Ensemble machine learning methods in screening electronic health records: A scoping review.

Background: Electronic health records provide the opportunity to identify undiagnosed individuals likely to have a given disease using machine learning techniques, and who could then benefit from more medical screening and case finding, reducing the number needed to screen with convenience and healthcare cost savings. Ensemble machine learning models combining multiple prediction estimates into one are often said to provide better predictive performances than non-ensemble models. Yet, to our knowledge, no literature review summarises the use and performances of different types of ensemble machine learning models in the context of medical pre-screening.

Twenty-year trajectories of cardio-metabolic factors among people with type 2 diabetes by dementia status in England: a retrospective cohort study.

To assess 20-year retrospective trajectories of cardio-metabolic factors preceding dementia diagnosis among people with type 2 diabetes (T2D). We identified 227,145 people with T2D aged > 42 years between 1999 and 2018. Annual mean levels of eight routinely measured cardio-metabolic factors were extracted from the Clinical Practice Research Datalink.

A pilot study to investigate real-time digital alerting from wearable sensors in surgical patients.

Background: Continuous vital sign monitoring may identify changes sooner than current standard monitoring.

Objective: To investigate if the use of real-time digital alerts sent to healthcare staff can improve the time taken to identify unwell patients and those with sepsis.

Design: A prospective cohort study design.

Left main coronary artery compression by dilated pulmonary artery in pulmonary arterial hypertension: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Objective: Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) can lead to left main coronary artery compression (LMCo), but data on the impact, screening and treatment are limited. A meta-analysis of LMCo cases could fill the knowledge gaps in this topic.

Methods: Electronic databases were searched for all LMCo/PAH studies, abstracts and case reports including pulmonary artery (PA) size.

Artificial intelligence based treatment planning of radiotherapy for locally advanced breast cancer.

Background And Purpose: Treatment planning of radiotherapy for locally advanced breast cancer patients can be a time consuming process. Artificial intelligence based treatment planning could be used as a tool to speed up this process and maintain plan quality consistency. The purpose of this study was to create treatment plans for locally advanced breast cancer patients using a Convolutional Neural Network (CNN).

Independent external validation using the EORTC HNCG-ROG 1219 DAHANCA trial data of NTCP models for acute oral mucositis.

Purpose: To externally validate previously published Normal Tissue Complication Probability (NTCP) models developed by separate teams for grade 3 oral mucositis (g3OM).

Materials And Methods: Two models were validated: a logistic model, based on 144 head and neck cancer (HNC) patients receiving induction chemotherapy followed by chemo-IMRT; a multivariable logistic model for prediction of g3OM for 253 patients receiving radical treatment for the head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC). The EORTC HNCG-ROG 1219 DAHANCA trial dataset, consisting of 169 patients was used as the validation cohort.

Factors associated with unplanned reinterventions and their relation to early mortality after pediatric cardiac surgery.

Objective: Unplanned reintervention (uRE) is used as an indicator of patient morbidity and quality of care in pediatric cardiac surgery. We investigated associated factors and early mortality after uREs.

Methods: Morbidity data were prospectively collected in 5 UK centers between 2015 and 2017; uRE included surgical cardiac, interventional transcatheter cardiac, permanent pacemaker, and diaphragm plication procedures.

Plasma Androgen Receptor Copy Number Status at Emergence of Metastatic Castration-Resistant Prostate Cancer: A Pooled Multicohort Analysis.

Purpose: Increases in androgen receptor () copy number (CN) can be detected in plasma DNA when patients develop metastatic castration-resistant prostate cancer. We aim to evaluate the association between CN as a continuous variable and clinical outcome.

Patients And Methods: PCR2023 was an international, multi-institution, open-label, phase II study of abiraterone acetate plus prednisolone (AAP) or abiraterone acetate plus dexamethasone that included plasma assessment as a predefined exploratory secondary end point.

Age over 35 years is associated with increased mortality after pulmonary valve replacement in repaired tetralogy of Fallot: results from the UK National Congenital Heart Disease Audit database.

Objectives: Many adults with repaired tetralogy of Fallot will require a pulmonary valve replacement (PVR), but there is no consensus on the best timing. In this study, we aim to evaluate the impact of age at PVR on outcomes.

Methods: This is a national multicentre retrospective study including all patients >15 years of age with repaired tetralogy of Fallot who underwent their first PVR between 2000 and 2013.

Generalizability assessment of head and neck cancer NTCP models based on the TRIPOD criteria.

This review aimed to provide an overview of the level of maturity of normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) models for head and neck cancer (HNC) patients. A systematic literature review was performed to retrieve NTCP models for HNC toxicities. Patient population characteristics, NTCP model and the predictors, treatment technique and endpoint definition were extracted per article.

The Intensity-Modulated Pelvic Node and Bladder Radiotherapy (IMPART) Trial: A Phase II Single-Centre Prospective Study.

