Publications by authors named "Geoffrey Wong"

Article Synopsis
  • This text discusses the role of social prescribing in connecting older people from ethnic minority groups to cultural offerings that can help address issues like loneliness and poor mental health.
  • A scoping review was conducted to analyze existing literature on how cultural activities are tailored for these older populations in the UK, resulting in six key sources that highlight both opportunities and barriers to engagement.
  • The findings suggest that consulting with the target groups is crucial for creating inclusive activities and emphasize the need for more research in this area, as cultural providers currently lack sufficient evidence to effectively develop their offerings.
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Background: Social prescribing link workers have become part of primary health care in recent years. They help patients to recognise non-medical factors affecting their health and identify sources of support, often in the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector. They form part of wider work to strengthen person-centred care, which actively seeks to engage individuals in decision-making about their health, taking into account their medical, social, psychological, financial and spiritual circumstances.

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Background: Social prescribing addresses non-medical factors affecting health and well-being. Link workers are key to its delivery by connecting people to relevant support, often in the voluntary, community and social enterprise sector. Funding from the National Health Service means that link workers are becoming a common part of primary care in England.

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Clinical and pathological factors are insufficient to accurately identify patients at risk of early recurrence after curative-intent treatment of colorectal liver metastases (CRLM). This study aimed to identify candidate prognostic proteogenomic biomarkers for early intrahepatic recurrence after curative-intent resection of CRLM. Patients diagnosed with intrahepatic recurrence within 6 months of liver resection were categorized as the "early recurrence" group, while those who achieved a recurrence-free status for 10 years were designated as "durable remission".

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Mobile health (mHealth) interventions are increasingly used to address the challenges of living with HIV and engaging with antiretroviral therapy. A wealth of evidence supports the efficacy of mHealth in supporting living with HIV. Yet, there is a dearth of evidence on how mHealth improves outcomes, which features are effective, and why these work in a particular setting.

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The unmet need for family planning is a pervasive public health concern in many low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Mobile health (mHealth) interventions have been designed and implemented in LMIC settings to address this issue through health information dissemination via voice calls, apps, and short message services (SMS). Although the impact of mHealth programmes on postpartum family planning outcomes have been systematically reviewed, the contexts, conditions, and mechanisms underpinning programme engagement and their impact on outcomes remain unclear.

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Background: No robust data are available on the safety of primary bariatric and metabolic surgery (BMS) alone compared to primary BMS combined with other procedures.

Objectives: The objective of this study is to collect a 30-day mortality and morbidity of primary BMS combined with cholecystectomy, ventral hernia repair, or hiatal hernia repair.

Setting: This is as an international, multicenter, prospective, and observational audit of patients undergoing primary BMS combined with one or more additional procedures.

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Social care practitioners are often under-represented in research activity and output. Evidence-based practice enables social care practitioners to develop/engage the skills to evaluate evidence and be more actively involved in research. REalist Synthesis Of non-pharmacologicaL interVEntions for antipsychotic-induced weight gain (RESOLVE) is a NIHR-funded study where realist synthesis is used to understand and explain how, why, for whom, and in what contexts non-pharmacological interventions help service users, with severe mental illness, to manage antipsychotic-induced weight gain.

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Article Synopsis
  • This study analyzes patterns of atrial fibrillation (AF) recurrence in patients with persistent AF (PsAF) after catheter ablation, revealing that nearly half of participants experienced recurrence within 12 months.
  • Findings show that most recurrences were paroxysmal rather than persistent, and patients with PsAF faced higher healthcare costs and lower quality of life.
  • The study highlights the impact of AF recurrence on health outcomes, emphasizing the need for effective strategies to manage recurrent PsAF post-ablation.
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The liver is the most frequent and often the only site of distant disease in colorectal cancer and, of all treatment protocols currently in use, resection is the most likely to result in long-term cure. Within the liver, tumour proximity to major vasculature and biliary structures poses a resection challenge, requiring a balance of achieving negative margins while preserving adequate vascular circulation and biliary drainage. The focus on parenchymal sparing resections are important but just as important may be the 'biological' behaviour of the tumour.

