The aim of the study was to evaluate the agreements between patients and nursing staff in perceived use of the principles of Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) in a gynecological ward, both prior ...to and following an educational session on ERAS guidelines for the nursing staff.
This was a prospective observational study conducted in the in-patient gynecological section of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at the University hospital of Linköping during spring 2017. The study groups comprised women scheduled for elective in-patient gynecological surgery due to benign or malignant diseases and the nursing staff at the gynecological ward. The study was performed in three parts with two structured questionnaire interviews of patients and nursing staff, and an intermediate educational session for the nursing staff regarding ERAS principles, conducted between the parts of the interview. Seventy-two patients were included in Interview part 1 and 68 patients in Interview part 2. The results are shown as the degree of inter-rater agreement and reliability of the responses between patients and nursing staff in numbers and percentages, along with the difference (Δ) in agreement between the interview parts, and its corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI). In addition, Cohen’s kappa was used to validate the findings.
Inter-rater agreement in answers to the interview questions was high even before the educational session. The observed agreement was ≥ 70% in 34 out of 42 questions in Interview part 1, and in 38 out of 42 questions in Interview part 2. Thirty of the 42 items (71%) had positive Δ agreement (%) whereas 12 of the 42 (29%) had negative Δ agreement (%).
This study showed high inter-rater agreement in perceived adherence to ERAS principles between patients and nursing staff in a gynecological ward. This was further improved by an educational session for the staff concerning ERAS guidelines. This might indicate the importance of repeated educational sessions to maintain high compliance with ERAS principles.
Objective. To determine the long‐term objective and subjective outcomes of use of a porcine skin graft (Pelvicol™) compared with conventional colporrhaphy in recurrent pelvic organ prolapse surgery ...and to analyze risk factors and safety. Design. Open randomized controlled multicenter study. Setting. Eight Swedish hospitals. Population. 135 consecutive women with recurrent cystocele and/or rectocele admitted for vaginal prolapse surgery; 132 completed the study, 64 were randomly allocated to receive conventional colporrhaphy and 68 to Pelvicol. Methods. Conventional anterior and posterior colporrhaphy and colporrhaphy with use of Pelvicol™ mesh reinforcement. Clinical evaluation by means of pelvic organ prolapse quantification (POP‐Q) and symptom questionnaire preoperatively, three months and three years postoperatively. Main outcome measures. Anatomical and subjective outcome. Recurrence was defined as POP‐Q≥stage 2. Results. At three‐month follow‐up, early recurrence/surgical failures occurred significantly more often in the Pelvicol™ group, but at the three‐year follow‐up the recurrence rates were similar. The recurrence rates in the anterior compartment were 57–62% and 44–23% in the posterior compartment for the colporrhaphy and Pelvicol™ groups, respectively. Symptoms were substantially and equally reduced in the two groups after surgery. Sexual activity and function did not seem to be affected adversely in any group. The complication rate was low. Risk factors for anatomical recurrence were age, body mass index and preoperative stage of the prolapse. Conclusions. With the surgical technique used in this study, Pelvicol™ did not provide advantages over conventional colporrhaphy in recurrent pelvic organ prolapse concerning anatomical and subjective outcomes.
Objective
To determine whether single‐dose tranexamic acid given intravenously immediately before surgery for presumed advanced ovarian cancer reduces perioperative blood loss and blood transfusions.
...Design
A randomized double‐blind, placebo‐controlled multicenter study.
Setting
Two university hospitals and two central hospitals in the southeast health region of Sweden.
Population
One hundred women with presumed advanced ovarian cancer scheduled for radical debulking surgery between March 2008 and May 2012 who complied with inclusion/exclusion criteria were randomized; 50 were allocated to receive tranexamic acid and 50 to receive placebo. Analysis was performed according to intention‐to‐treat principles.
