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The use of cardiac CT (CCT) has increased dramatically in recent years among patients with pediatric and congenital heart disease (CHD), but little is known about trends and practice pattern variation in CCT utilization for this population among centers. A 21-item survey was created to assess CCT utilization in the pediatric/CHD population in calendar years 2011 and 2021. The survey was sent to all non-invasive cardiac imaging directors of pediatric cardiology centers in North America in September 2022. Forty-one centers completed the survey. In 2021, 98% of centers performed CCT in pediatric and CHD patients (vs. 73% in 2011), and 61% of centers performed >100 CCTs annually (vs. 5% in 2011). While 62% of centers in 2021 utilized dual-source technology for high-pitch helical acquisition, 15% of centers reported primarily performing CCT on a 64-slice scanner. Anesthesia utilization, use of medications for heart rate control, and type of subspecialty training for physicians interpreting CCT varied widely among centers. 50% of centers reported barriers to CCT performance, with the most commonly cited concerns being radiation exposure, the need for anesthesia, and limited CT scan staffing or machine access. 37% (11/30) of centers with a pediatric cardiology fellowship program offer no clinical or didactic CCT training for categorical fellows. While CCT usage in the CHD/pediatric population has risen significantly in the past decade, there is broad center variability in CCT acquisition techniques, staffing, workflow, and utilization. Potential areas for improvement include expanding CT scanner access and staffing, formal CCT education for pediatric cardiology fellows, and increasing utilization of existing technological advances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Restorative practices (RP) in K-12 schools in the United States have grown exponentially since the early 1990s. Developing against a backdrop of systemic racism, RP has become embedded in education practice and policy to counteract the harmful and persistent patterns of disparities in school discipline experienced by students of color. Within this legal, social, and political context, the empirical evidence that has been gathered on school-based restorative justice has framed and named RP as a behavioral intervention aimed at reducing discipline incidents—that is, an “alternative” to punitive and exclusionary practices. While this view of RP is central to dismantling discriminatory systems, we argue it reflects an unnecessarily limited understanding of its potential and has generated unintended consequences in the field of RP research. First, the reactive RP model of analysis focuses more exclusively on behavioral change, rather than systemic improvement, to address discipline disparities. Second, RP research has insufficiently examined the potential role of RP in achieving health justice. Third, RP research too rarely engages in intersectional analyses that critically examine gendered racism. This study is intended as a course correction. Building on the work of legal scholars, public health researchers, sociologists, restorative justice practitioners, and our own prior work, this original study is the first to examine non-disciplinary RP through a critical race feminist lens, and—just as importantly—a public health praxis. Our findings reveal that the interplay between RP and adolescent health, race, and gender can no longer be overlooked. Proactive non-disciplinary RP was found to promote supportive school environments that enhance five key protective health factors for Black and Latina girls. Additionally, results indicate that RP improved the mental health and wellbeing of Black and Latina girls, building fundamental resilience skills that can help overcome the complex array of social structures that serve to disempower and disenfranchise girls and harm their educational and health outcome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Dosimetric predictors of toxicity after Stereotactic Body Radiation Therapy (SBRT) are not well-established. We sought to develop a multivariate model that predicts Common Terminology Criteria for Adverse Events (CTCAE) late grade 2 or greater genitourinary (GU) toxicity by interrogating the entire dose-volume histogram (DVH) from a large cohort of prostate cancer patients treated with SBRT on prospective trials. Methods: Three hundred and thirty-nine patients with late CTCAE toxicity data treated with prostate SBRT were identified and analyzed. All patients received 40 Gy in five fractions, every other day, using volumetric modulated arc therapy. For each patient, we examined 910 candidate dosimetric features including maximum dose, volumes of each organ [CTV, organs at risk (OARs)], V100%, and other granular volumetric/dosimetric indices at varying volumetric/dosimetric values from the entire DVH as well as ADT use to model and predict toxicity from SBRT. Training and validation subsets were generated with 90 and 10% of the patients in our cohort, respectively. Predictive accuracy was assessed by calculating the area under the receiver operating curve (AROC). Univariate analysis with student t -test was first performed on each candidate DVH feature. We subsequently performed advanced machine-learning multivariate analyses including classification and regression tree (CART), random forest, boosted tree, and multilayer neural network. Results: Median follow-up time was 32.3 months (range 3–98.9 months). Late grade ≥2 GU toxicity occurred in 20.1% of patients in our series. No single dosimetric parameter had an AROC for predicting late grade ≥2 GU toxicity on univariate analysis that exceeded 0.599. Optimized CART modestly improved prediction accuracy, with an AROC of 0.601, whereas other machine learning approaches did not improve upon univariate analyses. Conclusions: CART-based machine learning multivariate analyses drawing from 910 dosimetric features and ADT use modestly improves upon clinical prediction of late GU toxicity alone, yielding an AROC of 0.601. Biologic predictors may enhance predictive models for identifying patients at risk for late toxicity after SBRT. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: To assess the optimal planning target volume (PTV) margins for stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) of prostate cancer based on inter- and intra-fractional prostate motion determined from daily image guidance. Methods and Materials: Two hundred and five patients who were enrolled on two prospective studies of SBRT (8 Gy × 5 fractions) for localized prostate cancer treated at a single institution between 2012 and 2017 had complete inter- and intra-fractional shift data available. All patients had scheduled kilovoltage planar imaging during SBRT with rigid registration to intraprostatic fiducials prior to each of four half-arcs delivered per fraction, as well as cone beam CT verification of anatomy prior to each fraction. Inter- and intra- fractional shift data were obtained to estimate the required PTV margins based on the classic van Herk formula. Inter- and intra-fractional motion were compared between patients with and without severe toxicities using the independent two-sample Wilcoxon test. Results: The margins required to account for inter-fractional motion were estimated to be 0.99, 1.52, and 1.45 cm in lateral (LR), longitudinal (SI), and vertical (AP) directions, respectively. The margins required to account for intra-fractional motion were estimated to be 0.19, 0.27, and 0.31 cm in LR, SI and AP directions, respectively. Large intra-fractional shifts were mostly observed in the SI and AP directions, with 2.0 and 5.4% of patients experiencing average intra-fractional motion >3 mm in the SI and AP directions, respectively, compared with none experiencing mean shifts >3 mm in the LR direction. Six patients experienced grade 3 gastrointestinal or genitourinary toxicity. There were no significant differences in mean inter- or intra-fractional motion in any of the cardinal directions compared to patients without severe toxicity (inter-fractional p = 0.46–0.99, intra-fractional p = 0.10–0.84). Conclusion: The inter- and intra-fractional margins estimated from this study are in line with prior reported values. Intra-fractional prostate motion was generally small with larger margins required for the SI and AP directions, notably just slightly exceeding the commonly used 3 mm posterior PTV margin even with realignment between half-arcs. Development of severe toxicity was not significantly associated with the degree of inter- or intra-fractional motion. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents case study of a 7-year-old Ashkenazi male who was diagnosed with autoimmune pancreatitis with obstructive cholangitis. It mentions that liver biopsy showed inflammatory changes consistent with an obstructive cholangitis, including bile ductular reaction and portal neutrophilic infiltration with edema. It presents information on importance of including AIP in differential diagnosis for children with idiopathic pancreatitis.

