advances, major surgery remains high risk with up to 44% of patients experiencing postoperative complications. Early recognition of postoperative complications is crucial in reducing morbidity and preventing long-term disability. The current standard of care is intermittent manual vital signs monitoring, but new wearable remote monitors offer the benefits of continuous vital signs monitoring without limiting the patient's mobility. The aim of this study was to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability and clinical outcomes of continuous remote monitoring after major surgery.

METHODS

The study was a randomised, controlled, unblinded, parallel group, feasibility trial. Adult patients undergoing elective major surgery were randomly assigned to receive continuous remote monitoring and normal National Early Warning Score (NEWS) monitoring (intervention group) or normal NEWS monitoring alone (control group). Continuous remote monitoring was achieved using the SensiumVitals® wireless patch which is worn on the patient's chest and monitors heart rate, respiratory rate and temperature continuously, and alerts the nurse when there is deviation from pre-set physiological norms. Feasibility was assessed by evaluating recruitment rate, adherence to protocol and randomisation and the amount of missing data. Clinical outcomes included time to antibiotics in cases of sepsis, length of hospital stay, number of critical care admissions and rate of hospital readmission within 30 days of discharge.

RESULTS

One hundred and thirty-six patients were randomised between October 2018 and April 2019: 67 to the control group and 69 to the intervention group. Recruitment was completed prior to the 12 month target with a high rate of eligibility and consent. Missing data was limited only to questionnaire responses; no participants were lost to follow-up and only one participant was withdrawn due to loss of capacity. The number of patients classed as 'drop-out' due to design (8.1%) were less than anticipated, and there were no participants who crossed over into the alternative trial allocation group. Seventeen participants in the intervention group (28%) did not adhere to the monitoring protocol. No formal comparisons between arms was undertaken; however, participants had fewer unplanned critical care admissions (1 versus 5) and had a shorter average length of hospital stay (11.6 days (95% confidence interval 9.5-13.7 days) versus 16.2 days (95% confidence interval 11.3-21.2 days)) in the continuous vital signs monitoring group. The time taken to receive antibiotics in cases of sepsis was similar in both arms. A cost-utility analysis indicated that the remote monitoring system was cost-saving when compared to standard NEWS monitoring alone.

CONCLUSIONS

It is feasible to perform a large-scale randomised controlled trial of continuous remote monitoring after major surgery. Progression to a definitive multicentre randomised controlled trial would be appropriate, taking consideration of factors, such as patient adherence, that might mask the potential benefit of additional monitoring.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

ISRCTN registry with study ID ISRCTN16601772 . Registered 30 August 2017.

Oral propranolol in the treatment of proliferating infantile haemangiomas: British Society for Paediatric Dermatology consensus guidelines

BACKGROUND

Infantile haemangiomas (IH) are the most common vascular tumours of infancy. Despite their frequency and potential complications, there are currently no unified U.K. guidelines for the treatment of IH with propranolol. There are still uncertainties and diverse opinions regarding indications, pretreatment investigations, its use in PHACES (posterior fossa malformations-haemangiomas-arterial anomalies-cardiac defects-eye abnormalities-sternal cleft and supraumbilical raphe) syndrome and cessation of treatment.

OBJECTIVES

To provide unified guidelines for the treatment of IH with propranolol.

METHODS

This study used a modified Delphi technique, which involved an international treatment survey, a systematic evidence review of the literature, a face-to-face multidisciplinary panel meeting and anonymous voting.

RESULTS

The expert panel achieved consensus on 47 statements in eight categories, including indications and contraindications for starting propranolol, pretreatment investigations, starting and target dose, monitoring of adverse effects, the use of propranolol in PHACES syndrome and how to stop treatment.

CONCLUSIONS

These consensus guidelines will help to standardize and simplify the treatment of IH with oral propranolol across the U.K. and assist in clinical decision-making.

