HighlightsLarge glomangioma appearing inrare, anteroinferior aspect of knee in healthy 49 year old male.MR imaging detected intermediate signal intensity on T1, mixed signal intensity on T2, and marked signal enhancement with gadolinium.Histology demonstrated large, dilated vessels surrounded by normal endothelial cells and infiltrating glomus cells which stained positively for smooth muscle actin.
Evidence-based medicine practices are widely touted in medicine, although their adoption by busy practitioners is problematic and cumbersome. In this study, we examined published evidence underpinning 2 relevant clinical management questions in pediatric epilepsy: when to initiate an antiepileptic drug and when to prescribe the ketogenic diet. We surveyed practicing child neurologists who were attending their national meeting to determine whether their current practices aligned with the evidence. Clinical studies were evaluated using the Oxford Scale, which was adopted by the American Academy of Neurology. In addition, using a novel rating approach, we examined the impact on overall recommendations by scoring results from studies refuting a given practice. The data show that child neurologists' attitudes firmly adhere to evidence-based practice on when to initiate treatment with an antiepileptic drug, but not on when to prescribe the ketogenic diet. It seems clear that important differences in attitudes of practitioners toward different management strategies for epilepsy cannot be explained only by differences in the evidence. Safety and efficacy data suggest that the ketogenic diet should be more widely adopted as a management strategy in pediatric epilepsy.
Background Nonoperative management of adhesive small bowel obstruction (ASBO) results in resolution for the majority of patients. Previous studies have demonstrated that outcomes for patients with ASBO are improved when patients are admitted to a surgical service, but the effect of general surgery resident coverage is unclear. This study measures quality outcomes for patients with ASBO after the establishment of a new general surgery residency program. Methods An institutional review board-approved retrospective chart review of admissions for ASBO was conducted following the implementation of a protocol for ASBO nested within a newly developed resident-run emergency general surgery (EGS) service. Patients successfully treated without operative intervention were analyzed. Results During the study period, 612 patients were admitted for ASBO. After initiation of the residency, 74% of ASBO were admitted to a surgical service compared with 35% prior to residency ( P < .01). Length of stay was reduced by 0.77 days ( P = .016), average direct total cost per patient was reduced by 24% ( P = .002), and 30-day readmissions were reduced by 35.7% ( P = .046). There was no significant difference in mortality (1.4% vs 1.0%). Discussion Admission to a resident-run surgical service was associated with statistically significant improvement in outcomes for patients with ASBO. These data corroborate prior studies demonstrating the positive impact of residency programs on patient outcomes and provide additional evidence that general surgery residency programs improve outcomes for patients with surgical disease.
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