Methods
The volume of tranexamic acid (15 mg/kg body weight, 100 mg/mL tranexamic acid) or the same volume of placebo (0.9% NaCl) was added to a 100‐mL saline solution plastic bag. The study medication was given immediately before the start of surgery. Data were analyzed by means of non‐parametric statistics and multivariate models adjusted for confounding factors.
Main outcome measures
Blood loss and red blood cell transfusions.
Results
The total blood loss volume and transfusion rate were significantly lower in the tranexamic acid group compared with the placebo group. Median total blood loss was 520 and 730 mL, respectively (p = 0.03). Fifteen (30%) and 22 (44%), respectively received transfusions (odds ratio 0.44; upper 95% CI 0.97; p = 0.02).
Conclusion
A single dose of tranexamic acid given immediately before surgery reduces blood loss and transfusion rates significantly in advanced ovarian cancer surgery. Tranexamic acid may be recommended as standard prophylactic treatment in advanced ovarian cancer surgery.
Background
The Pain Sensitivity Questionnaire (PSQ) is a self‐rating instrument developed as a time‐ and cost‐saving alternative to quantitative sensory testing (QST). The aims of the study were to ...assess (a) the associations between PSQ scores and QST in women with persistent pelvic pain and in pain‐free controls and (b) to what extent demographic variables and psychological distress influenced PSQ scores.
Methods
Fifty‐five healthy women and 37 women with persistent pelvic pain participated. All filled in the PSQ and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and had QST (heat, cold and pressure pain thresholds) performed on six locations on the body. Information on age, body mass index, smoking habits and pain duration were collected. Principal component analysis and orthogonal partial least square regressions were used.
Results
The patients scored significantly higher on PSQ than the controls. Significant multivariate correlations between pain thresholds and PSQ scores were found only in the patient group. In the patient group, the heat and cold pain thresholds correlated more strongly with PSQ scores than the pressure pain threshold.
Conclusions
The PSQ score was significantly higher in pelvic pain patients, and correlations between QSTs and the PSQ were only found for patients.
Significance
The PSQ reflects pain sensitivity in women with PPP and can be used as a non‐invasive and painless way to assess this condition in clinical practice.
Type 2 diabetes (T2D) is strongly linked to obesity and an adipose tissue unresponsive to insulin. The insulin resistance is due to defective insulin signaling, but details remain largely unknown. We ...examined insulin signaling in adipocytes from T2D patients, and contrary to findings in animal studies, we observed attenuation of insulin activation of mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR) in complex with raptor (mTORC1). As a consequence, mTORC1 downstream effects were also affected in T2D: feedback signaling by insulin to signal-mediator insulin receptor substrate-1 (IRS1) was attenuated, mitochondria were impaired and autophagy was strongly upregulated. There was concomitant autophagic destruction of mitochondria and lipofuscin particles, and a dependence on autophagy for ATP production. Conversely, mitochondrial dysfunction attenuated insulin activation of mTORC1, enhanced autophagy and attenuated feedback to IRS1. The overactive autophagy was associated with large numbers of cytosolic lipid droplets, a subset with colocalization of perlipin and the autophagy protein LC3/atg8, which can contribute to excessive fatty acid release. Patients with diagnoses of T2D and overweight were consecutively recruited from elective surgery, whereas controls did not have T2D. Results were validated in a cohort of patients without diabetes who exhibited a wide range of insulin sensitivities. Because mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammation, endoplasmic-reticulum stress and hypoxia all inactivate mTORC1, our results may suggest a unifying mechanism for the pathogenesis of insulin resistance in T2D, although the underlying causes might differ.
Vulvar cancer affects mainly elderly women and with an ageing population the incidence has increased. We explored the primary treatment patterns and relative survival of patients with vulvar squamous ...cell carcinoma (VSCC) by stage and age-group.
A population-based nationwide study on women diagnosed with VSCC between 2012 and 2016 and registered in the Swedish Quality Registry for Gynecologic Cancer (SQRGC). Main outcome was 5-year relative survival (RS) estimated by the Pohar Perme method. The relative risk of excess mortality (EMRR) between different groups was analyzed by Poisson regression. The age-standardized relative survival (AS-RS) was estimated for the total cohort.
