Penn Evidence-Based Literature Review (PEBLR)

Summarized highlights from contemporary literature in surgical and allied disciplines for general surgery residents.

Non-Surgical Disciplines

Effect of Flexible Family Visitation on Delirium Among Patients in the Intensive Care Unit: The ICU Visits Randomized Clinical Trial
Rosa RG et al. JAMA 2019
Contributor: Grace S. Lee-Riddle

Brief Summary

Synopsis: Preliminary studies suggest that flexible ICU visiting hours (up to 12 hours per day) have beneficial effects on patient delirium, stress reduction, and family satisfaction, but potentially detrimental effects on patient care via infections, disorganized/disrupted care, and provider burnout. The default policy of most ICUs is to have restricted visiting hours (<4.5 hours per day). In this cluster-crossover randomized trial in Brazil, ICUs were randomized to flexible followed by restrictive visiting policies or vice versa to assess patient, caregiver, and provider outcomes. The primary outcome was incidence of delirium, secondary outcomes included ICU-acquired infections, 7-day ventilator-free days, LOS, hospital mortality, caregiver anxiety, caregiver depression, caregiver satisfaction, clinician burnout, and tertiary outcomes included use of restraints, self-perception of involvement, perceived disorganization of care, and conflicts with visitors. The study recruited 1685 patients, 1060 family members, and 737 clinicians from April 2017 to June 2018. Family had a daily mean visit duration of 4.8 hours vs 1.4 hours in flexible vs restricted policies. There was no significant difference in the incidence of delirium (18.9% in flexible vs 20.1% in restricted) as well as no difference in ICU-acquired infections, ventilator-free days, LOS, mortality, and provider burnout. There was statistically significant improvement in caregiver anxiety, depression, and satisfaction. Therefore, the study concludes that flexible visitation policies did not improve ICU delirium but did improve the experience of family and caregivers without harm to patients or disruption to the ICU care team. Limitations include middle-income country setting that may not be generalizable, short duration of visiting time with patients despite flexible visiting hours, and lack of long-term follow-up on the impact on provider burnout. 

Colon and Rectal Surgery

Mechanical and oral antibiotic bowel preparation versus no bowel preparation for elective colectomy (MOBILE): a multicenter, randomised, parallel, single-blinded trial
Koskenvuo L, et al. Lancet. 2019 August, epub ahead of print.
Contributor: Andrew Newton

Brief Summary

Synopsis: Several randomized controlled trials have compared mechanical and oral antibiotic bowel preparation (MOABP) with mechanical bowel preparation (MBP) alone, and show benefit in favor of MOABP in reducing the incidence and severity of skin and soft tissue infections (SSIs). However, evidence supporting MOABP relative to no bowel preparation (NBP) has previously been supported by NSQIP-derived retrospective analyses, without prospective confirmation. In this multicenter RCT from 4 hospitals in Finland, 417 patients were randomized 1:1 to receive MOABP (n=196) versus NBP (n=200) prior to elective colectomy. The MOABP consisted of 2 L of polyethylene glycol and 1 L of clear fluid at 6 PM, 2 g of neomycin at 7 PM, and 2 g of metronidazole at 11 PM the night before surgery. The study found no difference in the rate of SSI (13/196(7%) vs. 21/200(11%), OR 1.65[95% CI 0.80-3.40]) with MOABP compared to NBP. There was also no difference in incidence of anastomotic dehiscence (7(4%) vs. 8(4%)), reoperation (16(8%) vs. 13(7%)), or readmission (12(6%) vs. 13(7%)) with MOABP vs. NBP. The authors conclude that MOABP does not reduced SSIs or morbidity of elective colon surgery compared to NBP. Unique features of this study are: 1) it is the only randomized trial comparing MOABP and NBP prior to elective colon resection, and 2) it included predominately right sided colon resections (56%) – which may be lower risk for SSI. The primary limitation in this study is relatively small sample size. While there was an appropriate power analysis, there may be a small but clinically significant difference in SSI rate between the MOABP and NBP that was too small to detect in this trial. It should also be noted that the rate of laparoscopic procedures in this study (78%) was significantly higher than the rate in most previous studies examining the impact of bowel preparation strategy on SSI, which may also contribute to the disparate results. 

Transplantation

Normothermic perfusion and outcomes after liver transplantation
Hessheimer AJ et al. Transplant Rev (Orlando). 2019 Jun 15. pii: S0955-470X(19)30004-7.
Contributor: Liza Sonnenberg

Brief Summary

Synopsis: Ischemia during organ transport can contribute to graft deterioration and adverse outcomes. There is a scarcity of liver donors, leading to the increase in interest in marginal donors (older, donation after cardiac death, etc). Normothermic perfusion can be used to restore flow to the organ and has been describe in two settings: post-mortem in situ or ex vivo. Penn is one of the US sites participating in the US OrganOx trial so you might take care of some patients who have had normothermic machine perfusion while on transplant!

  • Normothermic Regional Perfusion (post-mortem in situ)
    a. Target donors: donation after cardiac death (controlled or uncontrolled)
    b. Clinical Benefits: Two large multicenter trials report decreased biliary complication (8% vs. 31% with standard cold storage) and graft loss (12% vs. 24%)
  • Normothermic Machine Perfusion (ex vivo)
    a. Target donors: marginal donors
    b. Clinical Benefits: Main studies have shown a decreased in peak AST but no difference in major outcomes (possibly underpowered). The other application has been to test and recovery marginal livers that might otherwise be discarded. The liver grafts must meet a number of clinical parameters (such as clearing lactate within 4 hours). The largest experience has been in the United Kingdom which reports that 22/31 livers that would have otherwise been discarded were transplanted into low-risk recipients. There was no primary graft non-function and 90-day survival was 100%. There was a high rate of biliary complication among grafts from DCD donors (30%).  
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