Faculty Bibliography

Without the benefit of now-standard technologies like CT and MRI scans and ultrasound, the medical field had only a rudimentary understanding of ailments like brain swelling, degenerative brain disease, impaired consciousness and brain death, and doctors could treat few of them.

Plum's influential research improved the diagnosis and treatment of patients who lose consciousness from head injury, stroke, metabolic disorder and drug overdose.

This study was designed to identify barriers and facilitators to enrollment in public health insurance programs in immigrant adolescents and young adults. Focus groups were held in English, Spanish and Mandarin to assess barriers and facilitators to insurance enrollment. Twenty-nine students participated in the focus groups, 11 Chinese speakers, 13 English speakers and 5 Spanish speakers. They were between the ages of 18 and 24. The major factors affecting failure to enroll were lack of correct information about enrollment process and qualifications, fear of being reported to immigration, and language barriers. In general, newly arrived students had less information and many more questions. Facilitators to enrollment included perceived need for health insurance, requiring help with medical care costs, and assistance with information gathering. To increase enrollment, we suggest school-based approaches to education and enrollment, increased presence of facilitated enrollers, and increased visibility of existing informational outlets

BACKGROUND: The second best conduit for coronary artery bypass graft surgery (CABG) is unclear. We sought to determine if the use of a second arterial conduit, the radial artery (RA), would improve long-term survival after CABG using the left internal thoracic artery (LITA) and saphenous vein (SV). METHODS: We compared the 14-year outcomes in propensity-matched patients undergoing isolated, primary CABG using the LITA, RA, and SV versus CABG using the LITA and only SV. In all, 826 patients from each group had similar propensity-matched demographics and multiple variables. The primary endpoint was all-cause mortality obtained using the Social Security Death Index. RESULTS: Perioperative outcomes including in hospital mortality (0.1% for the RA patients and 0.2% for the SV patients) were similar. Kaplan-Meier survival at 1, 5, and 10 years was 98.3%, 93.9%, and 83.1% for the RA group versus 97.2%, 88.7%, and 74.3% for the SV group (log rank, p = 0.0011). Cox proportional hazards models showed a lower all-cause mortality in the RA group (hazard ratio 0.72, confidence interval: 0.56 to 0.92, p = 0.0084). Ten-year survivals showed a 52% increased mortality for the SV patients (25.7%) versus the RA patients (16.9%; p = 0.0011). For symptomatic patients, RA patency was 80.7%, which was not different than the LITA patency rate of 86.4% but was superior to the SV patency rate of 46.7% (p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Using the LITA, SV, and a RA conduit for CABG results in significantly improved long-term survival compared with using the LITA and SV. The use of two arterial conduits offers a clear and lasting survival advantage, likely due to the improved patency of RA grafts. We conclude that RA conduits should be more widely utilized during CABG

HawthoRNe [Television Program] -- The malformation is almost never life-threatening except in rare cases when it causes apnea (suspension of breathing), aspiration pneumonia (from breathing in foreign material) or a drop attack (sudden loss of muscle tone), says Dr. David Frim, chief of neurosurgery at Comer Children's Hospital of the University of Chicago

BACKGROUND: Currently used treatment response criteria in multiple myeloma (MM) are based in part on serum monoclonal protein (M-protein) measurements. A drawback of these criteria is that response is determined solely by the best level of M-protein reduction, without considering the serial trend. The authors hypothesized that metrics incorporating the serial trend of M-protein would be better predictors of progression-free survival (PFS). METHODS: Fifty-five patients with measurable disease at baseline (M-protein > or = 1 g/dL) who received > or = 4 cycles of treatment from 2 clinical trials in previously untreated MM were included. Three metrics based on the percentage of M-protein remaining relative to baseline (residual M-protein) were considered: metrics based on the number of times residual M-protein fell within prespecified thresholds, metrics based on area under the residual M-protein curve, and metrics based on the average residual M-protein reduction between Cycles 1 and 4. The predictive value of these metrics was assessed in Cox models using landmark analysis. RESULTS: The average residual M-protein reduction was found to be significantly predictive of PFS (P = .02; hazard ratio, 0.37), in which a patient with a 10% lower average residual M-protein reduction from Cycle 1 to 4 was estimated to be at least 2.7x more likely to develop disease progression or die early. None of the other metrics was predictive of PFS. The concordance index for the average residual M-protein reduction was 0.63, compared with 0.56 for best response. CONCLUSIONS: The average residual M-protein reduction metric is promising and needs further validation. This exploratory analysis is the first step in the search for treatment-based trend metrics predictive of outcomes in MM

BACKGROUND: It is uncertain whether training improves physicians' obesity counseling. OBJECTIVE: To assess the impact of an obesity counseling curriculum for residents. DESIGN: A non-randomized, wait-list/control design. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-three primary care internal medicine residents; 12 were assigned to the curriculum group, and 11 were assigned to the no-curriculum group. Over a 7-month period (1-8 months post-intervention) 163 of the residents' obese patients were interviewed after their medical visits. INTERVENTION: A 5-hour, multi-modal obesity counseling curriculum based on the 5As (Assess, Advise, Agree, Assist, Arrange) using didactics, role-playing, and standardized patients. MAIN MEASURES: Patient-report of physicians' use of the 5As was assessed using a structured interview survey. Main outcomes were whether obese patients were counseled about diet, exercise, or weight loss (rate of counseling) and the quality of counseling provided (percentage of 5As skills performed during the visit). Univariate statistics (t-tests) were used to compare the rate and quality of counseling in the two resident groups. Logistic and linear regression was used to isolate the impact of the curriculum after controlling for patient, physician, and visit characteristics. KEY RESULTS: A large percentage of patients seen by both groups of residents received counseling about their weight, diet, and/or exercise (over 70%), but the quality of counseling was low in both the curriculum and no curriculum groups (mean 36.6% vs. 31.2% of 19 possible 5As counseling strategies, p = 0.21). This difference was not significant. However, after controlling for patient, physician and visit characteristics, residents in the curriculum group appeared to provide significantly higher quality counseling than those in the control group (std beta = 0.18; R(2) change = 2.9%, P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: Residents who received an obesity counseling curriculum were not more likely to counsel obese patients than residents who did not. Training, however, is associated with higher quality of counseling when patient, physician, and visit characteristics are taken into account