Median follow-up time was 41 months. The study population included 657 women; 33% were ≥ 80 years old. FIGO stage I was most common (55%). Primary surgery was performed in 96% stage I, 65% stage II, 80% stage III and 28% stage IV. In women ≥80 years, exploration of the groins and chemoradiotherapy was less often performed. They also received lower mean doses of radiation than younger women. The 5-year AS-RS was 74%. 5-year RS was 84% for stage I, 60% for stage II, 54% for stage III and 35% for stage IV. The EMRR for women ≥80 years compared with women <60 years was 4.3 (p < 0.001); 4.9 (p < 0.001) for stages I-II and 3.5(p = 0.007) for stage III.
In general, primary treatment of patients with vulvar squamous cell carcinoma in Sweden adhered to guidelines. Areas of improvement include treatment for stage II and for the very old.
•The estimated age-standardized 5-year relative survival was 74% for vulvar squamous cell carcinoma diagnosed 2012–2016.•Primary treatment adhered well to evidence-based guidelines, except for stage II and the age-group ≥80 years old.•Surgery was the mainstay of primary treatment, but in women ≥80 years old a complete staging procedure was often omitted.•Survival was excellent for stage I disease, but women≥80 years old had a 5-fold increased risk for excess mortality.•In stage II there was a 3-fold excess mortality rate compared with stage I.
Background and aims Psychological traits such as pain catastrophizing may play a role in the development of chronic pelvic pain (CPP). Pain catastrophizing is the tendency to amplify negative ...cognitive and emotional pain processes. The Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS) assesses elements of pain catastrophizing divided into three subgroups of factors (rumination, helplessness and magnification). Previous studies have shown associations between CPP and increased pain sensitivity, widespread generalized hyperalgesia, and decreased pain thresholds, but the relation between pain catastrophizing and specific pain thresholds has not yet been widely examined in this patient group. The aims of this study were (a) to determine if catastrophizing is increased in women with CPP compared with pain-free women, (b) to assess the importance of pain catastrophizing, psychological distress variables, and subjective pain sensitivity for pain thresholds of heat, cold and pressure in these two groups, and (c) to determine whether psychological variables or pain thresholds best contribute to the differentiation between CPP and controls. Methods Thirty-seven women with chronic pelvic pain who underwent diagnostic laparoscopy on the suspicion of endometriosis participated along with 55 healthy and pain-free controls. All underwent quantitative sensory testing on six locations on the body to determine heat (HPT), cold (CPT) and pressure (PPT) pain thresholds. The PCS, the Pain Sensitivity Questionnaire (PSQ), the Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale, (HADS) demographics and clinical data were collected prospectively. Principal component analysis and orthogonal partial least square regressions were used to assess the associations between PCS scores and pain thresholds. Results The women with CPP scored significantly higher on PCS than the healthy controls. PCS-helplessness, PCS-rumination and HADS-depression were significantly associated with pain thresholds for the whole group. In the CPP group, PCS-rumination, body mass index and PSQ were significant regressors for HPT and CPT. The PCS and the HADS subscales were strongly intercorrelated in women with CPP and were stronger regressors of group membership than the three pain thresholds. In the group of healthy control women, no relationships were found to be significant. The psychological variables were somewhat stronger significant regressors than pain thresholds (also significant) for group membership. Conclusions Women with CPP have significantly higher pain catastrophizing scores than women without CPP. The pain catastrophizing rumination factor is significantly associated with pain thresholds of heat and cold in CPP women. PCS and HADS are strongly intercorrelated and PSQ correlates positively with these variables. It seems that the psychological variables are important for group differentiation. Implications The results clearly indicate the need for a multimodal assessment (bio-psycho-social) of CPP patients including psychological symptoms such as catastrophizing, anxiety and depression. The registration of semi-objective pain thresholds captures both specific pain sensitivity information (mechanical pressure, cold or heat) and the degree of wide spread pain hypersensitivity. There is a need for future larger studies investigating whether certain profiles in the clinical presentations (including pain thresholds and psychological variables) are associated with outcomes after different types of interventions.
