The incidence of melanoma has risen rapidly, at least until recently, while the mortality rate has changed only a little, a phenomenon suggestive of overdiagnosis, which can be defined as the diagnosis as "melanoma" of a lesion that would not have had the competence to cause death or symptoms even if it had not been excised. Overdiagnosis has been attributed to efforts at early diagnosis ("overdetection") and to changes in criteria resulting in diagnosis as melanoma of lesions previously termed nevi ("overdefinition"). In terms of overdefinition, there is evidence that criteria for the histopathologic diagnosis of melanoma have changed over a period of approximately two decades.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe new revised MPATH-Dx (version 2.0) reporting schema for melanocytic lesions is presented. Principal changes include the simplification of the previous five-class version 1.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFDeep learning techniques offer improvements in computer-aided diagnosis systems. However, acquiring image domain annotations is challenging due to the knowledge and commitment required of expert pathologists. Pathologists often identify regions in whole slide images with diagnostic relevance rather than examining the entire slide, with a positive correlation between the time spent on these critical image regions and diagnostic accuracy.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWhile the early effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the United States labor market are well-established, less is known about the long-term impact of SARS-CoV-2 infection and Long COVID on employment. To address this gap, we analyzed self-reported data from a prospective, national cohort study to estimate the effects of SARS-CoV-2 symptoms at three months post-infection on missed workdays and return to work. The analysis included 2,939 adults in the Innovative Support for Patients with SARS-CoV-2 Infections Registry (INSPIRE) study who tested positive for their initial SARS-CoV-2 infection at the time of enrollment, were employed before the pandemic, and completed a baseline and three-month electronic survey.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImportance: Chronic symptoms reported following an infection with SARS-CoV-2, such as cognitive problems, overlap with symptoms included in the definition of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).
Objective: To evaluate the prevalence of ME/CFS-like illness subsequent to acute SARS-CoV-2 infection, changes in ME/CFS symptoms through 12 months of follow-up, and the association of ME/CFS symptoms with SARS-CoV-2 test results at the acute infection-like index illness.
Design, Setting, And Participants: This prospective, multisite, longitudinal cohort study (Innovative Support for Patients with SARS-CoV-2 Infections Registry [INSPIRE]) enrolled participants from December 11, 2020, to August 29, 2022.
Importance: Pathologic assessment to diagnose skin biopsies, especially for cutaneous melanoma, can be challenging, and immunohistochemistry (IHC) staining has the potential to aid decision-making. Currently, the temporal trends regarding the use of IHC for the examination of skin biopsies on a national level have not been described.
Objective: To illustrate trends in the use of IHC for the examination of skin biopsies in melanoma diagnoses.
Introduction: Data on ethnic and racial differences in symptoms and health-related impacts following SARS-CoV-2 infection are limited. We aimed to estimate the ethnic and racial differences in symptoms and health-related impacts 3 and 6 months after the first SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Methods: Participants included adults with SARS-CoV-2 infection enrolled in a prospective multicenter US study between 12/11/2020 and 7/4/2022 as the primary cohort of interest, as well as a SARS-CoV-2-negative cohort to account for non-SARS-CoV-2-infection impacts, who completed enrollment and 3-month surveys ( = 3,161; 2,402 SARS-CoV-2-positive, 759 SARS-CoV-2-negative).
Background: Studies suggest increasing mental health care needs among children but limited capacity to meet those needs, potentially leaving some needs unmet. There are no recent national studies examining the receipt of mental health treatment among children. We sought to identify the correlates of treatment receipt in a nationally representative sample of children in the United States.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: This study explores the feasibility of using machine learning to predict accurate versus inaccurate diagnoses made by pathologists based on their spatiotemporal viewing behavior when evaluating digital breast biopsy images.
Materials And Methods: The study gathered data from 140 pathologists of varying experience levels who each reviewed a set of 14 digital whole slide images of breast biopsy tissue. Pathologists' viewing behavior, including zooming and panning actions, was recorded during image evaluation.
Purpose: To summarize the literature regarding the performance of mammography-image based artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms, with and without additional clinical data, for future breast cancer risk prediction.
