Faculty Bibliography

BACKGROUND:Circumcision is a common surgical procedure performed among pediatric male patients. Ketorolac is an effective adjunct in multimodal regimens for postoperative pain control. However, many urologists and anesthesiologists refrain from administering ketorolac due to concern for postoperative bleeding. AIMS/OBJECTIVE:Compare the risk of clinically significant bleeding after circumcision with and without intraoperative ketorolac administration. METHODS:A single center, retrospective cohort study was conducted of pediatric patients 1-18 years of age who underwent isolated circumcision by one urologist from 2016 to 2020. Clinically significant bleeding was defined as bleeding requiring intervention within the first 24 hours of circumcision. Interventions included use of absorbable hemostats, placement of sutures, or return to the operating room. RESULTS:Of 743 patients, 314 (42.3%) did not receive ketorolac and 429 (57.7%) received intraoperative ketorolac 0.5 mg/kg. Postoperative bleeding requiring intervention occurred in one patient (0.32%) in the non-ketorolac group versus four patients (0.93%) in the ketorolac group (Difference 0.6%, 95% CI (-0.8%, 2.0%), p=0.403). CONCLUSIONS:There was one patient (0.32%) with postoperative bleeding requiring intervention in the non-ketorolac group versus four patients (0.93%) in the ketorolac group (Difference 0.6%, 95% CI (-0.8%, 2.0%), p=0.403). As bleeding was a rare outcome, this study was not powered to detect a statistically significant difference between the two groups. Future studies regarding the association between ketorolac and postoperative bleeding are needed.

Tracheoesophageal fistulae (TEF) commonly occur as part of the vertebral defects, anal atresia, cardiac defects, tracheoesophageal fistula, renal, and limb abnormalities (VACTERL) association. However, pulmonary agenesis is not typically seen with TEF. We report the anesthetic management of a TEF repair in a 33-week-old, 1.6-kg, monochorionic diamniotic twin with right lung agenesis, intrauterine growth restriction, and cardiac dextroposition. Due to the unique position of the heart, the patient periodically lost complete cardiac output during the exposure and repair of the esophagus.

BACKGROUND:The Internet has extensive resources for kidney transplantation recipients. Half of the population reads below a seventh-grade level. Previous studies showed that living donor recipients have higher health literacy rates compared with deceased donor recipients. There has been no study comparing the readability of online living donor recipient materials versus deceased donor recipient materials. METHODS:Analysis was performed using eight readability scales on the top 10 websites for live donor and deceased donor kidney transplantation. Analysis was performed through the Readability Studio Software. USA reading grade level was determined for each site. RESULTS:Overall, the mean reading level for the living donor materials was 12.54 (range 9.2-17) and for the deceased donor materials, 12.87 (range 8.7-17, P = 0.73), corresponding to a university level. None of the sites met the seventh-grade level recommended by the National Institute of Health. CONCLUSIONS:The readability of online materials remains too high for the corresponding health literacy rates among patients requiring kidney transplantation. Specifically, the lower health literacy rates among deceased donor recipients does not mirror the readability of online materials provided at a university level. This may affect decision-making, contributing to a smaller proportion of patients of a lower socioeconomic status and those with poor English language skills pursuing live donor organs.

Humans and song-learning birds communicate acoustically using learned vocalizations. The characteristic features of this social communication behavior include vocal control by forebrain motor areas, a direct cortical projection to brainstem vocal motor neurons, and dependence on auditory feedback to develop and maintain learned vocalizations. These features have so far not been found in closely related primate and avian species that do not learn vocalizations. Male mice produce courtship ultrasonic vocalizations with acoustic features similar to songs of song-learning birds. However, it is assumed that mice lack a forebrain system for vocal modification and that their ultrasonic vocalizations are innate. Here we investigated the mouse song system and discovered that it includes a motor cortex region active during singing, that projects directly to brainstem vocal motor neurons and is necessary for keeping song more stereotyped and on pitch. We also discovered that male mice depend on auditory feedback to maintain some ultrasonic song features, and that sub-strains with differences in their songs can match each other's pitch when cross-housed under competitive social conditions. We conclude that male mice have some limited vocal modification abilities with at least some neuroanatomical features thought to be unique to humans and song-learning birds. To explain our findings, we propose a continuum hypothesis of vocal learning.