Search

Objective: To explore the views of women, partners, families, health workers and community leaders of potential investigations to determine the cause(s) of stillbirth, in Malawi, Tanzania and Zambia., Design: Grounded theory., Setting: Tertiary facilities and community settings in Blantyre, Malawi, Mwanza, Tanzania and Mansa, Zambia., Sample: Purposive and theoretical sampling was used to recruit 124 participants: 33 women, 18 partners, 19 family members, 29 health workers and 25 community leaders, across three countries., Methods: Semi-structured interviews were conducted using a topic guide for focus. Analysis was completed using constant comparative analysis. Sampling ceased at data saturation., Results: Women wanted to know the cause of stillbirth, but this was tempered by their fear of the implications of this knowledge; in particular, the potential for them to be blamed for the death of their baby. There were also concerns about the potential consequences of denying tradition and culture. Non-invasive investigations were most likely to be accepted on the basis of causing less 'harm' to the baby. Parents' decision-making was influenced by type of investigation, family and cultural influences and financial cost., Conclusions: Parents want to understand the cause of death, but face emotional, cultural and economic barriers to this. Offering investigations will require these barriers to be addressed, services to be available and a no-blame culture developed to improve outcomes. Community awareness, education and support for parents in making decisions are vital prior to implementing investigations in these settings., (© 2022 The Authors. BJOG: An International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Aim: This study assessed a) the impact of playing the Dignity board game on participants' understanding of respectful maternal and newborn care and b) participants' perceptions of how the game influenced their subsequent practice in Malawi and Zambia., Background: Nurse-midwives' poor understanding of respectful maternal and newborn care can lead to substandard practice; thus, effective education is pivotal. Used in several disciplines, game-based learning can facilitate skills acquisition and retention of knowledge., Design: a quasi-experimental study, using mixed-methods of data collection., Methods: Data were collected between January and November 2020. Nurse-midwives (N = 122) and students (N = 115) were recruited from public hospitals and nursing schools. Completion of paper-based questionnaires, before and after game-playing, assessed knowledge of respectful care principles and perceptions around behaviours and practice. Face-to-face interviews (n = 18) explored perceived impact of engaging with the game in clinical practice. Paired and unpaired t-test were used to compare scores. Qualitative data were analysed and reported thematically., Results: The study was completed by 215 (90.7 %) participants. Post-test scores improved significantly for both groups combined; from 25.91 (SD 3.73) pre-test to 28.07 (SD 3.46) post-test (paired t = 8.67, 95 % confidence interval 1.67-2.65), indicating an increased knowledge of respectful care principles. Nurse-midwives performed better than students, both before and after. In Malawi, the COVID pandemic prevented a third of nurse-midwives' from completing post-game questionnaires. Qualitative findings indicate the game functioned as a refresher course and helped nurse-midwives to translate principles of respectful care into practice. It was also useful for self-reflection., Conclusions: The Dignity board game has the potential to enhance understanding and practice of respectful maternal and newborn care principles in low-resource settings. Integration into nursing and midwifery curricula and in-service training for students and healthcare workers should be considered., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Introduction: Women with physical disabilities experience barriers to accessing patient-centered and accommodative care during the prenatal and childbirth periods. While there is a growing body of work in high-income countries to address these needs, there is little research detailing specific challenges in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where a woman's' burden- and need-is greatest., Methods: We conducted an integrative review to synthesize the experiences of women with physical disabilities accessing prenatal care and childbirth services in LMICs. Five databases were searched for systematic reviews, retrospective cohort studies, cross-sectional studies, narrative literature reviews, as well as other evidence types. We used Ediom's EvidenceEngine™, a machine-assisted search engine that uses artificial intelligence to conduct this search using pertinent keywords to identify original research published between January 2009 - September 2018. These results were augmented by hand searching of reference lists. Forty articles were identified using this method and 11 retained after duplicates were removed and inclusion and exclusion criteria applied., Results: Four types of experiences are described in these 11 studies: (1) limited physical and material resources; (2) health care worker knowledge, attitudes, and skills; (3) pregnant people's knowledge; and (4) public stigma and ignorance., Discussion: People with physical disabilities face specific challenges during pregnancy and childbirth. Importantly, these findings offer targets for enhanced clinical training for nurses, midwives, traditional birth attendants and public health workers, as well as opportunities for the improved delivery of prenatal care and childbirth services to these vulnerable women., (© 2022 Wiley Periodicals LLC.)

