No abstract

At 6 months, treatment as directed by LEGS score resulted in acceptable outcomes. This project is the first reported prospectively confirmed standardization tool for treatment of lower extremity PAD, and, pending independent confirmation by others, provides a comparative baseline against which other standardization efforts can be measured.

Despite inferior reconstruction patency rates when compared with the historical results of open bypass, PTA provides excellent functional outcomes with good patient satisfaction, especially for treating claudication. These findings support a more liberal use of PTA intervention for patients with vasculogenic claudication.

Background Well-differentiated thyroid cancer (WDTC) is the most common endocrine malignancy in children. Adult literature has demonstrated socioeconomic disparities in patients undergoing thyroidectomy, but the effects of socioeconomic status on the management of pediatric WDTC remains poorly understood. Methods Patients ≤ 21 years of age with WDTC were reviewed from the National Cancer Data Base (NCDB). Three socioeconomic surrogate variables were identified: insurance type, median income, and educational quartile. Tumor characteristics, diagnostic intervals and clinical outcomes were compared within each socioeconomic surrogate variable. Results A total of 9585 children with WDTC were reviewed. In multivariate analysis, lower income, lower educational quartile, and insurance status were associated with higher stage at diagnosis. Furthermore, lower income quartile was associated with a longer time from diagnosis to treatment (p<0.002). Similarly, uninsured children had a longer time from diagnosis to treatment (28 days) compared to those with government (19 days) or private (18 days) insurance (p<0.001). Despite being diagnosed at a higher stage and having a longer time interval between diagnosis and treatment, there was no significant difference in either overall survival or rates of unplanned readmissions based on any of the socioeconomic surrogate variables. Conclusion Children from lower income families and those lacking insurance experienced a longer period from diagnosis to treatment of their WDTC. These patients also presented with higher stage disease. These data suggest a delay in care for children from low-income families. Although these findings did not translate into worse outcomes for WDTC, future efforts should focus on reducing these differences.