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Byline: Priyanka. Patel, Asha. Anand, Sonia. Parikh, Akash. Patel, Rahul. Kulkarni Burkitt lymphoma is a high-grade B-cell lymphoma with aggressive course of disease and primarily systemic nodal involvement. Primary Burkitt [...]

Objective: While instructional videos are commonly used in surgical education, there is a paucity of data on home laparoscopic box trainers. This pilot study evaluated impacts of augmenting instructional videos with these devices. Design: This was a randomized controlled pilot study evaluating laparoscopic surgical performance on the LapSim virtual surgical simulator before and after a 2 week curriculum of instructional videos alone (n = 8, 47.1%) vs videos plus a home laparoscopic box trainer (n = 9, 52.9%). The LapSim recorded mistake number, time, and instrument path length to complete each task. Participants completed surveys about their perceptions of surgery before and after the course. Participants: Preclinical medical students were recruited. Those with extensive surgical experience or did not complete the course were excluded. Results: For the box trainer group vs the videos alone group: mean change in mistakes was −10.0 (standard deviation [SD]:17.1) vs +.5 (SD:21.59) (P =.28); mean change in time was −433.24 (SD:304.67) seconds vs −366.16 (SD:240.10) seconds (P =.62); mean change in instrument path length was −4.27 (SD:4.38) meters vs −3.19 (SD:4.86) meters (P =.64). The box trainer group ranked "I feel as though surgery comes naturally" 1.58 points higher (95% confidence interval [CI]:.85, 2.32; P <.01) and "I am worried about being skilled at surgery" 1.26 points lower (95% CI: 2.29, −.24; P =.02) upon completing the study. The videos alone group reported no significant changes in survey responses. Conclusion: Home laparoscopic box trainers can generate confidence and reduce anxiety regarding surgical fields. This study provides a framework for future larger scale works. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Byline: Rahul. Kulkarni, Sonia. Parikh, Asha. Anand, Harsha. Panchal, Apurva. Patel, Priti. Trivedi, Kshitij. Joshi, Pushpak. Chirmade Solitary plasmacytoma of the bone (SPB) is a rare plasma cell neoplasm representing [...]

BACKGROUND: Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) is a rare acquired hematological disorder characterized by episodic intravascular hemolysis. Despite newer therapies such as eculizumab, hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) remains the only curative therapy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: An observational analytical retrospective study was conducted comprising eight PNH patients who had undergone HSCT at our center. From January 2014 to December 2020, we performed HSCT in 8 PNH patients, 5 female and 3 male, with median age of 32 years (range: 15–38 years). RESULTS: Seven patients had pancytopenia, associated with marrow hypocellularity. One patient presented with a thrombotic episode. Seven had matched sibling donor (MSD) transplant and one underwent haploidentical transplant. The median time from diagnosis to transplant was 7 months (range: 1–38 months). All received reduced intensity conditioning (RIC): Flu-Bu-Cy-A TG for MSD transplants and Flu-A TG-Post Cy in haploidentical transplants. Median CD34+ stem cell dose was 5.5 × 106/kg (range 3.4–5.8 × 106/kg). All had successful engraftment. Acute graft versus host disease (GVHD) Grade I–III occurred in six patients. Chronic GVHD occurred in two patients. One patient succumbed to Grade III liver GVHD. Rest seven patients are alive till date and transfusion independent. The overall survival was 87.5% at a median of 26 months. CONCLUSIONS: HSCT is the only curative therapy for PNH. With the use of RIC, the outcomes of PNH patients can be improved. The incidence of GVHD is high with RIC regimens but can be managed with prompt immunosuppression. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]