Focuses on the implications of the United States Supreme Court Case, 'Alexander v. Sandoval,' on the implementation of civil rights law in the country. Legality of the English-only policy in Alabama cited in the case; Section 1983 claims implicated in the case.

The article discusses various reports published within the issue, including one by Liz Watson and Peter Edelman on the juvenile justice system for girls, and another on policy approach in serving young mothers and their families through school-based interventions.

Opinion Statement: Acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) in the elderly is complex and has a poor prognosis, often characterized by higher risk cytogenetic and molecular features compared to that in younger patients. Rates of transplant have been limited by concern related to non-relapse mortality, as older patients have historically been considered medically unfit for the transplantation process. Reduced-intensity conditioning (RIC) for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) has been shown to provide similar efficacy to myeloablative methods, with decreased non-relapse mortality in the elderly and improved efficacy over non-transplant approaches with cytotoxic chemotherapy alone. Targeted non-cytotoxic and modified cytotoxic agents have emerged to further improve transplant outcomes for older AML patients. Validated comorbidity indices are useful tools to assess an individual's fitness for undergoing HSCT rather than chronological age alone. We believe HSCT is the primary curative treatment approach for many older AML patients, taking into account risk and comorbidities, particularly given the tendency of leukemia in this population to harbor an unfavorable disease profile. We use RIC and advocate for the addition of targeted agents if applicable. With continuing data in support of transplant for older AML patients, we anticipate that transplant rates in this population will continue to rise. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS) historically has been used to treat multiple brain lesions using a multiple-isocenter technique-frequently associated with significant complexity in treatment planning and long treatment times. Recently, given innovations in planning algorithms, patients with multiple brain lesions may now be treated with a single-isocenter technique using fewer total arcs and less time spent during image guidance (though with stricter image guided radiation therapy tolerances). This study used time-driven activity-based costing to determine the difference in cost to a provider for delivering SRS to multiple brain lesions using single-isocenter versus multiple-isocenter techniques.Methods and Materials: Process maps, consisting of discrete steps, were created for each phase of the SRS care cycle and were based on interviews with department personnel. Actual treatment times (including image guidance) were extracted from treatment record and verify software. Additional sources of data to determine costs included salary/benefit data of personnel and average list price/maintenance costs for equipment.Results: Data were collected for 22 patients who underwent single-isocenter SRS (mean lesions treated, 5.2; mean treatment time, 30.2 minutes) and 51 patients who underwent multiple-isocenter SRS (mean lesions treated, 4.4; mean treatment time, 75.2 minutes). Treatment time for multiple-isocenter SRS varied substantially with increasing number of lesions (11.8 minutes/lesion; P < .001), but to a much lesser degree in single-isocenter SRS (1.8 minutes/lesion; P = .029). The resulting cost savings from single-isocenter SRS based on number of lesions treated ranged from $296 to $3878 for 2 to 10 lesions treated. The 2-mm planning treatment volume margin used with single-isocenter SRS resulted in a mean 43% increase of total volume treated compared with a 1-mm planning treatment volume expansion.Conclusions: In a comparison of time-driven activity-based costing assessment of single-isocenter versus multiple-isocenter SRS for multiple brain lesions, single-isocenter SRS appears to save time and resources for as few as 2 lesions, with incremental benefits for additional lesions treated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]