Using noninvasive imaging to assess manual lymphatic drainage on lymphatic/venous responses in a spaceflight analog.

This retrospective case series (clinicaltrials.gov NCT06405282) used noninvasive imaging devices (NIID) to assess the effect of manual lymphatic drainage (MLD) on dermal/venous fluid distribution, perfusion, and temperature alterations of the head, neck, upper torso, and legs while in the 6-degree head-down tilt validated spaceflight analog. A lymphatic fluid scanner measured tissue dielectric constant levels.

Case Report: The effect of automated manual lymphatic drainage therapy on lymphatic contractility in 4 distinct cases.

Introduction: Automated manual lymphatic drainage therapy (AMLDT) is available for home use in the form of a pneumatic mat of 16 pressurized air channels that inflate and deflate to mimic the stretch and release action of manual lymphatic drainage therapy. Four cases (a patient with complex regional pain syndrome and lymphedema, a healthy patient, a breast cancer survivor with chronic pain, and a patient with a history of abdominal surgery) underwent near-infrared fluorescence lymphatic imaging (NIRFLI) with AMLDT to evaluate the effect of AMLDT on lymphatic pumping and pain.

Methods: Each patient received 32-36 injections of 25 μg indocyanine green (ICG) on the anterior and posterior sides of their body and underwent 1 h of NIRFLI to assess the drainage of ICG laden lymph toward regional nodal basins at baseline.

Trends in Medicare Costs of Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy, 2013 through 2022.

Objective: To analyze Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Registry (HBOTR) data to estimate the Medicare costs of hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBO) based on standard treatment protocols and the annual mean number of treatments per patient reported by the registry.

Methods: We performed a secondary analysis of deidentified data for all payers from 53 centers registered in the HBOTR from 2013 to 2022. We estimated the mean annual per-patient costs of HBO based on Medicare (outpatient facility + physician) reimbursement fees adjusted to 2022 inflation using the Medicare Economic Index.

Efficacy of a 3D Electrospun Synthetic Polymer Matrix on Hard-to-Heal Wounds.

Introduction: The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of a 3D electrospun synthetic polymer matrix (3DESPM) on hard-to-heal wounds.

Materials And Methods: This prospective case series took place at four sites. The primary endpoints were the percentage area reduction (PAR) in wound area at four and eight weeks.

The Impact of Underlying Conditions on Quality-of-Life Measurement Among Patients with Chronic Wounds, as Measured by Utility Values: A Review with an Additional Study.

Quality of life (QoL) is important to patients with chronic wounds and is rarely formally evaluated. Understanding what comorbidities most affect the individual versus their wounds could be a key metric. The last 20 years have seen substantial advances in QoL instruments and conversion of patient data to a single value known as the health utilities index (HUI).

A large-scale analysis of refractive errors in students attending public primary schools in Mexico.

A cross-sectional, retrospective study was conducted from September 2013 through July 2014 to determine the prevalence of refractive errors among students attending public primary schools in Mexico. Among 3,861,156 students at 14,566 public primary schools in all 32 states of Mexico, teachers identified reduced visual acuity in 1,253,589 (32.5%) using visual acuity measurement.

The prediction capability of a cataract surgery risk stratification model based on a large electronic medical record dataset.

Purpose: The aim of this study was to develop a risk stratification system that predicts visual outcomes (uncorrected corrected visual acuity at one week and five weeks postoperative) in patients undergoing cataract surgery.

Methods: This was a retrospective analysis in a multitier ophthalmology network. Data from all patients who underwent phacoemulsification or manual small-incision cataract surgery between January 2018 and December 2019 were retrieved from an electronic medical record system.

Update of a Simple Model to Calculate the Annual Global Productivity Loss Due to Blindness and Moderate and Severe Vision Impairment.

Purpose: To develop a simple but more precise model to calculate potential annual productivity losses due to blindness and moderate and severe vision impairment (MSVI) at the national, regional, and global level.

Methods: Productivity loss was defined as the loss of minimum wage/Gross National Income per capita (GNI) incurred by people aged 50-64 years with blindness or MSVI, who were not able to work or worked with reduced earnings in 2020. We developed a global list of minimum wage data from on-line sources.

Meta-analysis of gender inequities in cataract surgical coverage in Latin America.

Objective: To perform an updated meta-analysis of cataract surgical coverage (CSC) data in Latin American studies to confirm that gender equity exists in terms of receiving cataract surgery.

Materials And Methods: A literature search of Rapid Assessment of Avoidable Blindness (RAAB) studies in Latin American published since 2011 was done. Older studies from countries that did not have newer data published were also included.

The impact of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic on the management of chronic limb-threatening ischemia and wound care.

In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, the critical limb ischemia (CLI) Global Society aims to develop improved clinical guidance that will inform better care standards to reduce tissue loss and amputations during and following the new SARS-CoV-2 era. This will include developing standards of practice, improve gaps in care, and design improved research protocols to study new chronic limb-threatening ischemia treatment and diagnostic options. Following a round table discussion that identified hypotheses and suppositions the wound care community had during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the CLI Global Society undertook a critical review of literature using PubMed to confirm or rebut these hypotheses, identify knowledge gaps, and analyse the findings in terms of what in wound care has changed due to the pandemic and what wound care providers need to do differently as a result of these changes.

Assessing the uncertainty of treatment outcomes in a previous systematic review of venous leg ulcer randomized controlled trials: Additional secondary analysis.