Objectives: Disrespectful care, which remains prevalent in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), acts as a barrier to women accessing skilled birth attendance, compromising care when services are available. Building on what was positive in facilities, we aimed to explore lay and healthcare providers' experience of respectful care to inform future interventions., Setting: Five maternity facilities in Mwanza Tanzania and Lilongwe Malawi., Participants: 94 participants in Malawi (N=46) and Tanzania (N=48) including 24 women birthing live baby within the previous 12 months; 22 family members and 48 healthcare providers who regularly provided maternity care in the included facilities DESIGN: The study was guided by Appreciative Inquiry (AI). Semistructured, one-to-one interviews were conducted between January and December 2019. Interviews were audio-recorded, translated where necessary, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using the framework approach., Results: Four main themes describing participants positive experience and their vision of respectful care were identified: (1) empathic healthcare provider-woman interactions including friendly welcome and courteous language, well-timed appropriate care and information sharing, (2) an enabling environment, characterised by improvement of physical environment, the use of screens, curtains and wall partitions for privacy, availability of equipment and provision of incentives to staff, (3) supportive leadership demonstrated by the commitment of the government and facility leaders to provision of respectful care, ensuring availability of guidelines and policies, supportive supervision, reflective discussion and paying staff salaries timely, (4) providers' attitudes and behaviours characterised by professional values through readiness, compassionate communication and commitment., Conclusion: The positive experiences of service users, families and healthcare providers provided insight into key drivers of respectful care in facilities in Tanzania and Malawi. Interventions targeting improved environment and privacy, healthcare provider communication and developing positive leadership structures in facilities could provide the basis for sustained improvement in respectful and dignified maternal and newborn care in LMICs., Competing Interests: Competing interests: None declared., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Objective or Purpose of Study: The objective of this retrospective study was to determine the frequency of positive findings on breast magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in patients with palpable breast abnormalities in the setting of negative mammographic and sonographic evaluations., Materials, Methods, and Procedures: Consecutive patients undergoing breast MRI for palpable abnormalities from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2015 were identified for this retrospective study. Those with preceding imaging (mammograms or ultrasounds) demonstrating positive findings related to the palpable abnormalities were excluded. The location and the duration of the symptoms, the type and the location of the abnormal MRI findings, and their relationships to the symptoms were recorded. Clinical and imaging follow-up as well as the type and the resultant biopsies were recorded. Patients with less than two years of imaging or clinical follow-up were excluded from the study., Results: 22 004 women presented with palpable abnormalities at one breast imaging center between January 1, 2005 and December 31, 2015. Nine thousand and three hundred and thirty-four patients had negative or benign findings on mammography, ultrasound, or mammography plus ultrasound. Thirty-one patients underwent MRI with the complaint of palpable abnormalities despite negative or benign mammographic and/or sonographic findings. Their age range was between 32 and 74 years, and their mean age was 49 years. Of those who had MRI, twenty-one patients had negative MRI findings. Six patients had negative concordant results for the palpable abnormalities and benign incidental findings. Three patients had benign concordant results for the palpable abnormalities, and one patient had incidental atypia. Twenty-eight patients had negative MRI results in the area of the palpable abnormality, and none of these patients underwent biopsy. Of the 31 cases, four patients (13%) underwent additional examinations (three second-look ultrasounds and one bone scan) after MRI. Five patients (16%) underwent MRI-guided biopsies, two patients (6%) underwent ultrasound-guided biopsies, and one patient (3%) had an excision. All biopsies showed benign results. The Gail risk score was calculated for 22 of them and the mean 5-year risk was 1.64 and the mean lifetime risk was 12.51., Conclusion: Breast MRI to evaluate palpable abnormalities after negative mammography and ultrasound results in a low yield for malignancy. The majority of patients (67.7%) had negative MRI examinations, and there were no malignancies detected. Our findings lead us to believe that there are no data to encourage the use of MRI in patients with palpable abnormalities and negative mammographic and/or ultrasound studies., (© 2020 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.)

