From morbidity reduction to cost-effectiveness: Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) society recommendations in minimal invasive liver surgery.

Purpose: Minimal-invasive liver surgery (MILS) reduces surgical trauma and is associated with fewer postoperative complications. To amplify these benefits, perioperative multimodal concepts like Enhanced Recovery after Surgery (ERAS), can play a crucial role. We aimed to evaluate the cost-effectiveness for MILS in an ERAS program, considering the necessary additional workforce and associated expenses.

miRNA as potential biomarkers after liver transplantation: A systematic review.

Background: Liver transplantation is a life-saving therapy for end-stage liver disease patients, but acute cellular rejection (ACR) and graft complications remain significant postoperative challenges. Early and accurate diagnosis is crucial for timely intervention and improved patient outcomes, but their diagnosis rely currently on invasive biopsy sampling, thus prompting the search for non-invasive Biomarkers. MicroRNA (miRNA) have emerged as promising biomarkers in various pathological conditions, and their potential utility in diagnosing acute cellular rejection after liver transplantation has gained significant interest.

CD14CD16 monocytes are the main producers of Interleukin-10 following clinical heart transplantation.

Introduction: Following heart transplantation, a cascade of immunological responses is initiated influencing the clinical outcome and long-term survival of the transplanted patients. The anti-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-10 (IL-10) was shown to be elevated in the blood of heart transplant recipients directly after transplantation but the releasing cell populations and the composition of lymphocyte subsets following transplantation have not been thoroughly studied.

Methods: We identified immune cells by immunophenotyping and analyzed intracellular IL-10 production in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) of heart transplanted patients (n= 17) before, directly after and 24h post heart transplantation.

Immediate major dynamic changes in the T- and NK-cell subset composition after cardiac transplantation.

Early kinetics of lymphocyte subsets involved in tolerance and rejection following heart transplantation (HTx) are barely defined. Here, we aimed to delineate the early alloimmune response immediately after HTx. Therefore, blood samples from 23 heart-transplanted patients were collected before (pre-), immediately (T0), 24 hours (T24), and 3 weeks (3 wks) after HTx.

EQ-5D-Y Value Set for Germany.

Background: Demand is increasing for youth-specific preference-based health-related quality-of-life measures for inclusion in evaluations of healthcare interventions for children and adolescents. The EQ-5D-Youth (EQ-5D-Y) has the potential to become such a preference-based measure.

Objective: This study applied the recently published EQ-5D-Y valuation protocol to develop a German EQ-5D-Y value set and explored the differences between values given to youth health by parents and non-parents.

The EQ-HWB: Overview of the Development of a Measure of Health and Wellbeing and Key Results.

Objectives: Existing measures for estimating quality-adjusted life-years are mostly limited to health-related quality of life. This article presents an overview of the development the EQ-HWB (EQ Health and Wellbeing), which is a measure that encompasses health and wellbeing.

Methods: Stages: (1) Establishing domains through reviews of the qualitative literature informed by a conceptual framework.

Generation, Selection, and Face Validation of Items for a New Generic Measure of Quality of Life: The EQ-HWB.

Objectives: This article aims to describe the generation and selection of items (stage 2) and face validation (stage 3) of a large international (multilingual) project to develop a new generic measure, the EQ-HWB (EQ Health and Wellbeing), for use in economic evaluation across health, social care, and public health to estimate quality-adjusted life-years.

Methods: Items from commonly used generic, carer, social care, and mental health quality of life measures were mapped onto domains or subdomains identified from a literature review. Potential terms and items were reviewed and refined to ensure coverage of the construct of the domains/subdomain (stage 2).

Comparison of Adult and Adolescent Preferences Toward EQ-5D-Y-3L Health States.

Objectives: The international EQ-5D-Y-3L valuation protocol suggests obtaining preferences for EQ-5D-Y-3L health states from a sample of the general adult population. There is discussion around involving children and adolescents in the processes of preference elicitation and decision making. The objective of this study was to compare the preferences for EQ-5D-Y-3L obtained from adolescents for themselves to those of adults considering a hypothetical 10-year-old child in Germany, Slovenia, and Spain.

To What Extent Do Patient Preferences Differ From General Population Preferences?

Objectives: In some countries including Germany, value sets based on general population preferences are not acceptable for decision-makers in healthcare because the impact of the reference group-general population versus patients-on utility decrements is questioned. The objective of this study was to explore potential differences in patient versus general population health preferences and a way of combining both preferences in economic evaluation.

Methods: EQ-5D-5L general population preferences were available from national value sets in Germany and Spain.

Developing and testing a cognitive bolt-on for the EQ-5D-Y (Youth).

Purpose: The aim of this study was to develop and test a cognitive dimension as a bolt-on for the German version of the EQ-5D-Y (Youth).

Methods: A literature review and six focus groups with children and adolescents were used to develop the cognitive dimension for the EQ-5D-Y. In a two-phase pretest, the acceptability, feasibility and performance of this dimension were assessed (phase 1: qualitative face-to-face interviews, phase 2: standard pretest in a clinical setting).

A French Value Set for the EQ-5D-5L.

Objective: The objective of this study was to develop a French value set for the EQ-5D-5L, for academic and clinical research, and for regulatory requirements for price-setting of drugs and medical devices.

Method: This study used the standardized valuation protocol developed by EuroQol, using computer-assisted personal interview software. A representative sample of 1048 French residents were interviewed by a market research company, under the supervision of the research team.

Overview, Update, and Lessons Learned From the International EQ-5D-5L Valuation Work: Version 2 of the EQ-5D-5L Valuation Protocol.

A standardized 5-level EuroQol 5-dimensional questionnaire (EQ-5D-5L) valuation protocol was first used in national studies in the period 2012 to 2013. A set of problems encountered in this initial wave of valuation studies led to the subsequent refinement of the valuation protocol. To clarify lessons learned and how the protocol was updated when moving from version 1.

German Value Set for the EQ-5D-5L.

Objectives: The objective of this study was to develop a value set for EQ-5D-5L based on the societal preferences of the German population. As the first country to do so, the study design used the improved EQ-5D-5L valuation protocol 2.0 developed by the EuroQol Group, including a feedback module as internal validation and a quality control process that was missing in the first wave of EQ-5D-5L valuation studies.

Valuation of the EQ-5D-5L with composite time trade-off for the German population - an exploratory study.

Background: The EuroQol Group has extended the severity levels of the EQ-5D from three to five (EQ-5D-5L). There are valuation studies worldwide planned in order to convert the EQ-5D-5L health states into a single preference-based summary score based on country-specific value sets of social health status preference valuations. The EuroQol Group developed an internationally standardised EQ-5D-5L valuation protocol.

Brain stem lesions after head injury.

There is little knowledge on the morphology of the brain stem in survivors of head injury, as CT fails to shown brain stem lesions, and neuropathological data is only available from autopsies. As magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) sheds new light on morphological lesions of the brain, the authors investigated 100 patients with a severe head injury. MRI was performed in a prospective study within the first seven days after head injury while the patients were still in coma and on ventilation.