Psoas Muscle Index as a Predictor of Perioperative Outcomes in Geriatric Patients Undergoing Spine Surgery.

Study Design: Single-center retrospective study.

Objective: The objective of this study was to evaluate the association of psoas muscle mass defined sarcopenia with perioperative outcomes in geriatric patients undergoing elective spine surgery.

Methods: We included geriatric patients undergoing thoracolumbar spinal surgery.

Developing a Real-Time Electroencephalogram-Guided Anesthesia-Management Curriculum for Educating Residents: A Single-Center Randomized Controlled Trial.

Background: Different anesthetic drugs and patient factors yield unique electroencephalogram (EEG) patterns. Yet, it is unclear how best to teach trainees to interpret EEG time series data and the corresponding spectral information for intraoperative anesthetic titration, or what effect this might have on outcomes.

Methods: We developed an electronic learning curriculum (ELC) that covered EEG spectrogram interpretation and its use in anesthetic titration.

Perioperative Optimization of Senior Health in Spine Surgery: Impact on Postoperative Delirium.

Background: Delirium is a common postoperative complication in geriatric patients, especially in those with underlying risk factors. Multicomponent nonpharmacologic interventions are effective in preventing delirium, however, implementation of these measures is variable in perioperative care. The aim of our study was to assess the impact of our Perioperative Optimization of Senior Health Program (UTSW POSH) on postoperative delirium in patients undergoing elective spine surgery.

Smoking has a dose-dependent effect on the incidence of preoperative opioid consumption in female geriatric patients with spine disease.

Tobacco use and narcotic medication have been associated with worse functional outcomes after surgery. Our goal was to investigate potential associations between smoking and preoperative opioid consumption in a geriatric population undergoing spine surgery, and their impact on postoperative outcomes. The records of 536 consecutive patients aged more than 65 years who underwent elective spinal surgery between November 2014 and August 2017 at a single institution were reviewed.

Cancer Screening in Older Adults.

Cancer screening is an important tool for reducing morbidity and mortality in the elderly. In this article, performance characteristics of commonly used screening tests for colorectal, lung, prostate, breast, and cervical cancers are discussed. Guidelines are emphasized and key issues to consider in screening older adults are highlighted.

Robotics in the hematology laboratory. An evaluation of the productivity of the Sysmex HS-330.

The productivity of a robotic hematology system (Sysmex HS-330) was compared with that of existing automated, semi-automated, and manual systems (Coulter Counter-Model STKS; Sysmex R-1000 reticulocyte counter. Geometric Data Miniprep slide maker, respectively) in the clinical hematology laboratory of a large hospital. On average, for a batch of 50 samples, the HS-330 performed a blood count with a 5-part differential, a reticulocyte count, and prepare a blood smear 23 minutes faster than could trained technologists using existing equipment.

Accuracy and utility of differential white blood cell count in the neonatal intensive care unit.

The clinical utility of the complete blood cell count (including the differential white blood cell count) as a means to follow the course of infants in a neonatal intensive care unit was assessed. Utility was judged for three purposes: (1) predicting the onset of clinically unrecognized disease, (2) assessing the severity of current disease, and (3) following a trend during treatment. Neither conventional nor automated differential counts were useful for surveillance (predicting the onset of clinically unrecognized disease).

Laboratory evaluation of differential white blood cell count information from the Coulter S-plus IV and Technicon H-1 in patient populations requiring rapid "turnaround" time.

Automated differential counts produced by the Coulter S-Plus IV (S + 4) and the Technicon H-1 (H-1) were compared with routine and reference manual differentials with the use of samples from the adult emergency room (ER) and the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU), populations in which rapid reporting of laboratory results is considered important. Error rates for routine technologists were 9.3% in the ER and 15.