Background: Several performance-based financing (PBF) evaluations have been undertaken in low-income countries, yet few have examined community perspectives of care amid PBF programme implementation. We assessed community members' perspectives of Support for Service Delivery Integration - Performance-Based Incentives ('SSDI-PBI'), a PBF intervention in Malawi, and explored some of the unintended effects that emerged amid implementation., Methods: We conducted 30 focus group discussions: 17 with community leaders and 13 with mothers within catchment areas of SSDI-PBI implementing facilities. We analysed data using the framework approach., Results: Community leaders and women had mixed impressions regarding the effect of SSDI-PBI on service delivery in facilities. They highlighted several improvements (including improved dialogue between staff and community, and cleaner, better-equipped facilities with enhanced privacy), but also persisting challenges (including inadequate and overworked staff, overcrowded facilities and long distances to facilities) related to services in SSDI-PBI-implementing facilities. Further, respondents described how four targeted service indicators related to maternal risk factor management, antenatal care (ANC) in the first trimester, skilled birth attendance and couple's HIV testing sparked unintended negative effects as experienced by women and communities. The unintended effects included women returning home for delivery, women feeling uncertain about their pregnancy status, women feeling betrayed or frustrated by the quality of care provided and partnerless women being denied ANC., Conclusion: PBF programmes such as SSDI-PBI may improve some aspects of service delivery. However, to achieve system improvement, not only should necessary tools (such as medicines, equipment and human resources) be in place, but also programme priorities must be congruent with cultural expectations. Finally, facilities must be better supported to expect and then address increases in client load and heightened expectations in relation to services., Competing Interests: Competing interests: Both the implementation team and the evaluation team are funded by USAID through two independent funding streams for implementation and evaluation efforts, respectively., (© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.)

Objective: To evaluate the association between retrospective peer review of breast magnetic resonance imaging-guided vacuum-assisted needle biopsies and positive predictive value of subsequent magnetic resonance imaging-guided biopsies., Materials and Methods: In January, 2015, a weekly conference was initiated in our institution to evaluate all breast magnetic resonance imaging-guided vacuum-assisted needle biopsies performed over January 1, 2014-December 31, 2015. During this weekly conferences, breast dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging findings of 6 anonymized cases were discussed and then the faculty voted on whether they agree with the biopsy indication, accurate sampling and radiology-pathology correlation. We retrospectively reviewed and compared the magnetic resonance imaging indication, benign or malignant pathology rates, lesion types and the positive predictive value of magnetic resonance imaging-guided vacuum-assisted needle biopsy in the years before and after initiating this group peer review., Results: The number of dynamic contrast-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging and magnetic resonance imaging-guided vacuum-assisted needle biopsies before and after initiating the review were 1447 vs 1596 (p=0.0002), and 253 (17.5%) vs 203 (12.7%) (p=0.04), respectively. There was a significant decrease in the number of benign biopsies in 2015 (n=104) compared to 2014 (n=154, p=0.04). The positive predictive value of magnetic resonance imaging-guided biopsy significantly increased after group review was implemented (Positive predictive value in 2014=%39.1 and positive predictive value in 2015=%48.8) (p=0.03), although the indications (p=0.49), history of breast cancer (p=0.14), biopsied magnetic resonance imaging lesion types (p=0.53) were not different. Less surgical excision was performed on magnetic resonance imaging-guided vacuum-assisted needle biopsy identified high-risk lesions in 2015 (p=0.25)., Conclusion: Our study showed an association between retrospective peer review of past biopsies and increased positive predictive value of magnetic resonance imaging-guided vacuum-assisted needle biopsies in our institution., Competing Interests: Conflict of Interest: The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (Copyright © 2019 Turkish Federation of Breast Diseases Associations.)

