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Background: The American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer (CoC) revised operative quality standards recommending resection of lymph nodes from at least one hilar station and three different mediastinal stations in all curative-intent pulmonary resections. This study evaluated the prognostic value and factors associated with adherence to this new CoC standard in patients with resected clinical stage IA non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC)., Methods: Retrospective review of 654 patients who underwent pulmonary resection for clinical IA NSCLC. The study population was divided into patients that met and did not meet the CoC standard., Results: The CoC standard was met in only 254 (38.8%) patients. Factors associated with meeting the CoC standard included left-sided resections, open technique, and type of pulmonary resection. CoC standard was met in 51.6% of lobectomies, 29.9% of segmentectomies, and 17.1% of wedge resections (P<0.001). Nodal upstaging was more frequent in patients meeting the CoC standard (21.3% vs. 12.5% when standard not met; P=0.004). Time to recurrence [adjusted hazard ratio (aHR): 0.86, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.63-1.17, P=0.33] and overall survival (aHR: 0.78, 95% CI: 0.58-1.05, P=0.10) were not different between CoC standard groups. However, patients not meeting the CoC standard and classified as pN0 exhibited an overall survival that resembled that of patients with pN1 disease., Conclusions: Left-sided resections, open technique and lobectomy were associated with meeting the CoC standard. However, this standard did not have a significant impact on long-term outcomes. Larger studies with longer follow-up are needed to clarify the role of the CoC standard in patients with resected stage IA NSCLC., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at https://jtd.amegroups.com/article/view/10.21037/jtd-24-971/coif). J.S.R. reports patents pending with Imvaria, Phase and Medview, and consulting role with companies Elucent, Noah, Isola, and Vergent. The other authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (2024 AME Publishing Company. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Cardiac sarcoma represents a rare and aggressive form of cancer with a paucity of data to produce outcome-driven evidence-based guidelines. Current surgical management consists of resection with postoperative therapy (chemotherapy, radiation, or both) offered on a selective, individualized basis. This study was designed to determine whether postoperative therapy was associated with improved overall survival after resection., Methods: The National Cancer Database was used to identify patients with cardiac sarcoma between 2004 and 2015. Patient characteristics were stratified by treatment (surgical, nonsurgical, and none), and treatment was analyzed by stage. Overall survival, assessed with Kaplan-Meier methodology, was compared between patients who received postoperative therapy and those who did not following resection. Multivariable survival modeling using a Weibull model identified risk factors associated with survival while controlling for confounders., Results: The study included 617 patients diagnosed with cardiac sarcoma. Only 24% (149/617) of patients were diagnosed with early-stage disease. Angiosarcoma represented 48% (298/617) of cases and was the most commonly identified histologic subtype. 60% (372/617) underwent surgical resection and 58% (216/372) of those patients were treated with postoperative therapy. Following surgery, median survival was more than doubled for patients treated with postoperative therapy (19 months vs 8 months, P = .026). However, 5-year overall survival was similar between the groups. Multivariable analysis confirmed an improvement in survival with postoperative therapy (hazard ratio, 0.68; 95% confidence interval, 0.51-0.91, P = .009)., Conclusions: Postoperative therapy is associated with better median survival following resection of cardiac sarcoma. However, at 5 years, the difference in overall survival is not statistically significant., (Copyright © 2019 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Perioperative mortality rate (POMR) has been identified as an important measure of access to safe surgical and anesthesia care in global surgery. There has been limited study on this measure in rural Ghana. In order to identify areas for future quality improvement efforts, we aimed to assess the epidemiology of exploratory laparotomy and to investigate POMR as a benchmark quality measure., Methods: Surgical records were reviewed at a regional referral hospital in Eastern Region, Ghana to identify cases of exploratory laparotomy from July 2017 through June 2018. Patient demographics, health information, and outcomes data were collected. Logistic regression was used to identify predictors of perioperative mortality., Findings: The study included operations for 286 adult and 60 pediatric patients. Only 60% of patients were covered by National Health Insurance (NHI). The overall POMR was 11.5% (12.6% adults; 6.7% pediatric). Sixty percent of mortalities were referrals from outside hospitals and the mortality rate for referrals was 13.5%. Odds of mortality was 13 times greater with perforated peptic ulcer disease (OR = 13.1, p = 0.025) and 12 times greater with trauma (OR = 11.7, p = 0.042) when compared to the most common operation. Female sex (OR = 0.3, p = 0.016) and NHI (OR = 0.4, p = 0.031) were protective variables. Individuals 60 years and older (OR = 3.3, p = 0.016) had higher mortality., Conclusion: POMR can be an important outcome and quality indicator for rural populations. Interventions aimed at decreasing emergent hernia repair, preventing perforation of peptic ulcer disease, improving rural infrastructure for response to major trauma, and increasing NHI coverage may improve POMR in rural Ghana., Competing Interests: All authors declare no financial relationships with any organizations with interest in the submitted work., (Copyright: © 2020 The Author(s).)

