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Biomedical subjects

B Lenfesty

Publications and source records attributed to B Lenfesty.

6 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2005

Derivation of a clinical decision rule to guide the interhospital transfer of patients with blunt traumatic brain injury.

OBJECTIVE: To derive a clinical decision rule for people with traumatic brain injury (TBI) that enables early identification of patients requiring specialised trauma care. METHODS: We collected data from 1999 through 2003 on a retrospective cohort of consecutive people aged 18-65 years with a serious head injury (AIS > or =3), transported directly from the scene of injury, and evaluated in the ED. Information on 22 demographical, physiological, radiographic, and lab variables was collected. Resource based "high therapeutic intensity" measures occurring within 72 hours of ED arrival (the outcome measure) were identified a priori and included: neurosurgical intervention, exploratory laparotomy, intensive care interventions, or death. We used classification and regression tree analysis to derive and cross validate the decision rule. RESULTS: 504 consecutive trauma patients were identified as having a serious head injury: 246 (49%) required at least one of the HTI measures. Five ED variables (GCS, respiratory rate, age, temperature, and pulse rate) identified subjects requiring at least one of the HTI measures with 94% sensitivity (95% CI 91 to 97%) and 63% specificity (95% CI 57 to 69%) in the derivation sample, and 90% sensitivity and 55% specificity using cross validation. CONCLUSIONS: This decision rule identified among a cohort of head injured patients evaluated in the ED the majority of those who urgently required specialised trauma care. The rule will require prospective validation in injured people presenting to non-tertiary care hospitals before implementation can be recommended.

Adolescent↗
PubMed2000

Management of the geriatric trauma patient at risk of death: therapy withdrawal decision making.

HYPOTHESIS: The management of geriatric injured patients admitted to a trauma center includes the selective decision to provide comfort care only, including withdrawal of therapy, and a choice to not use full application of standard therapies. The decision makers in this process include multiple individuals in addition to the patient. DESIGN: Retrospective review of documentation by 2 blinded reviewers of the cohort of patients over a recent 5-year period (1993-1997). SETTING: Trauma service of a level I trauma center. PATIENTS: A convenience sample of patients aged 65 years and older who died, and whose medical record was available for review. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Patients were categorized as having withdrawal of therapy, and documentation in the medical record of who made the assessment decisions and recommendations, and to what extent the processes of care were documented. RESULTS: Among 87 geriatric trauma patients who died, 47 had documentation interpreted as indicating a decision was made to withdraw therapy. In only a few circumstances was the patient capable of actively participating in these decisions. The other individuals involved in recommendations for withdrawal of therapy were, in order of prevalence, the treating trauma surgeon, family members (as proxy reporting the patient's preferences), or a second physician. Documentation regarding the end-of-life decisions was often fragmentary, and in some cases ambiguous. Copies of legal advance directives were rarely available in the medical record, and ethics committee participation was used only once. CONCLUSIONS: Withdrawal of therapy is a common event in the terminal care of geriatric injured patients. The process for reaching a decision regarding withdrawal of therapy is complex because in most circumstances patients' injuries preclude their full participation. Standards for documentation of essential information, including patients' preferences and decision-making ability, should be developed to improve the process and assist with recording these complicated decisions that often occur over several days of discussion.

Advance Directives↗
PubMed1988

Anatomical heterogeneity of parathyroid glands in posttransplant hyperparathyroidism.

Successful renal transplantation may be complicated by persistent hyperparathyroidism due to diffuse parathyroid hyperplasia remaining from a prolonged period of pretransplant chronic renal failure treatment. Posttransplant hyperparathyroidism is distinct from primary hyperparathyroidism, being characterized by multiple gland involvement and diffuse hyperplasia rather than a single adenoma. The gross pathologic anatomy of the parathyroid glands was assessed in 17 successful renal transplant recipients. Individual and total gland volumes were measured at the time of total parathyroidectomy and forearm reimplantation. Parathyroid hyperplasia was heterogenous in both location and gland size. Right-sided glands were enlarged more than left-sided ones. Subjects with primary tubulointerstitial disease exhibited greater hyperplasia than patients with glomerular disorders. Clinicians should be aware of the heterogeneity of the gland enlargement in patients with diffuse parathyroid hyperplasia, so that these patients are not misdiagnosed as suffering from adenomatous parathyroid disease.

Adult↗
PubMed1985

Total parathyroidectomy for posttransplantation hyperparathyroidism.

The acute and short-term clinical course of 19 subjects who underwent total parathyroidectomy and forearm implantation for persistent hyperparathyroidism following successful kidney transplantation (mean [+/- SD] time after transplant 43.7 +/- 29.5 months) is described. Their mean preoperative serum calcium level of 10.8 +/- 0.5 mg% decreased to a nadir of 7.9 +/- 0.9 mg%, 62.5 +/- 27.7 hr after the operation. The lowest serum ionized calcium (1.80 +/- 0.2 mEq/L) was recorded 57 +/- 49 hr postoperatively. After an average of five hospital days, the patients were discharged with a mean serum total calcium concentration of 8.3 +/- 1.0 mg%. Three months following the operation, the mean serum total calcium concentration was 9.5 +/- 0.6 mg%. With an average follow-up of 19 months (range 3-36 months) serum total calcium was 9.6 +/- 0.6 mg%, with only one subject requiring calcium supplementation. Total parathyroidectomy with forearm implantation was associated with normalization of serum-immunoreactive parathyroid hormone concentrations and maintenance of stable allograft function. Our experience suggest that this procedure is an effective modality with a predictable postoperative recovery of parathyroid function when used to treat persistent hyperparathyroidism in the long-term survivor of renal transplantation.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1982

Parathyroid function in persistent hyperparathyroidism: relationship to gland size.

The release of parathyroid hormone in experimental animals is related inversely to the plasma calcium concentration. The relevance, though, of these observations to the dynamics of parathyroid function in normal and hyperparathyroid humans is uncertain. We assessed the in vivo parathyroid hormone response to changes in extracellular calcium in 8 normal subjects and 15 patients with persistent hyperparathyroidism following renal transplantation. In 12 hyperparathyroid patients, the hormone response was related to their total gland size measured at the time of their parathyroidectomy. Plasma ionized calcium, magnesium, and parathyroid hormone concentrations were measured in the basal state and during a 2-hr infusion of EDTA (50 mg/kg), and a 4-hr calcium infusion (15 mg/kg). The parathyroid function curves of both groups of subjects (P less than 0.001) fit a log-linear relationship. The slopes of the respective parathyroid function curves were similar, although the hyperparathyroid curve was shifted to the right (P less than 0.0001). Gland size was not predicted by basal PTH levels; however, it did correlate with changes in parathyroid hormone induced by EDTA (P less than 0.001) and calcium (P less than 0.001). We conclude that the in vivo sensitivity of hyperplastic glands to changes in plasma calcium is maintained. The excessive secretion of immunoreactive parathyroid hormone in chief cell hyperplasia primarily reflects total gland mass. Our results indicate that the assessment of the dynamics of parathyroid response, rather than measurements of static plasma parathyroid hormone and calcium concentrations, should be further investigated as a more rational application of radioimmunoassays in the evaluation of the parathyroid axis.

Adult↗