Trial of Remote Continuous versus Intermittent NEWS monitoring after major surgery (TRaCINg): protocol for a feasibility randomised controlled trial

Background

Despite medical advances, major surgery remains high risk. Up to 44% of patients experience postoperative complications, which can have huge impacts for patients and the healthcare system. Early recognition of postoperative complications is crucial in reducing morbidity and preventing long-term disability. The current standard of care is intermittent manual vital signs monitoring, but new wearable remote monitors offer the benefits of continuous vital signs monitoring without limiting the patient's mobility. The aim of this study is to evaluate the feasibility, acceptability and clinical impacts of continuous remote monitoring after major surgery.

Methods

The study is a randomised, controlled, unblinded, parallel group, feasibility trial. Adult patients undergoing elective major surgery will be invited to participate if they have the capacity to provided informed, written consent and do not have a cardiac pacemaker or an allergy to adhesives. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive continuous remote monitoring and normal National Early Warning Score (NEWS) monitoring (intervention group) or normal NEWS monitoring alone (control group). Continuous remote monitoring will be achieved using the SensiumVitals® wireless patch which is worn on the patient's chest and monitors heart rate, respiratory rate and temperature continuously and alerts the nurse when there is deviation from pre-set physiological norms. Participants will be followed up throughout their hospital admission and for 30 days after discharge. Feasibility will be assessed by evaluating recruitment rate, adherence to protocol and randomisation, and the amount of missing data. The acceptability of the patch to nursing staff and patients will be assessed using questionnaires and interviews. Clinical outcomes will include time to antibiotics in cases of sepsis, length of hospital stay, number of critical care admissions and rate of readmission within 30 days of discharge.

Discussion

Early detection and treatment of complications minimises the need for critical care, improves patient outcomes, and produces significant cost savings for the healthcare system. Remote continuous monitoring systems have the potential to allow earlier detection of complications, but evidence from the literature is mixed. Demonstrating significant benefit over intermittent monitoring to offset the practical and economic implications of continuous monitoring requires well-controlled studies in high-risk populations to demonstrate significant differences in clinical outcomes; this feasibility trial seeks to provide evidence of how best to conduct such a confirmatory trial.

Trial registration

This study is listed on the ISRCTN registry with study ID ISRCTN16601772.

Pilot feasibility randomized clinical trial of negative-pressure wound therapy versus usual care in patients with surgical wounds healing by secondary intention

Background

Surgical wounds healing by secondary intention (SWHSI) are increasingly being treated with negative-pressure wound therapy (NPWT) despite a lack of high-quality research evidence regarding its clinical and cost-effectiveness. This pilot feasibility RCT aimed to assess the methods for and feasibility of conducting a future definitive RCT of NPWT for the treatment of SWHSI.

Methods

Eligible consenting adult patients receiving care at the study sites (2 acute and 1 community) and with a SWHSI appropriate for NPWT or wound dressing treatment were randomized 1 : 1 centrally to receive NPWT or usual care (no NPWT). Participants were followed up every 1-2 weeks for 3 months. Feasibility (recruitment rate, time to intervention delivery) and clinical (time to wound healing) outcomes were assessed.

Results

A total of 248 participants were screened for eligibility; 40 (16·1 per cent) were randomized, 19 to NPWT and 21 to usual care. Twenty-four of the 40 wounds were located on the foot. Participants received NPWT for a median of 18 (range 0-72) days. Two participants in the NPWT group never received the intervention and 14 received NPWT within 48 h of randomization. Five participants in the usual care group received NPWT during the study. Ten of the 40 wounds were deemed to have healed during the study.

Conclusion

A full-scale RCT to investigate the clinical and cost-effectiveness of NPWT for SWHSI is feasible. This study identified crucial information on recruitment rates and data collection methods to consider during the design of a definitive RCT. Registration number: ISRCTN12761776 (http://www.iscrtn.com).

