Faculty Bibliography

Introduction: A transcatheter aortic valve replacement (TAVR) carries a 2% risk of postoperative upper gastrointestinal bleeding. It presents as extensive bleeding resulting in hemorrhagic shock or respiratory failure. In this case, an early clot with sentinel bleeding prevented the widening of a full thickness aortoesophageal fistula formed from the TAVR placement, was symptomatic enough to prompt an earlier esophagogastroduodenoscopy (EGD) and prevented a probable fatality. Case Description/Methods: An 85-year-old male with a past medical history of AAA repair, GERD, HLD, TIA, aortic dissection s/p coronary bypass graft, AS with TAVR 5 months prior presented with hematemesis after initiating colonoscopy bowel prep. He also had unintentional 30-lb weight loss over 3 months, fecal incontinence, and melena. Medications include a daily aspirin. Abdominal CT demonstrated an 8cm aortic arch aneurysm, a 5cm descending thoracic aortic aneurysm, and a 5.8 x 4 cm collection posterolateral to the aorta with proximal dilation of the esophagus. EGD demonstrated a partially obstructing protruding mass in the esophagus 20 cm from the incisors with sentinel bleeding from an adherent clot. The mass was determined to be extrinsic compression from the aortic arch aneurysm with the TAVR seen through the aortoesophageal fistula (Image 1A-1B). The stomach and duodenum were unremarkable. Patient was transferred to vascular surgery where a 1cm compressed Amplatzer Vascular Plug II embolization and reinforcement of the endoleak was done. Patient remained hemodynamically stable and discharged home with a vascular follow up.
Discussion(s): Aorto-esophageal fistula following TAVR is a rare complication with a wide etiology ranging from infections, antithrombotic use, pressure necrosis, angiodysplasia, underlying PUD, or uncontrolled comorbidities such as HTN. Our patient's risk factors were his elderly age, comorbidities, use of daily aspirin, and contribution from the pressure or ischemic necrosis of the aortic aneurysm compressing on the esophagus. Presentation involves hemoptysis, chest pain, hemorrhagic shock, respiratory failure and frank bleeding. CTA is considered the initial test of diagnosis as endoscopy, though sensitive, could rupture the clot and unleash massive bleeding. In this case, sentinel bleeding and visualization of the TAVR through the fistula was enough to diagnose and retreat to be treated appropriately with embolization and reinforcement

PURPOSE/OBJECTIVE:Racial/ethnic minorities experience greater job loss than whites during periods of economic downturn and after a cancer diagnosis. Therefore, race/ethnicity-matched controls are needed to distinguish the impact of illness on job loss from secular trends METHODS: Surveys were administered during and 4-month post-completion of breast cancer treatment. Patients were pre-diagnosis employed women aged 18-64, undergoing treatment for stage I-III breast cancers, who spoke English, Chinese, Korean, or Spanish. Each patient was asked to: (1) nominate peers who were surveyed in a corresponding timeframe (active controls), (2) report a friend's work status at baseline and follow-up (passive controls). Both types of controls were healthy, employed at baseline, and shared the nominating patient's race/ethnicity, language, and age. The primary outcome was number of evaluable patient-control pairs by type of control. A patient-control pair was evaluable if work status at follow-up was reported for both individuals. RESULTS:Of the 180 patients, 25% had evaluable active controls (45 patient-control pairs); 84% had evaluable passive controls (151 patient-control pairs). Although patients with controls differed from those without controls under each strategy, there was no difference in the percentage of controls who were working at follow-up (96% of active controls; 91% of passive controls). However, only 65% of patients were working at follow-up. CONCLUSIONS:The majority of patients had evaluable passive controls. There was no significant difference in outcome between controls ascertained through either method IMPLICATIONS FOR CANCER SURVIVORS: Passive controls are a low-cost, higher-yield option to control for secular trends in racially/ethnically diverse samples.

OBJECTIVES:The number of hospitalized coronavirus disease 2019 patients in March 2020 to April 2020 in our New York City hospital required increased physician staffing, including deployment of pediatricians to adult care. To improve the deployment process, we sought to understand the mindset, preparations for, and experience during deployment of pediatric faculty in our institution. METHODS:test were used to compare groups. Free-text responses were categorized by topic. Survey responses were shared with leadership in real time and adjustments to the deployment process made. RESULTS:= 16). Dissemination of details about schedules and role clarification before deployment were areas for improvement. CONCLUSIONS:Pediatric faculty facing deployment to adult care have concerns about the process of deployment as well as the work itself. Specific information distributed in advance, along with consistent and frequent communication, may help mitigate these fears.