Introduction
Deep myometrial invasion (≥50%) is a prognostic factor for lymph node metastases and decreased survival in endometrial cancer. There is no consensus regarding which pre/intraoperative ...diagnostic method should be preferred. Our aim was to explore the pattern of diagnostic methods for myometrial invasion assessment in Sweden and to evaluate differences among magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), transvaginal sonography, frozen section, and gross examination in clinical practice.
Material and methods
This is a nationwide historical cohort study; women with endometrial cancer with data on assessment of myometrial invasion and FIGO stage I‐III registered in the Swedish Quality Registry for Gynecologic Cancer (SQRGC) between 2017 and 2019 were eligible. Data on age, histology, FIGO stage, method, and results of myometrial invasion assessment, pathology results, and hospital level were collected from the SQRGC. The final assessment by the pathologist was considered the reference standard.
Results
In the study population of 1401 women, 32% (n = 448) had myometrial invasion of 50% of more. The methods reported for myometrial invasion assessment were transvaginal sonography in 59%, MRI in 28%, gross examination in 8% and frozen section in 5% of cases. Only minor differences were found for age and FIGO stage when comparing methods applied for myometrial invasion assessment. The sensitivity, specificity, and accuracy to find myometrial invasion of 50% or more with transvaginal sonography were 65.6%, 80.3%, and 75.8%, for MRI they were 76.9%, 71.9%, and 73.8%, for gross examination they were 71.9%, 93.6%, and 87.3%, and for frozen section they were 90.0%, 92.7%, and 92.0%, respectively.
Conclusions
In Sweden, the assessment of deep myometrial invasion is most often performed with transvaginal sonography, but the sensitivity is lower than for the other diagnostic methods. In clinical practice, the accuracy is moderate for transvaginal sonography and MRI.
ObjectiveTo evaluate oxytocin use for augmentation of labour in relation to body mass index (BMI) on admission to the labour ward, focusing on cumulative oxytocin dose and maximum rate of oxytocin ...infusion during the first stage of labour.DesignProspective observational study.SettingSeven hospitals in Sweden.Participants1097 nulliparous women with singleton cephalic presentation pregnancy, ≥37 weeks of gestation, spontaneous onset of labour and treatment with oxytocin infusion for labour augmentation. The study population was classified into three BMI subgroups on admission to the labour ward: normal weight (18.5–24.9), overweight (25.0–29.9) and obese (≥30.0). The cumulative oxytocin dose was measured from the start of oxytocin infusion until the neonate was born.Primary outcomeCumulative oxytocin dose.Secondary outcomeMaximum rate of oxytocin infusion during the active phase of first stage of labour.ResultsThe mean cumulative oxytocin dose increased in the BMI groups (normal weight 2278 mU, overweight 3108 mU and obese 4082 mU (p<0.0001)). However, when adjusted for the confounders (cervical dilatation when oxytocin infusion was started, fetal birth weight, epidural analgesia), the significant difference was no longer seen. The maximum oxytocin infusion rate during the first stage of labour differed significantly in the BMI groups when adjusted for the confounding factors individually but not when adjusted for all three factors simultaneously. In addition, the maximum oxytocin infusion rate was significantly higher in women with emergency caesarean section compared with women with vaginal delivery.ConclusionsWomen with increasing BMI with augmentation of labour received a higher cumulative oxytocin dose and had a higher maximum oxytocin infusion rate during first stage of labour, however, when adjusted for relevant confounders, the difference was no longer seen. In the future, the guidelines for augmentation of labour with oxytocin infusion might be reconsidered and include modifications related to BMI.
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