BackgroundThe recommendations of the American Board of Internal Medicine Foundation’s “Choosing Wisely®” initiative recognize the importance of improving the appropriateness of testing behavior and reducing the number of duplicate laboratory tests.ObjectiveTo assess the effectiveness of an electronic medical record Best Practice Alert (BPA or “pop up”) intervention aimed at reducing duplicate laboratory tests and hospital costs.DesignComparison of the number of duplicated laboratory tests performed on inpatients before and after the intervention.SettingUniversity of Florida Health Shands Hospital, Gainesville, FL, USA, during 2014–2017.InterventionThe electronic medical record intervention was a BPA pop-up alert that informed the ordering physician if a recent identical order already existed along with the “ordering time”, “collecting time”, “resulting time”, and the result itself.Main outcome measuresPercentage change in the number of inpatient duplicate orders of selected clinical biochemistry tests and cost savings from reduction of the duplicates. Student’s t-test and beta-binomial models were used to analyze the data.ResultsResults from the beta-binomial model indicated that the intervention reduced the overall duplicates by 18% (OR=0.82, standard error=0.016, P-value<0.000). Percent reductions in 9 of the 17 tests were statistically significant: serum hemoglobin A1C level, vitamin B12, serum erythrocyte sedimentation rate, serum folate, serum iron, lipid panel, respiratory viral panel, serum thyroid stimulating hormone level, and Vitamin D. Additionally, important cost savings were realized from the reduction of duplicates for each lab test (with the exception of CRP) with an estimated overall savings of $72,543 over 17 months in the post-intervention period.ConclusionsThe present study included all hospital inpatients and covered 17 clinical laboratory tests. This rather simple and low-cost intervention resulted in significant reductions in percentage duplicates of several tests and resulted in cost savings. The study also highlights the role of hospitalists in quality improvement.

Carfilzomib is a second-generation proteasome inhibitor (PI) that is approved for patients with relapsed or refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM) who failed ≥1 prior lines of therapy. We performed a systematic review of carfilzomib literature with meta-analysis to determine cumulative incidence of cardiotoxicity. After the literature search, we included a total of 29 eligible phase I/II, phase II and phase III clinical trials which used carfilzomib. The cumulative incidence and overall odds ratios (OR) were calculated with random effect model, using 'R' software with metaphor package. A total of 4164 patients with various malignancies were included. The overall estimated cumulative incidence of cardiotoxicity was 8.68% and 4.92%, respectively, for all-grade and high-grade (≥ grade 3) toxicity, which seems higher than other PIs. Compared to control group, the odds of developing cardiotoxicity due to carfilzomib was significantly higher with OR of 2.03 (95% CI: 1.19-3.46, p = .010) and 2.04 (95% CI: 1.31-3.17, p = .002) for all-grades and high grades, respectively. Concomitant immunomodulatory agents seem to increase the risk of cardiotoxicity (high-grade cardiotoxicity 6.45% and 4.34% with and without concomitant immunomodulatory agents, respectively (p = .033)). There was no variation in the incidence of cardiotoxicity among newly diagnosed versus RRMM (p = .38), and high versus standard dose carfilzomib (p = .86).

Survival in patients with HCC has improved since 2008, which is limited to early stage HCC. Survival of advanced stage HCC patients is extremely poor and has not shown any significant improvement since the approval of sorafenib, emphasizing the need for better therapeutic options. Not receiving any surgical intervention is associated with significantly poor prognosis. Large numbers of early stage HCC patients were not able to receive surgical interventions. This can impose a significant financial burden, as these patients would progress on to the advanced stage, where treatment options are very limited and not as cost-effective. This emphasizes the need for further research to identify various barriers and the possible need for healthcare policy changes.

e21674 Background: Carfilzomib (Carf)is a novel proteasome inhibitor (PI) that is approved for patients with relapsed multiple myeloma (RMM) who have failed ≥ 1 prior lines of therapy. The incidence and seriousness of Carf associated cardiotoxicity (CT) is not well defined. We hypothesize that CT is more frequent than that seen with other PIs. We performed systematic review of Carf literature with meta-analysis to determine its incidence and overall risk. Methods: Initial search of literature led to a total of 175 Carf related articles. However, we used 29 publicatons; phase I/II, phase II and phase III (n = 3) clinical trials in which Carf was used as monotherapy or in combination with other chemo agents. We excluded phase I studies and studies without CT data. Incidence rates and odds ratios (OR) were calculated with either fixed effect or random effect model based on the heterogeneity of included studies. Toxicity was reported according to CTCAE v4.0. Results: A total of 4560 patients with various hematological and solid malignancies were included. Incidence of all grades and high grades (≥ 3) CT (including arrhythmias, CHF with LVEF drop, and coronary syndrome) were 7.8% and 4.72%, respectively. When compared to control group taken from phase III clinical trials, the risk of developing CT due to Carf was significantly higher with OR of 1.90 and 2.03 (P < 0.01) for all grades and high grades, respectively. Moreover, incidence of CT was significantly higher in Carf combination therapy (9.85%) compared to Carf monotherapy (5.40%) (P = 0.01). Furthermore, incidence of high grade CT was 7.5% and 5% with and without concomitant immunomodulatory agent (IMiD), respectively (P = 0.004). There was no variation in the incidence of CT among newly diagnosed versus RMM (P = 0.6), and no Carf dose effect. Mortality rate associated with cardiotoxicity was 1.5%. Conclusions: Overall incidence of Carf related CT seems to be higher than that reported with other PIs. Although, the pathophysiology is poorly understood, this trend could potentially be secondary to irreversible nature of proteasome inhibition by Carf. There seems to be a significant increase in CT with combination of Carf and an IMiD. Prior therapies and higher Carf doses have no effect on CT incidence.

ObjectiveCarfilzomib (Carf) is a second-generation proteasome inhibitor approved for patients with relapsed and/or refractory multiple myeloma (RRMM) who failed ≥ 1 prior lines of therapy. We performed a systematic review of Carf literature with meta-analysis to determine the efficacy and safety in RRMM patients.MethodsBased on literature search, we included a total of 14 eligible phase I/II, phase II and phase III Carf based clinical trials. The cumulative incidence and odds ratios (OR) were calculated with random effect model, using ‘’R’’ software with metaphor package.Results2906 evaluable RRMM patients from published clinical trials included. The pooled overall response rate (ORR) was 45% (95% CI: 29–62). The pooled clinical benefit rate (CBR) was 56% (95% CI: 41–71). OR from 3 randomized clinical trials showed that Carf significantly improved ORR and CBR compared to control groups (OR 2.4, P < 0.0001; 2.02, P = 0.0007, respectively). Subgroup analysis showed significantly better ORR (P < 0.0001) and CBR (P < 0.001) with combination regimens compared to monotherapy. Response was significantly higher with high dose of Carf (>20/27 mg/m2) compared to standard dose (ORR 65% vs. 35%, P = 0.03). Compared to control group, the OR of developing cardiotoxicity (P = 0.002) and hypertension (P < 0.0001) were significantly higher with Carf, while no difference in peripheral neuropathy (P = 0.28).ConclusionsCarf produces significantly better responses with acceptable safety profile in RRMM patients. Combination regimens and higher dose Carf offers better response with no significant extra toxicity. Its efficacy is regardless of cytogenetics or disease stage. Incidences of cardiotoxicity and hypertension seem higher with Carf.