INTRODUCTION:Self-rated health has been extensively studied, but the utility of a similarly structured question to rate diet quality is not well characterized. This study aims to assess the relative validity of self-rated diet quality, compared with that of a validated diet quality measure (Healthy Eating Index-2015) and to examine the associations with cardiometabolic risk factors. METHODS:Analyses were conducted in 2020-2021 using cross-sectional data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, 2011-2018. Nonpregnant adults who responded to the question: How healthy is your overall diet? and provided 2 dietary recalls were eligible (n=16,913). Associations between self-rated diet quality (modeled as a 5-point continuous variable, poor=1 to excellent=5) and Healthy Eating Index-2015 scores and cardiometabolic risk factors were assessed by linear regression, accounting for the complex survey design and adjusting for demographic and lifestyle characteristics. RESULTS:. CONCLUSIONS:Self-rated diet quality was associated with Healthy Eating Index-2015 scores and cardiometabolic disease risk factors. This single-item assessment may be useful in time-limited settings to quickly and easily identify patients in need of dietary counseling to improve cardiometabolic health.

Introduction: Tofacitinib is an oral, small molecule JAK inhibitor for the treatment of UC. The OCTAVE clinical program included Phase 3 induction (OCTAVE Induction 1&2, NCT01465763 and NCT01458951) and maintenance (OCTAVE Sustain, NCT01458574) studies, and an open-label, long-term extension study (OCTAVE Open, NCT01470612).1,2 Stool frequency (SF) and rectal bleeding (RB) are important patient (pt)-reported outcomes (PROs) in measuring UC disease activity and treatment effect.
Method(s): This post hoc analysis reports long-term PRO measurements of RB and SF in pts from the OCTAVE clinical program. Analyses included pts from OCTAVE Induction 1&2, OCTAVE Sustain (responders from OCTAVE Induction 1&2), and OCTAVE Open (subpopulation in remission at Week [Wk]52 of OCTAVE Sustain, regardless of treatment). OCTAVE Open data from the final analyses (Aug 2020) are shown to Month (M)48. Endpoints included Mayo RB subscore (RBS)50, Mayo SF subscore (SFS)50 and <= 1, and partial Mayo score (PMS) remission (PMS <= 2 with no individual subscore> 1); analysis was descriptive (observed case).
Result(s): After induction therapy, 62.8-64.0% of tofacitinib 10 mg BID-treated pts achieved RBS50 vs 37.0-42.9% of placebo (PBO)-treated pts, and 55.4-60.9% of tofacitinib 10 mg BID-treated pts achieved SFS <= 1 (21.7-23.6% achieved SFS50) vs 33.6-33.7% of PBO-treated pts (11.2-12.6% for SFS50). Among OCTAVE induction responders re-randomized to maintenance therapy, 85.2%, 92.0%, and 94.5% of pts had RBS50, 79.6%, 89.3%, and 88.2% had SFS <= 1, and 40.7%, 56.3%, and 51.2% had SFS50 at Wk52 of OCTAVE Sustain for PBO, tofacitinib 5 mg BID, and tofacitinib 10 mg BID, respectively. Among pts who entered OCTAVE Open in remission and who were assigned to tofacitinib 5 mg BID, 93.5%, 95.7%, and 66.3% of pts maintained or achieved RBS50, SFS <= 1, and SFS50, respectively, at M48 of OCTAVE Open. Additionally, 94.6% of these pts maintained PMS remission (which includes RBS and SFS) at M48.
Conclusion(s): Most pts with UC demonstrated improvements in RBS and SFS after tofacitinib induction therapy. Among induction responders, the majority of pts maintained normalization or improvement in RB and/or SF in OCTAVE Sustain and up to M48 of OCTAVE Open. These data show robust and sustained improvement in key UC PROs with tofacitinib

BACKGROUND:The World Trade Center (WTC) attacks on 11 September 2001 created a hazardous environment with known and suspected carcinogens. Previous studies have identified an increased risk of prostate cancer in responder cohorts compared with the general male population. OBJECTIVES:To estimate the length of time to prostate cancer among WTC rescue/recovery workers by determining specific time periods during which the risk was significantly elevated. METHODS:Person-time accruals began 6 months after enrolment into a WTC cohort and ended at death or 12/31/2015. Cancer data were obtained through linkages with 13 state cancer registries. New York State was the comparison population. We used Poisson regression to estimate hazard ratios and 95% CIs; change points in rate ratios were estimated using profile likelihood. RESULTS:The analytic cohort included 54 394 male rescue/recovery workers. We observed 1120 incident prostate cancer cases. During 2002-2006, no association with WTC exposure was detected. Beginning in 2007, a 24% increased risk (HR: 1.24, 95% CI 1.16 to 1.32) was observed among WTC rescue/recovery workers when compared with New York State. Comparing those who arrived earliest at the disaster site on the morning of 11 September 2001 or any time on 12 September 2001 to those who first arrived later, we observed a positive, monotonic, dose-response association in the early (2002-2006) and late (2007-2015) periods. CONCLUSIONS:Risk of prostate cancer was significantly elevated beginning in 2007 in the WTC combined rescue/recovery cohort. While unique exposures at the disaster site might have contributed to the observed effect, screening practices including routine prostate specific antigen screening cannot be discounted.