Background: Most inflammatory breast cancer (IBC) patients have axillary disease at presentation. Current standard is axillary lymph node dissection (ALND) after neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT). Advances in NACT have improved pathologic complete response (pCR) rates increasing interest in performing sentinel lymph node (SLN) biopsy (SLNB). Previous studies on SLNB for IBC patients did not assess nodal response with imaging or use dual tracer mapping. We sought to prospectively determine false negative rates of SLNB in IBC patients using dual tracer mapping, and to correlate pathology with preoperative axillary imaging., Patients and Methods: Patients with IBC were prospectively enrolled. Patients underwent axillary staging with physical examination and axillary ultrasound before and after NACT. All patients underwent SLNB using blue dye and radioisotope, followed by ALND., Results: Sixteen patients were prospectively enrolled. Clinical N stage was N0 in 1 patient, N1 in 8, and N3 in 7. SLN mapping was successful in only 4 patients (25%) with 12 (75%) not draining either tracer to a SLN. Three of the 4 (75%) who mapped had an axillary pCR. The patient who mapped but did not have an axillary pCR had a positive SLNB with additional axillary nodal disease identified on ALND. All patients who successfully mapped had presumed residual nodal disease on preoperative axillary ultrasound., Conclusion: SLNB was unsuccessful in most IBC patients. A small subset who have pCR might undergo successful SLNB, but preoperative axillary imaging failed to identify these patients. ALND should remain standard practice for IBC patients., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Cryoablation is a well-established technique to treat fibroadenomas. Pilot studies suggest this could be an effective non-surgical treatment for breast cancer. American College of Surgeons Oncology Group Z1072 is a phase II trial exploring the effectiveness of cryoablation in the treatment of breast cancers., Methods: The primary endpoint of Z1072 was the rate of complete tumor ablation, defined as no remaining invasive breast cancer (IBC) or ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) on pathologic examination of the targeted lesion. A secondary objective was to evaluate the negative predictive value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to determine residual IBC or DCIS. Eligible patients included those with unifocal invasive ductal breast cancer ≤2 cm, with <25 % intraductal component and tumor enhancement on MRI. A total of 19 centers contributed 99 patients, of which 86 patients (87 breast cancers) were evaluable for data analysis., Results: Final pathology results, regardless of whether residual IBC/DCIS was in the targeted ablation zone or elsewhere in the breast, showed successful ablation in 66/87 (75.9 %) cancers. The 90 % confidence interval for the estimate of successful cryoablation was 67.1-83.2, with the one-sided lower-sided 90 % CI of 69.0. The negative predictive value of MRI was 81.2 % (90 % CI 71.4-88.8). When multifocal disease outside of the targeted cryoablation zone was not defined as an ablation failure, 80/87 (92 %) of the treated cancers had a successful cryoablation., Conclusion: Further studies with modifications on the Z1072 protocol could be considered to evaluate the role for cryoablation as a non-surgical treatment of early-stage breast cancer.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to test the feasibility of 3-T vacuum-assisted large-bore core biopsy of lesions detected with MRI of the breast., Conclusion: Our preliminary experience revealed that 3-T MRI-guided vacuum-assisted biopsy is a safe and effective interventional method that enables accurate biopsy of lesions identified with a 3-T MRI system. Artifacts on 3-T images did not result in failed biopsy; therefore, 3-T MRI systems can be used reliably for both diagnostic and interventional breast studies.

Unlabelled: The majority of patients with cancer use some form of complementary or alternative medicine. External qigong treatment (EQT), classified as a bioenergy therapy, is one such approach that patients combine with conventional medicine or, in some cases, use in place of conventional medicine. This study aimed to determine whether EQT could shrink breast cancer tumors and improve quality of life (QOL) in women with pathologically confirmed breast cancer awaiting surgery. A total of 9 women with pathologically confirmed breast cancer were recruited from large cancer centers in the United States (n = 5) and China (n = 4). A single-arm pre/post design was used. Each patient underwent 5 consecutive days of EQT, with each treatment lasting from 2 to 5 minutes. All treatments were performed by the same qigong master. Tumor measurements were made before and after the EQT sessions. Tumor assessments were conducted prior to study initiation and following the last EQT. Patients underwent both an ultrasound and mammogram (United States) or an ultrasound and magnetic resonance imaging (China). All patients also underwent physical breast examinations (PBEs) and completed QOL questionnaires before and after the last EQT. No clinical changes in tumor measurements from pre- to post-EQT were noted. There was also no suggestion of change in tumor size by PBE or change in QOL. Using the current, Study Design: EQT also does not appear to have any effect on patient QOL. Because of the small sample size and working with only one qigong practitioner, to definitively determine the efficacy or lack of efficacy of EQT, a larger study with multiple qigong practitioners would need to be conducted.