Search results for " Routine"
showing 10 items of 74 documents
Role of the GALAD and BALAD-2 Serologic Models in Diagnosis of Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Prediction of Survival in Patients.
2016
Background & Aims GALAD and BALAD-2 are statistical models for estimating the likelihood of the presence of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in individual patients with chronic liver disease and the survival of patients with HCC, respectively. Both models use objective measures, particularly the serum markers α-fetoprotein (AFP), AFP-L3, and des-γ-carboxyprothrombin. We aimed to validate these models in an international cohort of patients with HCC and assess their clinical performance. Methods We collected data on cancer diagnosis and outcomes of 6834 patients (2430 with HCC and 4404 with chronic liver disease) recruited from Germany, Japan, and Hong Kong. We also collected data from 229 pati…
Body Mass Index and Liver Stiffness Affect Accuracy of Ultrasonography in Detecting Steatosis in Patients With Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Genotype 1 I…
2013
Background & Aims: Few studies have evaluated the accuracy of ultrasonography in detecting steatosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C. We assessed its accuracy in detecting steatosis and factors that affect its diagnostic performance in consecutive patients with chronic hepatitis C virus genotype 1infection. Methods: We analyzed data from 515 patients with chronic hepatitis C, confirmed by liver biopsy, assessing anthropometric, biochemical, metabolic, virologic, and ultrasonography features. Transient elastography was performed to measure liver stiffness. Steatosis was identified with ultrasonography based on detection of a bright liver echo pattern. Results: Ultrasonography identified…
Vitamin D kinetics in the acute phase of critical illness: A prospective observational study.
2017
Abstract Purpose The objective of this study was to assess the vitamin D kinetics in critically ill patients by performing periodic serum vitamin D measurements in short time intervals in the initial phase of a critical illness. Materials and methods We performed vitamin D serum measurements: at admission and then in 12-hour time intervals. The minimum number of vitamin D measurements was 4, and the maximum was 8 per patient. Results A total of 363 patients were evaluated for participation, and 20 met the inclusion criteria. All patients had an initial serum vitamin D level between 10.6 and 39 ng/mL. Nineteen patients had vitamin D levels between 10 and 30 ng/mL, which means that they had v…
Is Routine Preoperative Upper Endoscopy in Gastric Banding Patients Really Necessary?
2006
Background: Preoperative evaluation for bariatric surgery is complex. Our investigation focused on the necessity for upper gastrointestinal (GI) endoscopy as a routine procedure before performing gastric banding. Methods: A consecutive series of 145 patients underwent laparoscopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB). Gastroscopy was performed routinely before LAGB. All patients were interviewed before gastroscopy regarding gastroesophageal symptoms. Gastroscopic findings and the results of the interview were blinded and set in comparison. Furthermore, we analyzed whether upper GI symptoms, BMI, age or gender were predictive parameters for pathological findings on gastroscopy. Small hiatal her…
Lens-vault analysis and its correlation with other biometric parameters using swept-source OCT
2021
Purpose To measure lens vault (LV) and to assess its correlation with various ocular parameters in healthy eyes, using for all measurements the same high-resolution swept-source optical coherence tomographer (SS-OCT). Methods We prospectively recruited 67 Caucasian healthy patients whose mean age was 41.9 ± 12.4 years; only their right eye was included in the study. Data were all recorded with the ANTERION SS-OCT and comprised, for each patient, 5 consecutive measurements of LV, anterior chamber depth (ACD), lens thickness (LT), axial length (AL), white-to-white (WTW) distance, central corneal thickness (CCT), anterior chamber volume (ACV) and spur-to-spur (STS) distance. Results Mean LV wa…
Identifying women with gestational diabetes based on maternal characteristics: an analysis of four Norwegian prospective studies
2021
Abstract Background There is still no worldwide agreement on the best diagnostic thresholds to define gestational diabetes (GDM) or the optimal approach for identifying women with GDM. Should all pregnant women perform an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) or can easily available maternal characteristics, such as age, BMI and ethnicity, indicate which women to test? The aim of this study was to assess the prevalence of GDM by three diagnostic criteria and the predictive accuracy of commonly used risk factors. Methods We merged data from four Norwegian cohorts (2002–2013), encompassing 2981 women with complete results from a universally offered OGTT. Prevalences were estimated based on the f…
Preoperative assessment of breast cancer: sonography versus MR imaging.
2002
The purposes of our study were to compare the diagnostic value of whole-breast sonography and MR imaging as adjunctive techniques to mammography and to determine whether MR imaging should be used routinely in the preoperative assessment of patients with suspected breast cancer.. One hundred four women (age range, 34-84 years; mean age, 60 years) with findings highly suggestive of malignancy in the breast were examined with mammography, sonography, and dynamic MR imaging before undergoing surgery. All visualized suspicious lesions were correlated histologically. The diagnostic relevance of sonographic and MR imaging findings was compared with the diagnostic value of the findings of clinical …
New quality regulations versus established nursing home practice: a qualitative study
2012
Published version of an article from the journal: BMC Nursing. Also available from Bio Med Central:http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1472-6955-11-7 Open Access Background Western governments have initiated reforms to improve the quality of care for nursing home residents. Most of these reforms encompass the use of regulations and national quality indicators. In the Norwegian context, these regulations comprise two pages of text that are easy to read and understand. They focus particularly on residents’ rights to plan their day-to-day life in nursing homes. However, the research literature indicates that the implementation of the new regulations, particularly if they aim to change nursing practice, …
Coverage, efficacy or dosing interval: which factor predominantly influences the impact of routine childhood vaccination for the prevention of varice…
2016
Background Varicella is a highly infectious disease with a significant public health and economic burden, which can be prevented with childhood routine varicella vaccination. Vaccination strategies differ by country. Some factors are known to play an important role (number of doses, coverage, dosing interval, efficacy and catch-up programmes), however, their relative impact on the reduction of varicella in the population remains unclear. This paper aims to help policy makers prioritise the critical factors to achieve the most successful vaccination programme with the available budget. Methods Scenarios assessed the impact of different vaccination strategies on reduction of varicella disease…
Optimization of Labeling PSMAHBED with Ethanol-Postprocessed 68Ga and Its Quality Control Systems
2017
Radiolabeling of the prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA) inhibitor Glu-NH-CO-NH-Lys(Ahx) using the 68Ga chelator HBED-CC (PSMAHBED) allows imaging of prostate cancer lesions because of high expression of PSMA in prostate carcinoma cells and in bone metastases and lymph nodes related to the disease. The aim of this work was to optimize labeling of 68Ga-PSMAHBED using the efficient cation-exchange postprocessing of 68Ga as well as the development of a thin-layer chromatography (TLC)-based quality control system. Methods: Labeling was optimized for online ethanol-postprocessed 68Ga eluate investigating various parameters, such as buffer molarity (0.1-1 M), temperature (25°C-90°C), tracer…