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Objective: This study aimed to assess 30-day morbidity and mortality rates following cholecystectomy for benign gallbladder disease and identify the factors associated with complications.

Summary Background Data: Although cholecystectomy is common for benign gallbladder disease, there is a gap in the knowledge of the current practice and variations on a global level.

Methods: A prospective, international, observational collaborative cohort study of consecutive patients undergoing cholecystectomy for benign gallbladder disease from participating hospitals in 57 countries between January 1 and June 30, 2022, was performed.

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The current evidence for vasovagal syncope management is that cardiac pacing is only indicated in a highly select group of patients where symptoms can be linked to bradycardic episodes. High spinal cord injury can lead to autonomic dysfunction and sympathetic nervous system hypoactivity. A high spinal cord injury can theoretically precipitate profound bradycardia leading to haemodynamic instability and syncope.

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Importance: Catheter ablation for patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and heart failure with reduced ejection fraction (HFrEF) is associated with improved left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) and survival compared with medical therapy. Nonrandomized studies have reported improved success with posterior wall isolation (PWI).

Objective: To determine the impact of pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) with PWI vs PVI alone on outcomes in patients with HFrEF.

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Background: Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) is less effective in patients with persistent atrial fibrillation (PsAF). Adjunctive ablation targeting low voltage areas (LVAs) may improve arrhythmia outcomes.

Objectives: This study aims to compare the outcomes of adding posterior wall isolation (PWI) to PVI, vs PVI alone in PsAF patients with posterior wall LVAs.

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Importance: The impact of atrial fibrillation (AF) catheter ablation on mental health outcomes is not well understood.

Objective: To determine whether AF catheter ablation is associated with greater improvements in markers of psychological distress compared with medical therapy alone.

Design, Setting, And Participants: The Randomized Evaluation of the Impact of Catheter Ablation on Psychological Distress in Atrial Fibrillation (REMEDIAL) study was a randomized trial of symptomatic participants conducted in 2 AF centers in Australia between June 2018 and March 2021.

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Article Synopsis
  • - Iatrogenic urinary tract injury (IUTI) is a serious complication that can arise from emergency digestive surgery, leading to increased health risks and long-term quality of life issues for patients.
  • - The incidence of IUTIs varies from 0.3% to 1.5%, highlighting the need for clear strategies for prevention and management, especially given the high number of these surgeries done globally.
  • - The World Society of Emergency Surgery (WSES) has developed guidelines based on extensive literature review and expert consultations, focusing on effective prevention measures, detection methods, and management strategies—including antibiotic use—pertaining to IUTIs in emergency settings.
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Background: Early postoperative cognitive dysfunction (POCD) has been reported following atrial fibrillation (AF) ablation. However, whether POCD is persistent long-term is unknown.

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine if AF catheter ablation is associated with persistent cognitive dysfunction at 12-month follow-up.

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Conduction system pacing (CSP)-His bundle pacing (HBP) and left bundle branch area pacing (LBBAP)-are emerging alternatives to biventricular pacing (BVP) for cardiac resynchronization therapy (CRT) in heart failure. However, evidence is largely limited to small and observational studies. We conducted a meta-analysis including a total of 15 randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and non-RCTs that compare CSP (HBP and LBBAP) with BVP in patients with CRT indications.

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The liver is the most common site of metastasis in colorectal cancer. Multimodal treatment, including liver resection, is potentially curative and prolongs survival for selected patients with colorectal liver metastases (CRLM). However, the treatment of CRLM remains challenging because recurrence is common, and prognosis varies widely between patients despite curative-intent treatment.

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Importance: Pulmonary vein isolation (PVI) alone is less effective in patients with persistent atrial fibrillation (AF) compared with paroxysmal AF. The left atrial posterior wall may contribute to maintenance of persistent AF, and posterior wall isolation (PWI) is a common PVI adjunct. However, PWI has not been subjected to randomized comparison.

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