Does providing atrial fibrillation patients, after pulmonary vein isolation, with a 1-lead ECG device relieve the emergency department?-A historically controlled prospective trial.

Unlabelled: Atrial fibrillation (AF) is a prevalent and clinically significant cardiac arrhythmia, with a growing incidence. The primary objectives in AF management are symptom relief, stroke risk reduction, and prevention of tachycardia-induced cardiomyopathy. Two key strategies for rhythm control include antiarrhythmic drug therapy and pulmonary vein isolation (PVI), with PVI being recommended for selected patients.

Prostate-specific Membrane Antigen Positron Emission Tomography Before Reaching the Phoenix Criteria for Biochemical Recurrence of Prostate Cancer After Radiotherapy: Earlier Detection of Recurrences.

Background And Objective: Biochemical recurrence (BCR) of prostate cancer (PCa) after curative radiotherapy (RT) is defined according to the Phoenix criteria, which is a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) rise of ≥2.0 ng/ml above the PSA nadir. Prostate-specific membrane antigen (PSMA)-based positron emission tomography/computed tomography (PET/CT) can identify PCa recurrences at very low PSA values.

Big data study using health insurance claims to predict multidisciplinary low vision service uptake.

Significance: There is a lack of research from high-income countries with various health care and funding systems regarding barriers and facilitators in low vision services (LVS) access. Furthermore, very few studies on LVS provision have used claims data.

Purpose: This study aimed to investigate which patient characteristics predict receiving multidisciplinary LVS (MLVS) in the Netherlands, a high-income country, based on health care claims data.

Posterolateral or Direct Lateral Surgical Approach for Hemiarthroplasty After a Hip Fracture: A Randomized Clinical Trial Alongside a Natural Experiment.

Importance: Hip fractures in older adults are serious injuries that result in disability, higher rates of illness and death, and a substantial strain on health care resources. High-quality evidence to improve hip fracture care regarding the surgical approach of hemiarthroplasty is lacking.

Objective: To compare 6-month outcomes of the posterolateral approach (PLA) and direct lateral approach (DLA) for hemiarthroplasty in patients with acute femoral neck fracture.

Steeper memory decline after COVID-19 lockdown measures.

Background: During COVID-19 lockdown measures, memory clinic patients reported worries for faster cognitive decline, due to loss of structure and feelings of loneliness and depression. We aimed to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 lockdown on rate of cognitive decline in a mixed memory clinic population, compared to matched historical controls.

Methods: We included patients who visited Alzheimer Center Amsterdam 6 months to 1 week before the first Dutch COVID-19 lockdown, and had a second visit 1 year later, after this lockdown period (n = 113; 66 ± 7 years old; 30% female; n = 55 dementia, n = 31 mild cognitive impairment (MCI), n = 18 subjective cognitive decline (SCD), n = 9 postponed diagnosis).

Quality assessment of donor liver procurement surgery using an unadjusted CUSUM prediction model. A practical nationwide evaluation.

Background: The aim of this study was to analyze the value of the unadjusted CUSUM graph of liver surgical injury and discard rates in organ procurement in the Netherlands.

Methods: Unadjusted CUSUM graphs were plotted for surgical injury (C event) and discard rate (C2 event) from procured livers accepted for transplantation for each local procurement team compared with the total national cohort. The average incidence for each outcome was used as benchmark based on procurement quality forms (Sep 2010-Oct 2018).

Prevalence and Hospital Admissions in Patients With Osteogenesis Imperfecta in The Netherlands: A Nationwide Registry Study.

Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI) is a complex disease caused by genetic alterations in production of collagen type I, and collagen-related proteins. Bone fragility is the most common patient issue, but extraskeletal complications also present an adverse factor in the quality of life and prognosis of patients with OI. However, still little is known about the morbidity and mortality of these patients.

The course of depressive symptoms in the first 12 months post-stroke and its association with unmet needs.

Aim: To describe the course of depressive symptoms during the first 12 months post-stroke and its association with unmet needs.

Methods: A prospective cohort study among stroke patients admitted to inpatient rehabilitation. Depressive symptoms were assessed 3, 6, and 12 months post-stroke using the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale, and categorized into three trajectories: no (all times <8), non-consistent (one or two times ≥8), or persistent (all times ≥8) depressive symptoms.

Evolution from mitral annular dysfunction to severe mitral regurgitation in Barlow's disease.

Objectives: Barlow's disease (BD) is characterized by thick, redundant mitral valve (MV) leaflets, which can lead to prolapse and significant mitral regurgitation (MR). MV annular abnormalities are also commonly observed and increasingly recognized as possible primary pathology, with leaflet thickening being secondary to increased stress on the MV apparatus. To provide more insights into this hypothesis, the evolution of MV abnormalities over time in patients with BD was assessed.

Merged block randomisation: A novel randomisation procedure for small clinical trials.

Background/aims: Randomisation in small clinical trials is a delicate matter, due to the tension between the conflicting aims of balanced groups and unpredictable allocations. The commonly used method of permuted block randomisation has been heavily criticised for its high predictability. This article introduces merged block randomisation, a novel and conceptually simple restricted randomisation design for small clinical trials (less than 100 patients per stratum).

Patients with Staged Bilateral Total Joint Arthroplasty in Registries: Immortal Time Bias and Methodological Options.

Background: In arthroplasty data, patients with staged bilateral total joint arthroplasty (TJA) pose a problem in statistical analysis. Subgroup analysis, in which patients with unilateral and bilateral TJA are studied separately, is sometimes considered an appropriate solution to the problem; we aim to show that this is not true because of immortal time bias.

Methods: We reviewed patients who underwent staged (at any time) bilateral TJA.