Materials And Methods: A systematic literature review was performed using six databases (medRixiv, bioRxiv, Embase, Engineer Village, IEEE Xplore, and PubMed) from 2012 through September 30, 2022. Studies were included if they used real-world screening mammography examinations to validate AI algorithms for future risk prediction based on images alone or in combination with clinical risk factors.
Importance: The incidence of melanoma diagnoses has been increasing in recent decades, and controlled studies have indicated high histopathologic discordance across the intermediate range of melanocytic lesions. The respective causes for these phenomena remain incompletely understood.
Objective: To identify pathologist characteristics associated with tendencies to diagnose melanocytic lesions as higher grade vs lower grade or to diagnose invasive melanoma vs any less severe diagnosis.
Background: While prior work examining severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) variants of concern focused on hospitalization and death, less is known about differences in clinical presentation. We compared the prevalence of acute symptoms across pre-Delta, Delta, and Omicron.
Methods: We conducted an analysis of the Innovative Support for Patients with SARS-CoV-2 Infections Registry (INSPIRE), a cohort study enrolling symptomatic SARS-CoV-2-positive participants.
Background: US housing policy places a high priority on homeownership, providing large homeowner subsidies that are justified in part by homeownership's purported health benefits. However, studies conducted before, during, and immediately after the 2007-2010 foreclosure crisis found that while homeownership is associated with better health-related outcomes for White households, that association is weaker or non-existent for African-American and Latinx households. It is not known whether those associations persist in the period since the foreclosure crisis changed the US homeownership landscape.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: A standardized pathology management tool for melanocytic skin lesions may improve patient care by simplifying interpretation and categorization of the diverse terminology currently extant.
Objective: To assess an online educational intervention that teaches dermatopathologists to use the Melanocytic Pathology Assessment Tool and Hierarchy for Diagnosis (MPATH-Dx), a schema collapsing multiple diagnostic terms into 5 classes ranging from benign to invasive melanoma.
Methods: Practicing dermatopathologists ( 149) from 40 US states participated in a 2-year educational intervention study (71% response rate).
: Digital whole slide imaging allows pathologists to view slides on a computer screen instead of under a microscope. Digital viewing allows for real-time monitoring of pathologists' search behavior and neurophysiological responses during the diagnostic process. One particular neurophysiological measure, pupil diameter, could provide a basis for evaluating clinical competence during training or developing tools that support the diagnostic process.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFAn accurate histopathologic diagnosis on surgical biopsy material is necessary for the clinical management of patients and has important implications for research, clinical trial design/enrollment, and public health education. This study used a mixed methods approach to isolate sources of diagnostic error while residents and attending pathologists interpreted digitized breast biopsy slides. Ninety participants, including pathology residents and attending physicians at major United States medical centers reviewed a set of 14 digitized whole-slide images of breast biopsies.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFImportance: Unaffordable housing is associated with adverse health-related outcomes, but little is known about the associations between moving due to unaffordable housing and health-related outcomes.
Objective: To characterize the association of recent cost-driven residential moves with health-related outcomes.
Design, Setting, And Participants: This cross-sectional study involved a weighted multivariable regression analysis of California Health Interview Survey data from January 1, 2011, to December 31, 2017.
Adaptive gain theory proposes that the dynamic shifts between exploration and exploitation control states are modulated by the locus coeruleus-norepinephrine system and reflected in tonic and phasic pupil diameter. This study tested predictions of this theory in the context of a societally important visual search task: the review and interpretation of digital whole slide images of breast biopsies by physicians (pathologists). As these medical images are searched, pathologists encounter difficult visual features and intermittently zoom in to examine features of interest.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFIEEE Winter Conf Appl Comput Vis
January 2023
Detection of melanocytes serves as a critical prerequisite in assessing melanocytic growth patterns when diagnosing melanoma and its precursor lesions on skin biopsy specimens. However, this detection is challenging due to the visual similarity of melanocytes to other cells in routine Hematoxylin and Eosin (H&E) stained images, leading to the failure of current nuclei detection methods. Stains such as Sox10 can mark melanocytes, but they require an additional step and expense and thus are not regularly used in clinical practice.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Breast cancer risk models guide screening and chemoprevention decisions, but the extent and effect of variability among models, particularly at the individual level, is uncertain.
Objective: To quantify the accuracy and disagreement between commonly used risk models in categorizing individual women as average vs. high risk for developing invasive breast cancer.