In this secondary analysis of a previous systematic review, we assessed randomized controlled trials evaluating treatments of venous leg ulcers in terms of factors that affect risk of bias at the study level and thus uncertainty of outcomes obtained from the interventions. Articles that assessed the wound bed condition in venous leg ulcers and that were published in English between 1998 and May 22, 2018 were previously searched in PubMed, Embase, CINAHL, CENTRAL, Scopus, Science Direct, and Web of Science. Duplicates and retracted articles were excluded.

Qualified Clinical Data Registries: How Wound Care Practitioners Can Make the Most Out of the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System.

Wound care practitioners have no professional society to promote participation in a Qualified Clinical Data Registry (QCDR), which is essential to thrive under the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS), and until recently have lacked relevant quality measures to report. Practitioners can now participate in the nonprofit U.S.

Author Correction: Zika Virus in Salivary Glands of Five Different Species of Wild-Caught Mosquitoes from Mexico.

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has not been fixed in the paper.

Publicly Reported Wound Healing Rates: The Fantasy and the Reality.

We compare real-world data from the U.S. Wound Registry (USWR) with randomized controlled trials and publicly reported wound outcomes and develop criteria for honest reporting of wound outcomes, a requirement of the new Quality Payment Program (QPP).

The Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Registry: Driving quality and demonstrating compliance.

Objective: To provide an update on the status of provider participation in the US Wound Registry (USWR) and its specialty registry the Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Registry (HBOTR), which provide much-needed national benchmarking and quality measurement services for hyperbaric medicine.

Methods: Providers can meet many requirements of the Merit-Based Incentive Payment System (MIPS) and simultaneously participate in the HBOTR by transmitting Continuity of Care Documents (CCDs) directly from their certified electronic health record (EHR) or by reporting hyperbaric quality measures, the specifications for which are available free of charge for download from the registry website as electronic clinical quality measures for installation into any certified EHR. Computerized systems parse the structured data transmitted to the USWR.

Systematic review of the current status of programs and general knowledge of diagnosis and management of retinoblastoma.

Background: This systematic review aims to report the current knowledge of retinoblastoma (Rb) and its implications in Mexico. We analyzed clinical and demographic data of patients with Rb at select hospitals with Rb programs or that treat and refer patients with Rb, and identified the gaps in practice. We propose solutions to improve diagnosis, provide adequate treatment, and improve patient uptake.

Zika Virus in Salivary Glands of Five Different Species of Wild-Caught Mosquitoes from Mexico.

Zika virus (ZIKV) is a mosquito-borne pathogen, and Aedes aegypti has been identified as the main vector of the disease. Other mosquito species in the Aedes and Culex genera have been suggested to have the potential for being competent vectors based on experimental exposition of mosquitoes to an infectious blood meal containing ZIKV. Here, we report the isolation in cell culture of ZIKV obtained from different body parts of wild-caught female mosquitoes (Ae.

Field Testing Project to Pilot World Health Organization Eye Health Indicators in Latin America.

Purpose: To develop and implement mechanisms to collect, report, and assess the World Health Organization (WHO) core eye health indicators in Chile, Honduras, Mexico, Peru, and Uruguay.

Methods: Simple templates for a situational analysis (of data collection and reporting processes), a national data collection strategy, and a national work plan to implement the core eye health indicators were developed. Public and private sector representatives from the ministries of health (MOHs), national vision committees, and national societies of ophthalmology of each country used these tools with 2013 baseline data to improve their data collection processes and collected 2015 data.

A new approach to clinical research: Integrating clinical care, quality reporting, and research using a wound care network-based learning healthcare system.

The disparity between ideal evidence from randomized controlled trials and real-world evidence in medical research has prompted the United States Food and Drug Administration to consider the use of real-world data to better understand safety and effectiveness of new devices for a broader patient population and to prioritize real-world data in regulatory decision making. As the healthcare system transitions from volume- to value-based care, there is a growing need to harness the power of real-world data to change the paradigm for wound care clinical research and enable more generalizable clinical trials. This paper describes the implementation of a network-based learning healthcare system by a for-profit consortium of wound care clinics that integrates wound care management, quality improvement, and comparative effectiveness research, by harnessing structured real-world data within a purpose-built electronic health record at the point of care.

Harnessing electronic healthcare data for wound care research: Standards for reporting observational registry data obtained directly from electronic health records.

The United States Food and Drug Administration will consider the expansion of coverage indications for some drugs and devices based on real-world data. Real-world data accrual in patient registries has historically been via manual data entry from the medical chart at a time distant from patient care, which is fraught with systematic error. The efficient automated transmission of data directly from electronic health records is replacing this labor-intensive paradigm.

Cost-effectiveness of negative pressure wound therapy in patients with many comorbidities and severe wounds of various etiology.

This study analyzed a cross-section of patients with severe chronic wounds and multiple comorbidities at an outpatient wound clinic, with regard to the cost-effectiveness and cost-benefit of negative pressure wound therapy (intervention) vs. no negative pressure wound therapy (control) at 1 and 2 years. Medicare reimbursement charges for wound care were used to calculate costs.

An Update on the Appropriate Role for Hyperbaric Oxygen: Indications and Evidence.

Background: Among advanced therapeutic interventions for wounds, hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) has the unique ability to ameliorate tissue hypoxia, reduce pathologic inflammation, and mitigate ischemia reperfusion injury. Most of the conditions for which it is utilized have few successful alternative treatments, and the morbidity and mortality associated with treatment failure are significant. Data on the efficacy and effectiveness of HBOT were reviewed, comparative effectiveness research of HBOT was explained, and a new paradigm for the appropriate use of HBOT was described.