Artificial intelligence in the classification and segmentation of fundus images with choroidal nevi.

Objective: The purpose of this study is to summarize the results from 3 experimental studies into the use of artificial intelligence to classify and segment colour fundus images with choroidal nevi.

Study Design: This study is based on a secondary analysis of colour fundus images taken of patients receiving usual clinical care from the Alberta Ocular Brachytherapy Program.

Methods: High-resolution colour fundus images were labeled by experienced ocular oncologists.

Advancing ocular oncology care through teleophthalmology: a patient-centric perspective.

Objective: Assessing patient satisfaction is an important component of understanding a program's efficacy and quality. The purpose of this study is to evaluate patient satisfaction with a teleophthalmology program tailored for ocular oncology that provides screening, remote assessment, care planning, and follow-up.

Study Design: Retrospective survey.

The Eye-Opening Truth About Private Surgical Facilities in Canada.

This paper examines the contentious issue of using contracted surgical facilities (CSFs) for scheduled eye surgeries within Canada's publicly funded healthcare system. Despite the debate over the use of CSFs, there is a stark lack of Canadian-focused empirical evidence to guide policy decisions. This paper uses the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development's healthcare system performance conceptual model - access, quality and cost/expenditures - as a framework to explore the debates surrounding CSFs.

Neoadjuvant Chemoimmunotherapy for NSCLC: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

Importance: To date, no meta-analyses have comprehensively assessed the association of neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy with clinical outcomes in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) in randomized and nonrandomized settings. In addition, there exists controversy concerning the efficacy of neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy for patients with NSCLC with programmed cell death 1 ligand 1 (PD-L1) levels less than 1%.

Objective: To compare neoadjuvant chemoimmunotherapy with chemotherapy by adverse events and surgical, pathological, and efficacy outcomes using recently published randomized clinical trials and nonrandomized trials.

An Environmental Scan and Appraisal of Patient Online Resources for Managing Rheumatoid Arthritis Flares.

Objective: To conduct an environmental scan and appraisal of online patient resources to support rheumatoid arthritis (RA) flare self-management.

Methods: We used the Google search engine (last search March 2023) using the terms "rheumatoid arthritis" and "flare management." Additional searches targeted major arthritis organizations, as well as regional, national, and international resources.

Content validity testing of the INTERMED Self-Assessment in a sample of adults with rheumatoid arthritis and rheumatology healthcare providers.

Background: Care complexity can occur when patients experience health challenges simultaneously with social barriers including food and/or housing insecurity, lack of transportation or other factors that impact care and patient outcomes. People with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may experience care complexity due to the chronicity of their condition and other biopsychosocial factors. There are few standardised instruments that measure care complexity and none that measure care complexity specifically in people with RA.

An examination of rectal prolapse surgery patients' quality of life and symptoms using patient-reported outcome instruments: A prospective cohort study.

Background: We measured changes in self-reported health and symptoms attributable to rectal prolapse surgery using patient-reported outcome (PRO) measures.

Methods: A prospectively recruited cohort of patients scheduled for rectal prolapse repair in Vancouver, Canada between 2013 and 2021 were surveyed before and 6-months after surgery using seven PROs: the EuroQol Five-Dimension Instrument (EQ-5D-5L), Generalized Anxiety Disorder Scale (GAD-7), Pain Intensity, Interference with Enjoyment of Life and General Activity (PEG), Patient Health Questionnaire (PHQ-9), Fecal Incontinence Severity Index (FISI), Gastrointestinal Quality of Life Index (GIQLI), and the Fecal Incontinence Quality of Life Scale (FIQL).

Results: We included 46 participants who reported improvements in health status (EQ-5D-5L; p ​< ​0.

Preoperative depression and anxiety associated with younger age and receipt of immediate breast reconstruction.

Background: As survivorship for breast cancer continues to improve, emphasis of care falls upon improving patients' quality of life. Understanding physical and mental health in the preoperative period is needed to aid surgical decision making and improve patient experience.

Methods: Consecutive patients awaiting total mastectomy (TM), TM with immediate breast reconstruction (IBR) and breast conserving surgery (BCS) were prospectively recruited.

Shared Decision Making in Hallux Valgus Surgery: A Prospective Observational Study.

Patient-physician communication has the potential to improve outcomes and satisfaction through the shared decision-making process (SDM). This study aims to assess the relationship between perception of SDM and demographic, clinical, and patient-reported outcomes in patients undergoing Hallux Valgus (HV) correction. A prospective analysis of 306 patients scheduled for HV surgery was completed.

Investigating the Influence of Patient Eligibility Characteristics on the Number of Deferrable Rheumatologist Visits: Planning for a Patient-Initiated Follow-Up Strategy.

Objective: Patient-initiated follow-up (PIFU) for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a model of care delivery wherein patients contact the clinic when needed instead of having regularly scheduled follow-up. Our objective was to investigate the influence of different patient eligibility characteristics on the number of potentially deferred visits to inform future implementation of a PIFU strategy.

Methods: We conducted a retrospective chart review of 7 rheumatologists' practices at 2 university-based clinics between March 1, 2021, and February 28, 2022.

Psychometric Results of a New Patient-Reported Outcome Measure for Uveal Melanoma Post-Brachytherapy Treatment: The PROM-UM.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the psychometric properties of a new patient-reported outcome instrument intended for use with patients who have undergone brachytherapy for uveal melanoma (PROM-UM). Classical test theory and item response theory were used to evaluate the performance of individual items and domains. A convenience sample of 439 participants who had undergone brachytherapy for uveal melanoma from one of three North American ocular oncology treatment centers were included in this cross-sectional study.

Case mix-based changes in health status: A prospective study of elective surgery patients in Vancouver, Canada.