BACKGROUND:World Trade Center (WTC)-exposed responders may be eligible to receive no-cost medical monitoring and treatment for certified conditions, including cancer. The survival of responders with cancer has not previously been investigated. METHODS:This study compared the estimated relative survival of WTC-exposed responders who developed cancer while enrolled in two WTC medical monitoring and treatment programs in New York City (WTC-MMTP responders) and WTC-exposed responders not enrolled (WTC-non-MMTP responders) to non-responders from New York State (NYS-non-responders), all restricted to the 11-southernmost NYS counties, where most responders resided. Parametric survival models estimated cancer-specific and all-cause mortality. Follow-up ended at death or on December 31, 2016. RESULTS:From January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2016, there were 2,037 cancer cases and 303 deaths (248 cancer-related deaths) among WTC-MMTP responders, 564 cancer cases, and 143 deaths (106 cancer-related deaths) among WTC-non-MMTP responders, and 574,075 cancer cases and 224,040 deaths (158,645 cancer-related deaths) among the NYS-non-responder population. Comparing WTC-MMTP responders with NYS-non-responders, the cancer-specific mortality hazard ratio (HR) was 0.72 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.64-0.82), and all-cause mortality HR was 0.64 (95% CI = 0.58-0.72). The cancer-specific HR was 0.94 (95% CI = 0.78-1.14), and all-cause mortality HR was 0.93 (95% CI = 0.79-1.10) comparing WTC-non-MMTP responders to the NYS-non-responder population. CONCLUSIONS:WTC-MMTP responders had lower mortality compared with NYS-non-responders, after controlling for demographic factors and temporal trends. There may be survival benefits from no-out-of-pocket-cost medical care which could have important implications for healthcare policy, however, other occupational and socioeconomic factors could have contributed to some of the observed survival advantage.

BACKGROUND:A recent study of World Trade Center (WTC)-exposed firefighters and emergency medical service workers demonstrated that elevated thyroid cancer incidence may be attributable to frequent medical testing, resulting in the identification of asymptomatic tumors. We expand on that study by comparing the incidence of thyroid cancer among three groups: WTC-exposed rescue/recovery workers enrolled in a New York State (NYS) WTC-medical monitoring and treatment program (MMTP); WTC-exposed rescue/recovery workers not enrolled in an MMTP (non-MMTP); and the NYS population. METHODS:Person-time began on 9/12/2001 or at enrollment in a WTC cohort and ended at death or on 12/31/2015. Cancer data were obtained through linkages with 13 state cancer registries. We used Poisson regression to estimate rate ratios (RRs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) for MMTP and non-MMTP participants. NYS rates were used as the reference. To estimate potential changes over time in WTC-associated risk, change points in RRs were estimated using profile likelihood. RESULTS:The thyroid cancer incidence rate among MMTP participants was more than twice that of NYS population rates (RR = 2.31; 95% CI = 2.00-2.68). Non-MMTP participants had a risk similar to NYS (RR = 0.96; 95% CI = 0.72-1.28). We observed no change points in the follow-up period. CONCLUSION/CONCLUSIONS:Our findings support the hypothesis that no-cost screening (a benefit provided by WTC-MMTPs) is associated with elevated identification of thyroid cancer. Given the high survival rate for thyroid cancer, it is important to weigh the costs and benefits of treatment, as many of these cancers were asymptomatic and may have been detected incidentally.

OBJECTIVE:Prolactin secreting tumors respond well to medical management with a small fraction of patients requiring surgery. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to study the determinants of surgical remission in these tumors. METHODS:We searched PubMed to identify eligible studies reporting postoperative remission in patients treated with transsphenoidal surgery for prolactinoma. Primary outcomes included postoperative remission, follow-up remission, and recurrence. Postoperative and follow-up remission were defined as normoprolactinemia at less than and greater than one-year post-operation respectively. Recurrence was defined as hyperprolactinemia after initial normalization of prolactin levels. Odds ratios (OR) were calculated, stratified by radiological size, tumor extension, and tumor invasion, and analyzed using a random-effects model meta-analysis. RESULTS:Thirty-five studies were included. Macroadenomas were associated with lower rates of postoperative remission OR 0.20, 95% confidence interval [CI] 0.16-0.24) and lower rates of remission at follow-up (OR 0.11, 95% CI 0.053-0.22). Postoperative remission was less likely in tumors with extra- or suprasellar extension (OR 0.16, 95% CI 0.06-0.43) and tumors with cavernous sinus invasion (OR 0.03, 95% CI 0.01-0.13). Female gender and absence of preoperative dopamine agonist (DA) treatment were also associated with higher remission rates. Across the included studies, there was considerable heterogeneity in each primary outcome (postoperative remission I2=94%, follow-up remission I2=86%, recurrence I2=68%). CONCLUSIONS:Transsphenoidal surgery for prolactinomas may be particularly effective in small, non-invasive, treatment naive tumors and may provide a viable first-line alternative to dopamine agonist therapy in such patients.