Aims: Node-positive bladder cancer (NPBC) carries a poor prognosis and has traditionally been treated palliatively. However, surgical series suggest that a subset of NPBC patients can achieve long-term control after cystectomy and lymph node dissection. There is little published data regarding the use of radiotherapy to treat NPBC patients.

Stereotactic body radiotherapy for bone oligometastatic disease in prostate cancer.

Purpose: There are sparse data describing outcomes of bone-only oligometastatic prostate cancer in comparison with lymph node disease treated with stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT). The primary aim of this study was to report progression-free survival (PFS) data for patients with bone-only disease. Influence of hormone sensitivity and androgen deprivation therapy use was also assessed.

Surgical versus balloon valvotomy in neonates and infants: results from the UK National Audit.

Objective: There are conflicting data on choosing balloon aortic valvoplasty (BAV) or surgical aortic valvotomy (SAV) in neonates and infants requiring intervention for aortic valve stenosis. We aim to report the outcome of both techniques based on results from the UK national registry.

Methods: This is a retrospective study, including all patients under 1 year undergoing BAV/SAV between 2000 and 2012.

Differentiated Thyroid Cancer in Children: A UK Multicentre Review and Review of the Literature.

Aims: To obtain an overview of the management and outcomes of children aged 18 years or younger diagnosed with differentiated thyroid carcinoma of follicular cell origin across the UK, by collecting and analysing data from the limited number of centres treating these patients. This multicentre data might provide a more realistic perspective than single-institution series.

Materials And Methods: Six centres submitted data extracted from historical records on patients aged 18 years or younger, diagnosed between 1964 and 2017.

Association Between Preoperative Magnetic Resonance Imaging-based Urethral Parameters and Continence Recovery Following Robot-assisted Radical Prostatectomy.

Background: Studies demonstrated the significance of membranous urethral length (MUL) as a predictor of continence following robot-assisted radical prostatectomy (RARP). There are other magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) parameters that might be linked to continence outcome.

Objective: To evaluate the association between preoperative urethral parameters on MRI and continence outcome, to estimate the risk of incontinence using different cut-off values, and to assess interobserver variability in measuring urethral parameters.

Circulating tumour DNA is a potential biomarker for disease progression and response to targeted therapy in advanced thyroid cancer.

Background: Conventional biomarkers in thyroid cancer are not disease specific and fluctuate in advanced disease, making interpretation difficult. Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA) has been shown to be a useful biomarker in other solid tumours. This is a multimutational study of ctDNA over multiple timepoints, designed to test the hypothesis that ctDNA is a potential biomarker in patients with advanced thyroid cancer.

Primary repair versus surgical and transcatheter palliation in infants with tetralogy of Fallot.

Objectives: Treatment of infants with tetralogy of Fallot (ToF) has evolved in the last two decades with increasing use of primary surgical repair (PrR) and transcatheter right ventricular outflow tract palliation (RVOTd), and fewer systemic-to-pulmonary shunts (SPS). We aim to report contemporary results using these treatment options in a comparative study.

Methods: This a retrospective study using data from the UK National Congenital Heart Disease Audit.

Intensity modulated radiotherapy in locally advanced thyroid cancer: Outcomes of a sequential phase I dose-escalation study.

Background And Purpose: To determine the safety and tolerability of dose-escalation using modestly accelerated IMRT in high-risk locally advanced thyroid cancer requiring post-operative radiotherapy, and to report preliminary data on efficacy.

Materials And Methods: A sequential Phase I dose-escalation design was used. Dose level one (DL1) received 58.

Androgen receptor gene status in plasma DNA associates with worse outcome on enzalutamide or abiraterone for castration-resistant prostate cancer: a multi-institution correlative biomarker study.

Background: There is an urgent need to identify biomarkers to guide personalized therapy in castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC). We aimed to clinically qualify androgen receptor (AR) gene status measurement in plasma DNA using multiplex droplet digital PCR (ddPCR) in pre- and post-chemotherapy CRPC.

Methods: We optimized ddPCR assays for AR copy number and mutations and retrospectively analyzed plasma DNA from patients recruited to one of the three biomarker protocols with prospectively collected clinical data.

A randomised controlled trial of Caphosol mouthwash in management of radiation-induced mucositis in head and neck cancer.

Purpose: This phase III, non-blinded, parallel-group, randomised controlled study evaluated the efficacy of Caphosol mouthwash in the management of radiation-induced oral mucositis (OM) in patients with head and neck cancer (HNC) undergoing radical (chemo)radiotherapy.

Patients And Methods: Eligible patients were randomised at 1:1 to Caphosol plus standard oral care (intervention) or standard oral care alone (control), stratified by radiotherapy technique and use of concomitant chemotherapy. Patients in the intervention arm used Caphosol for 7weeks: 6weeks during and 1-week post-radiotherapy.

Aortic Valve Replacement and the Ross Operation in Children and Young Adults.

Background: There are several options available for aortic valve replacement (AVR), with few comparative reports in the literature. The optimal choice for AVR in each age group is not clear.

Objectives: The study sought to report and compare outcomes after AVR in the young using data from a national database.