Introduction: Hospital activity is often measured using diagnosis-related groups, or case mix groups, but this information does not represent important aspects of patients' health outcomes. This study reports on case mix-based changes in health status of elective (planned) surgery patients in Vancouver, Canada.

Data And Methods: We used a prospectively recruited cohort of consecutive patients scheduled for planned inpatient or outpatient surgery in six acute care hospitals in Vancouver.

Associations between perceptions of shared decision making and health among hysterectomy patients: A prospective observational study.

Objective: To investigate patient and clinical factors that are associated with perceptions of shared decision making between hysterectomy patients and surgeons and to evaluate associations between shared decision making and postoperative health.

Methods: This study is based on a prospective cohort scheduled for hysterectomy for benign conditions in Vancouver, Canada. Validated patient-reported outcomes assessed shared decision making, pelvic health, depression, and pain.

Differences in Preoperative Health-Related Quality of Life between Women Receiving Mastectomy or Breast Conserving Surgery in a Prospectively Recruited Cohort of Breast Cancer Patients.

As rates of total mastectomy rise, the relationships between surgery modality with domains of health-related quality of life is not well understood. This study reports differences in depression, anxiety, pain, and health status among a cohort of women scheduled to receive total mastectomy or breast-conserving surgery. Patient-reported outcomes measured preoperative differences between patients receiving total mastectomy or breast-conserving surgery in a cross-sectional design.

A comparison of patient-reported outcomes among Canadian women having hysterectomies.

Purpose: Many indications for hysterectomy can negatively affect patients' quality of life. This study uses patient-reported outcomes to measure changes in self-reported health among hysterectomy patients.

Method: A prospective cohort of 294 hysterectomy patients completed patient-reported outcomes preoperatively and six months postoperatively in Vancouver, Canada.

A Qualitative Study of Patient and Healthcare Provider Perspectives on Building Multiphasic Exercise Prehabilitation into the Surgical Care Pathway for Head and Neck Cancer.

Head and neck cancer (HNC) surgical patients experience a high symptom burden. Multiphasic exercise prehabilitation has the potential to improve patient outcomes, and to implement it into the care pathway, the perspectives of patients and healthcare providers (HCPs) must be considered. The purpose of this study was thus to gather feedback from HNC surgical patients and HCPs on building exercise into the standard HNC surgical care pathway.

The feasibility of patient-reported outcomes, physical function, and mobilization in the care pathway for head and neck cancer surgical patients.

Background: Head and neck cancer (HNC) patients are an understudied population whose treatment often includes surgery, causing a wide range of side effects. Exercise prehabilitation is a promising tool to optimize patient outcomes and may confer additional benefits as a prehabilitation tool. The primary objective of this study was to assess the feasibility of measuring patient-reported outcomes (PROs), physical function, and in-hospital mobilization across the HNC surgical timeline in advance of a future prehabilitation trial.

Prioritization and surgical wait lists: A cross-sectional survey of patient's health-related quality of life.

Introduction: In many countries, there are waits for elective (planned) surgery. In these settings, processes for triaging patients are applied to determine how long patients wait for their surgery. There are very few instances that evaluate the effectiveness of surgical triage processes.

The relationship between perceptions of shared decision-making and patient-reported outcomes in a cross-sectional cohort of haemorrhoidectomy patients.

Aim: Shared decision-making between patients and clinicians is important to surgical practice and patients' perceptions of their healthcare experience. This study aims to measure associations between patients' perceptions of their shared decision-making (SDM) process and health-related quality of life among a cohort of patients choosing surgical management of an elective surgical procedure, haemorrhoidectomy.

Methods: This study is a single-site study based in Vancouver, Canada.

Canadian cost data associated with treating overactive bladder is lacking.

Introduction: Cost-effectiveness analysis forms an integral part of the approval process for new medical treatments in Canada, including drug and non-drug technologies. This study's primary objective was to identify peer-reviewed studies that report Canadian-specific cost data for treating overactive bladder (OAB) based on the Canadian Urological Association (CUA) guideline. A secondary objective was to identify studies that report cost data from other healthcare jurisdictions that could be generalizable to the Canadian context.

The use of onabotulinumtoxinA to treat idiopathic overactive bladder in elderly patients is in need of study.

Background: Injecting onabotulinumtoxinA (BoTN-A) into the bladder has been established as an effective treatment of overactive bladder (OAB) and well-tolerated by patients. However, there evidence suggests the efficacy and safety of this treatment may decrease with age due to increased comorbidities and frailty. This study's objective was to establish empirical evidence regarding age-related differences in outcomes related to BoTN-A for the treatment of idiopathic OAB.

Using the Movember Foundation's GAP3 cohort to measure the effect of active surveillance on patient-reported urinary and sexual function-a retrospective study in low-risk prostate cancer patients.

Background: Active surveillance (AS) for low-risk prostate cancer (PCa) is intended to overcome potential side-effects of definitive treatment. Frequent prostate biopsies during AS may, however, impact erectile (EF) and urinary function (UF). The objective of this study was to test the influence of prostate biopsies on patient-reported EF and UF using multicenter data from the largest to-date AS-database.

Intravesical sequential gemcitabine and docetaxel versus bacillus calmette-guerin (BCG) plus interferon in patients with recurrent non-muscle invasive bladder cancer following a single induction course of BCG.

Introduction: Repeat BCG induction remains an option for select non-muscle invasive bladder cancer (NMIBC) patients who fail initial therapy. Alternative salvage intravesical regimens such as Gemcitabine and Docetaxel (Gem/Doce) have been investigated. We aimed to compare the efficacy BCG plus interferon a-2b (BCG/IFN) and Gem/Doce in patients with recurrent NMIBC after a single prior BCG course.