Publications by authors named "Mak R"

This is a novel case of idiopathic chylopericardium and chylothorax in a young male who had no significant medical history. He first presented with dyspnea due to idiopathic chylopericardium, which was refractory to medical and surgical treatments, including a medium-chain triglyceride diet, octreotide, and video-assisted pericardial window. The chylopericardium persisted and progressed to concomitant left-sided chylothorax.

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Osimertinib is first-line treatment for epidermal growth factor (EGFR)-mutated non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and has been associated with cardiotoxicity. However, the nature of cardiac remodeling and associated risk factors remains incompletely understood. Retrospective analysis of NSCLC patients with ≥1 echocardiogram post-osimertinib between 2007 and 2022 was performed.

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Background: Palliative spine radiation therapy is prone to treatment at the wrong anatomic level. We developed a fully automated deep learning-based spine-targeting quality assurance system (DL-SpiQA) for detecting treatment at the wrong anatomic level. DL-SpiQA was evaluated based on retrospective testing of spine radiation therapy treatments and prospective clinical deployment.

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Background: Many clinicians feel uncomfortable with de-labelling penicillin allergies despite ample safety data. Point of care tools effectively support providers with de-labelling. This study's objective was to increase the number of providers intending to pursue a penicillin oral challenge by 15% by February 2023.

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The Clinical Practice Standards Committee of the American Association for Thoracic Surgery assembled an expert panel and conducted a systematic review of the literature detailing studies directly comparing treatment options for high-risk patients with stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). A systematic search was performed to identify publications comparing outcomes following image-guided thermal ablation (IGTA), stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR), and sublobar resection-the main treatment options applicable to high-risk patients with stage I NSCLC. There were no publications detailing completed randomized controlled trials comparing these treatment options.

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Stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR) has emerged as an alternative, non-surgical treatment for high-risk patients with stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) with increased use over time. The American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) Clinical Practice Standards Committee (CPSC) assembled an expert panel and conducted a systematic review of the literature evaluating the results of SABR, which is also referred to as stereotactic body radiation therapy (SBRT) or stereotactic radiosurgery (SRS), prior to developing treatment recommendations for high-risk patients with stage I NSCLC based on expert consensus. Publications detailing the findings of 16 prospective studies of SABR and 14 retrospective studies of SABR for the management of early-stage lung cancer in 54 697 patients were identified by systematic review of the literature with further review by members of our expert panel.

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Sublobar resection offers a parenchymal-sparing surgical alternative to lobectomy and includes wedge resection and segmentectomy. Sublobar resection has been historically utilized in high-risk patients with compromised lung function; however, the technique is becoming more prevalent for normal-risk patients with peripheral lung tumors < 2 cm. In this article, we summarize the technique of sublobar resection, the importance of surgical margins and lymph node sampling, patient selection, perioperative complications, outcomes, and the impact of sublobar resection on the quality of life.

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Article Synopsis
  • * An expert panel from the American Association for Thoracic Surgery reviewed existing literature and reached a consensus on treatment modalities, which include sublobar resection, image-guided thermal ablation (IGTA), and stereotactic ablative radiotherapy (SABR).
  • * The conclusions highlight that surgical approaches are often preferred when safe, but SABR and IGTA can be suitable alternatives; multidisciplinary evaluations and patient preferences play crucial roles in treatment decisions.
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Objective: A significant proportion of patients with stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are considered at high risk for complications or mortality after lobectomy. The American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) previously published an expert consensus document detailing important considerations in determining who is at high risk. The current objective was to evaluate treatment options and important factors to consider during treatment selection for these high-risk patients.

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Image-guided thermal ablation (IGTA) applied to pulmonary pathology is an alternative to surgery in high-risk patients with stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC). Its application to lung neoplasm was first introduced in 2001 and has been implemented to treat metastatic disease to the lung or in select medically inoperable patients with peripheral stage I NSCLC. IGTA may also be an alternative to treat stage I NSCLC in non-operable patients with interstitial lung disease in whom a radiation modality is deemed too high risk.

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Objective: The American Association for Thoracic Surgery (AATS) Clinical Practice Standards Committee (CPSC) previously published important considerations in determining who is at high risk for complications or mortality after lobectomy. Sublobar resection, stereotactic ablative radiotherapy, or image-guided thermal ablation is typically considered when the risks associated with lobectomy are high. The current objective was to evaluate important lung-nodule-related factors to consider during treatment selection for high-risk patients with stage I non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC).

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Background: Mislabelled penicillin allergies are associated with a myriad of adverse outcomes and development of anti-microbial resistance. With the overwhelming need for specialist allergy services, pharmacist initiatives such as the Hong Kong Penicillin Allergy Pharmacist Initiative (HK-PAPI) have been advocated. However, evidence of their effectiveness, safety and impact on health-related quality-of-life (HR-QoL) are lacking.

