Colorectal Neoplasia among Patients with and without Human Immunodeficiency Virus.

Background: Increasing availability of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) has led to prolonged survival and rising incidence of non-HIV-defining cancers among patients with HIV. Compared with the general population, risk of colorectal cancer may differ among those with HIV due to immunosuppression, oncogenic viral coinfections, and higher prevalence of risk factors.

Methods: We identified patients (age ≥50 years) diagnosed with HIV, prescribed HAART for ≥6 months, and receiving care in two large health care systems in Dallas, TX.

Evaluation of Wound Photography for Remote Postoperative Assessment of Surgical Site Infections.

Importance: Surgeons are increasingly interested in using mobile and online applications with wound photography to monitor patients after surgery. Early work using remote care to diagnose surgical site infections (SSIs) demonstrated improved diagnostic accuracy using wound photographs to augment patients' electronic reports of symptoms, but it is unclear whether these findings are reproducible in real-world practice.

Objective: To determine how wound photography affects surgeons' abilities to diagnose SSIs in a pragmatic setting.

Heller myotomy versus Heller myotomy with Dor fundoplication for achalasia: long-term symptomatic follow-up of a prospective randomized controlled trial.

Background: Our prior randomized controlled trial of Heller myotomy alone versus Heller plus Dor fundoplication for achalasia from 2000 to 2004 demonstrated comparable postoperative resolution of dysphagia but less gastroesophageal reflux after Heller plus Dor. Patient-reported outcomes are needed to determine whether the findings are sustained long-term.

Methods: We actively engaged participants from the prior randomized cohort, making up to six contact attempts per person using telephone, mail, and electronic messaging.

Using Quality Improvement Principles to Enhance Long-Term Completion of Patient-Reported Outcomes after Ventral Hernia Repair.

Background: Ventral hernia repair (VHR) is a commonly performed surgical procedure. Unfortunately, long-term prospective information about quality of life and outcomes after VHR has been challenging to obtain. Decoupling follow-up from clinical visits via patient-reported outcomes (PROs) has been proposed as a means of achieving better long-term assessments after VHR.

Hidden Morbidity of Ventral Hernia Repair with Mesh: As Concerning as Common Bile Duct Injury?

Background: Ventral hernia repair with mesh is increasingly common, but the incidence of long-term complications that necessitate mesh explantation is unknown. We aimed to determine the epidemiology of mesh explantation after ventral hernia repair and to compare this with common bile duct injury, a dreaded complication of laparoscopic cholecystectomy.

Study Design: We evaluated a retrospective cohort of patients undergoing ventral hernia repair by linking the all-payers State Inpatient Databases and State Ambulatory Surgery Databases for New York, California, and Florida.