Dental misidentification on the basis of presumed unique features

Positive identification of skeletal remains by dental comparison depends on the demonstrable concordance between postmortem and antemortem records. However, there is no accepted norm for the number of points of concordance and there are circumstances when a single (or a few) unique features may allow positive identification. We present a recent case in which superficial similarity may have led to misidentification. We argue that misidentification is particularly likely with over-reliance on apparently unique features. The fact that a single inexplicable inconsistency will rule out a positive dental identification is highlighted.

Nurses management of post-operative pain

Nurses have the responsibility of adequately managing patients' post-operative pain. This literature review assesses whether nurses' management of post-operative pain is adequate or not, according to the literature findings. The findings reveal that nurses' management of patients' post-operative pain is not adequate and implies the concurrent need for improved nurse education and practice. The findings also indicate a need for ongoing research of this phenomenon.

Clinical features and treatment of Malassezia folliculitis with fluconazole in orthotopic heart transplant recipients

Orthotopic heart transplant recipients need immunosuppressive treatment and are at an increased risk for opportunistic infections such as Malassezia folliculitis. During a 4-month period (July to October 1990), 11 such cases were identified and treated; all were male with mean age of 43+/-9 years and on standard triple immunosuppressive therapy. Skin scrapings in potassium hydroxide (KOH) preparation with microscopy and/or culture identified either Malassezia furfur or Malassezia pachydermatis as the etiologic agent. A treatment with topical preparation (clotrimazole 1% and selenium sulfide lotion) was effective in 6 patients, whereas the rest received systemic fluconazole treatment with satisfactory outcome; all lesions were resolved within 3 weeks. Fluconazole appears to be an effective agent with excellent therapeutic outcome when administered for 3 weeks.

Right hemisphere dysfunction: therapeutic intervention from acute care to home health

This article discusses clinical practice variances in speech-language treatment of patients with right hemisphere dysfunction by therapeutic milieu. With an eye toward enhanced cost effectiveness, a model of intervention is presented that takes a patient from acute care management through rehabilitation. Issues discussed include assessment, family training, goal setting, and documentation. A right hemisphere screening tool is included in an appendix for use in acute and transitional care settings where in-depth testing might be inappropriate because of time constraints or the acute or transitory nature of the patient's symptoms.

Recurrent prosthetic valve thrombosis: importance of prolonged Doppler echocardiography examination for diagnosis

In a 9-month period a 52-year-old woman was admitted on 3 occasions with thrombotic obstruction of a Medtronic Hall aortic valve prosthesis. On the first occasion the diagnosis was clinically obvious; on the second occasion prosthetic valve malfunction was detected fortuitously on Doppler echocardiography; on the third occasion the diagnosis was made after prolonged Doppler echocardiographic examination. The patient was treated with thrombolysis, surgical thrombectomy, and aortic valve re-replacement on the 3 occasions, respectively.

Glutathione-S-transferase activity and isoenzyme levels measured by two methods in ovarian cancer, and their value as markers of disease outcome

A study has been carried out to investigate the cellular distribution and levels of glutathione-S-transferase isoenzymes (GST), acidic (pi), basic (alpha) and neutral (mu), in ovarian tumour biopsies, and to measure GST activity in the same tumour specimens. Two methods of assessing isoenzyme levels (immunohistochemistry and Western blot) were compared. Well-known important clinicopathological features were correlated with response to treatment, overall survival and progression-free survival for each of 97 patients from whom biopsies had been obtained. The glutathione-S-transferase isoenzyme levels were also correlated with overall and progression-free survival, and with the important clinicopathological features. As expected, there was a significant correlation between FIGO stage, histological grade of tumour, amount of residual disease after staging laparotomy, response to chemotherapy, and both overall and progression-free survival. Glutathione-S-transferase isoenzyme levels (acidic, basic and neutral) measured by Western blot were not found to be significantly correlated with any of the clinicopathological parameters tested. Using the immunohistochemistry method of detection there was a correlation between the GST acidic isoenzyme level and the amount of residual disease remaining after initial debulking surgery (higher levels were detected in the group with no residual disease, P=0.034), and also between the GST acidic isoenzyme level and the type of chemotherapy regimen used. Higher levels of the acidic isoenzyme were present in tumour biopsies taken from the patient group who had received a combination regimen (cyclophosphamide, carboplatin, ifosfamide and doxorubicin). The neutral and basic GST isoenzyme levels were not significantly correlated with any of the clinicopathological parameters. None of the GST isoenzyme levels were significantly correlated with response to treatment, overall survival or progression-free survival (using either method of detection). Similarly, glutathione transferase activity showed no significant correlation with prognosis or survival.