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The use of artificial intelligence (AI) holds great promise for radiation oncology, with many applications being reported in the literature, including some of which are already in clinical use. These are mainly in areas where AI provides benefits in efficiency (such as automatic segmentation and treatment planning). Prediction models that directly impact patient decision-making are far less mature in terms of their application in clinical practice.

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Article Synopsis
  • Penicillin allergies often lead to unnecessary treatment delays, as many reported allergies are not true allergies; efficient tools are needed to identify low-risk patients for safe de-labeling.
  • The FIRSTLINE electronic decision support tool was implemented to help clinicians assess and stratify penicillin allergy risk among pregnant women in Vancouver, with a focus on its reliability compared to allergist evaluations and other tools like JAMA and PENFAST.
  • Results showed that 97.2% of 181 patients were not allergic, and FIRSTLINE effectively identified a high percentage of low-risk patients, emphasizing the value of clinical algorithms in improving patient care.
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Introduction: While 10% of pregnant individuals report a penicillin allergy, there is no established best practice for penicillin allergy delabeling in pregnancy. To better understand options for penicillin delabeling, we aimed to evaluate two penicillin allergy delabeling protocols in pregnancy regarding efficacy, adverse events, and patient satisfaction.

Material And Methods: From July 2019 to December 2022, we completed a two-center prospective cohort study, where each site recruited pregnant patients over 24 weeks gestational age with a reported penicillin allergy.

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Background And Purpose: Lung cancer is a leading cause of cancer-related mortality, and stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) has become a standard treatment for early-stage lung cancer. However, the heterogeneous response to radiation at the tumor level poses challenges. Currently, standardized dosage regimens lack adaptation based on individual patient or tumor characteristics.

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Article Synopsis
  • - The study investigated how different types of arrhythmias (irregular heartbeats) correlate with radiation doses to specific parts of the heart in patients receiving radiotherapy for non-small cell lung cancer.
  • - Out of 748 patients, 17.1% developed serious arrhythmias over a median of 2 years, with atrial fibrillation being the most common (8.0% incidence at 2 years).
  • - Various radiation doses to specific cardiac structures were linked to different arrhythmia types, highlighting the importance of targeted radiation delivery for reducing heart-related side effects after cancer treatment.
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  • The study examined COVID-19 deaths among children and adolescents in Brazil, analyzing data from over 2.8 million symptomatic cases between February 2020 and February 2023.
  • Of the pediatric patients, 4,740 died, with higher fatality rates linked to hospitalization and lack of advanced support, while vaccination was shown to provide significant protection.
  • Key risk factors for increased death rates included younger age, certain ethnicities, specific regions, and existing health conditions, highlighting how social inequities affected outcomes.
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Background: The CTNS gene mutation causes infantile nephropathic cystinosis (INC). Patients with INC develop Fanconi syndrome and chronic kidney disease (CKD) with significant bone deformations. C57BL/6 Ctns mice are an animal model for studying INC.

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Penicillin allergy is reported in 10% of the population; however, over 90% of patients are deemed non-allergic upon allergist assessment. The goal of this quality improvement project is to validate a patient-driven assessment tool to safely identify patients at low risk of penicillin allergy and de-label them. Pediatric patients and pregnant women referred to the institution's allergy clinics for penicillin allergy assessment were invited to use the patient tool to complete a self-assessment, resulting in the assignment of a risk category.

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Artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms hold the potential to revolutionize radiology. However, a significant portion of the published literature lacks transparency and reproducibility, which hampers sustained progress toward clinical translation. Although several reporting guidelines have been proposed, identifying practical means to address these issues remains challenging.

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Article Synopsis
  • Many pediatric patients are incorrectly diagnosed with a penicillin allergy, as a study found that 97% of those tested did not have a true allergy.
  • The study involved children aged 6 months to 17 years and assessed their allergy history, with evaluations conducted by pharmacists and allergists.
  • Accurate allergy assessments can lead to safer, more effective antibiotic prescriptions, highlighting the importance of proper testing.
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Cardiac risk mitigation is a major priority in improving outcomes for cancer survivors as advances in cancer screening and treatments continue to decrease cancer mortality. More than half of adult cancer patients will be treated with radiotherapy (RT); therefore it is crucial to develop a framework for how to assess and predict radiation-induced cardiac disease (RICD). Historically, RICD was modelled solely using whole heart metrics such as mean heart dose.

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Efforts to mitigate radiation therapy (RT)-associated cardiotoxicity have focused on constraining mean heart dose. However, recent studies have shown greater predictive power with cardiac substructure dose metrics, such as the left anterior descending (LAD) coronary artery volume (V) receiving 15 Gy (V15Gy) ≥10%. Herein, we investigated the feasibility of LAD radiation sparing in contemporary intensity modulated RT (IMRT)/volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) lung cancer plans.

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