The study's objective is to examine the impact of surgeon experience on the incidence and the severity of neck hematoma after thyroid and parathyroid surgery using a nationwide database. The Nationwide In-patient Sample is a nationwide clinical and administrative database. We used the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision diagnosis and procedures codes to identify adult patients who underwent thyroid and parathyroid surgery and subsequently developed neck hematoma. Patient and hospital characteristics were collected along with surgeon volume to predict patient outcomes. Surgical procedures were stratified into three groups according to surgeon volume: low (less than 10 operations), intermediate (10 to 99), and high (100 or more). We identified 147,344 thyroid and parathyroid surgery performed between 2000 and 2009 nationwide. Overall incidence of postoperative neck hematoma was 1.5 per cent (n = 2210). This was 2.1, 1.4, and 0.9 per cent among procedures performed by low-volume, intermediate-volume, and high-volume surgeons, respectively. After adjusting for other confounders, compared with procedures performed by low-volume surgeons, those performed by intermediate- (odds ratio [OR], 0.7; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.6 to 0.8; P < 0.01) and high-volume surgeons (OR, 0.5; 95% CI, 0.4 to 0.6; P < 0.01) were less to likely to develop neck hematoma. Surgeon experience is significantly associated with the development of neck hematoma after thyroid and parathyroid surgery.

We identified demographic and clinical factors associated with increased risk of neck hematoma after thyroid or parathyroid surgery.

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BackgroundThis study investigates the impact of methamphetamine use on trauma patient outcomes.MethodsThis retrospective study analyzed patients between 18 and 55 years old presenting to a single trauma center in San Bernardino County, CA who sustained traumatic injury during the 10-year study period (January 1st, 2005 to December 31st, 2015). Routine serum ethanol levels and urine drug screens (UDS) were completed on all trauma patients. Exclusion criteria included patients with an elevated serum ethanol level (> 0 mg/dL). Those who screened positive on UDS for only methamphetamine and negative for cocaine and cannabis (MA(+)) were compared to those with a triple negative UDS for methamphetamine, cocaine, and cannabis (MA(−)). The primary outcome studied was the impact of a methamphetamine positive drug screen on hospital mortality. Secondary outcomes included length of stay (LOS), heart rate, systolic and diastolic blood pressure (SBP and DBP, respectively), and total amount of blood products utilized during hospitalization. To analyze the effect of methamphetamine, age, gender, injury severity score, and mechanism of injury (blunt vs. penetrating) were matched between MA(−) and MA(+) through a propensity matching algorithm.ResultsAfter exclusion, 2538 patients were included in the final analysis; 449 were patients in the MA(+) group and 2089 patients in the MA(−) group. A selection of 449 MA(−) patients were matched with the MA(+) group based on age, gender, injury severity score, and mechanism of injury. This led to a final sample size of 898 patients with 449 patients in each group. No statistically significant change was observed in hospital mortality. Notably, a methamphetamine positive drug screen was associated with a longer LOS (median of 4 vs. 3 days in MA(+) and MA(−), respectively, p < 0.0001), an increased heart rate at the scene (103 vs. 94 bpm for MA(+) and MA(−), respectively, p = 0.0016), and an increased heart rate upon arrival to the trauma center (100 vs. 94 bpm for MA(+) and MA(−), respectively, p < 0.0001). Moreover, the MA(+) group had decreased SBP at the scene compared to the MA(−) group (127 vs. 132 bpm for MA(+) and MA(−), respectively, p = 0.0149), but SBP was no longer statistically different when patients arrived at the trauma center (p = 0.3823). There was no significant difference in DBP or in blood products used.ConclusionMethamphetamine positive drug screens in trauma patients were not associated with an increase in hospital mortality; however, a methamphetamine positive drug screen was associated with a longer LOS and an increased heart rate.

This study suggests that endovascular prosthesis exclusion of AAAs using a self-expanding modular device may be effective in many patients who are otherwise surgical candidates for repair if further clinical studies confirm these observations.