Objectives: Pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma represents an understudied, rare, and aggressive histologic subtype of non-small cell lung cancer. Better understanding of rare disease subtypes allows for improved individualization of patient care. This study aimed to evaluate current trends in treatment and survival of pleomorphic carcinoma., Methods: The National Cancer Database was used to identify patients with staged, pleomorphic carcinoma and adenocarcinoma between 2004 and 2015. Patient characteristics and treatments were compared using χ 2 tests. Cox proportional hazard models examined survival by stage after controlling for confounders. Propensity score matched Kaplan-Meier curves estimated survivor functions stratified by stage. Differences in survival following treatment for stage I pleomorphic carcinoma with surgery alone versus surgery plus chemotherapy were compared with Cox proportional hazard models and Kaplan-Meier survival curves., Results: One thousand four hundred eight patients with pleomorphic carcinoma and 607,561 patients with adenocarcinoma were identified. Pleomorphic carcinoma accounted for 0.1% of all non-small cell lung cancers. Pleomorphic disease had poorer overall 5-year survival compared with adenocarcinoma for stages I through IV (49.4% vs 59.1%, 34.5% vs 43.8%, 16.9% vs 28.4%, and 5.7% vs 7.8%, respectively; P < .0047 for all). Perioperative chemotherapy was used more frequently for pleomorphic disease (17.5% vs 6.1%; P < .001). For stage I pleomorphic cancer, treatment with surgery alone (n = 253) and surgery with chemotherapy (n = 57) had overall 5-year survival rates of 55.2% and 53.7%, respectively, and were not significantly different (P = .2868)., Conclusions: Pulmonary pleomorphic carcinoma is rare and aggressive, with worse survival when compared with adenocarcinoma. Perioperative chemotherapy has not demonstrated significant survival benefits in stage I pleomorphic cancer., (Copyright © 2019 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Increased inpatient length of stay (LOS) and readmission represent significant economic burden on patients and families faced with surgical disease in low-middle income countries given limited surgical access, infrastructure, and variable insurance status., Study Aim: Identify risk factors for readmission and inpatient LOS in postoperative care in the Eastern Regional Hospital, Ghana., Study Design: Retrospective case series., Setting: Eastern Regional Hospital, Koforidua, Ghana., Methods: Data for exploratory laparotomy procedures were obtained from surgical case logs collected at the regional referral hospital in Koforidua, Eastern Region, Ghana from July 2017 to June 2018. This information was combined with the hospital electronic medical records to collect demographic data, laboratory values, and outcomes. Multivariable analyses were used to model LOS and readmission., Results: The study included 346 exploratory laparotomy procedures (286 adult, 60 pediatric) for various surgical diseases. The overall 30-day readmission rate was 9.2%. Average LOS was 12.0±20.4 days for readmitted patients and 6.7±5.5 days for patients without readmission. Readmitted patients were more likely to have had preoperative anemia (p=0.009), surgical site infection ( P =0.001), or a re-laparotomy (p=0.005). Preoperative anemia (OR=3.5 [95% CI 1.54-7.96], p=0.003) and surgical site infection (OR=3.68 [95% CI 1.36-10.00], p=0.011) were associated with increased odds of readmission. Preoperative anemia was also associated with about 3.0 additional inpatient days (p=0.001)., Conclusion: Preoperative anemia and surgical site infections represent risk factors for readmission in rural Ghana. Anemia is also associated with longer LOS. Future interventions aimed at treating anemia and preventing surgical site infections may reduce some of the post-operative burden placed on patients and their families., (© 2010 - 2018 JWACS-JCOAC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)