Carcinosarcoma of the ovary treated over a 10-year period at the Christie Hospital

Carcinosarcomas (previously termed malignant mixed Müllerian tumors) are highly malignant but rare tumors of the ovary. Most patients have been treated according to a wide variety of protocols for soft tissue sarcoma or for epithelial ovarian carcinoma and as a result the optimal treatment for this neoplasm is unknown. We describe here 20 patients with this ovarian tumor (15 with heterologous sarcomatous elements and five with homologous sarcomatous elements) referred to our institute. Five patients were treated with surgery alone, two patients with chemotherapy alone and 13 patients with a combination of surgery and chemotherapy. A variety of chemotherapeutic regimens were used reflecting the 10-year time span it took to accrue these patients. Forty-five per cent of all patients died within 1 year of initial surgery and there was a median survival of 14 months. Two patients achieved a complete remission following treatment with 10 cycles of intravenous cyclophosphamide and are still alive at 103 and 106 months follow-up. We suggest that a chemotherapy regimen combining cyclophosphamide and a platinum analog may be useful for the management of patients with carcinosarcoma of the ovary requiring further therapy following surgery.

Phase II evaluation of bleomycin in patients with advanced epithelial ovarian cancer

Twenty-four patients received bleomycin twice weekly im. Treatment was given for 3 weeks initially, and if there was no evidence of disease progression treatment was given for another 3 weeks. Four patients had partial responses of 2, 4, 4, and 5 months' duration. Three patients had stable disease which did not progress for at least 4 months. There were ten patients with ascites; three of these showed a significant reduction in the amount of ascites present during treatment. There was a partial reduction of tumor in one of these patients. Toxicity was minimal with this regimen, and bleomycin deserves further study in the treatment of ovarian cancer.

Cellular and humoral immune status in women with chronic Candida vaginitis

The cellular and humoral immune responses of nine women with chronic Candida vaginitis and 29 control subjects were evaluated. Agglutinating and precipitating antibodies were studied and tests of lymphocyte transformation, lymphokine production, and cutaneous delayed hypersensitivity were performed. The results suggest a lack of cellular immune response to Candida antigens in women with chronic Candida vaginitis.

Gastrointestinal candidiasis in rats treated with antibiotics, cortisone, and azathioprine

Conventional albino rats treated with peroral chloramphenicol, gentamicin, and/or parenteral cortisone were challenged with Candida albicans Antibiotics and cortisone were equally effective in predisposing the animals to colonization by the fungus. All animals treated with both antibiotics and cortisone developed defined, focal, superficial invasion of the cornified squamous epithelium of the stomach next to its junction with the glandular mucosa, as well as focal superficial invasion of the esophagus. Equivalent yeast cell and mycelial inocula of C. albicans were equally effective in producing colonization and invasion of the gut. Dissemination of the fungus from the gut was not found even after the addition of azathioprine to the treatment regimen; however, such addition did predispose to more extensive and severe lesions of the esophagus and stomach. Approximately 25% of infected cortisone- and antibiotic-treated rats developed agglutinins against C. albicans by 22 to 23 days after challenge, whereas 15% developed precipitins. The antibiotic-cortisone-treated rat may be a useful and consistent experimental model in the study of gastrointestinal candidiasis.