Pain and Perception: Exploring Psychedelics as Novel Therapeutic Agents in Chronic Pain Management.

Purpose Of Review: Chronic pain affects approximately 1.5 billion people worldwide, representing the leading cause of disability and a significant financial burden on healthcare systems. Conventional treatments, such as opioids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, are frequently linked to adverse effects, including dependency and gastrointestinal issues, and often offer limited long-term relief.

Survival benefit associated with liver transplantation for hepatocellular carcinoma based on tumor burden scores at listing.

Introduction: Liver transplantation (LT) provides significant survival benefits to patients with unresectable HCC. In the United States, organ allocation policies for HCCs within the United Network for Organ Sharing criteria do not prioritize patients based on their differences in oncological characteristics. This study assessed whether transplant-associated survival benefits (TASBs) vary among patients with different tumor burden scores (TBS) measured at the time of listing.

How to Implement Clinical 7T MRI-Practical Considerations and Experience with Ultra-High-Field MRI.

The implementation of clinical 7T MRI presents both opportunities and challenges for advanced medical imaging. This tutorial provides practical considerations and experiences with 7T MRI in clinical settings. We first explore the history and evolution of MRI technology, highlighting the benefits of increased signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR), and susceptibility at 7T.

The assessment of point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) in residency: the benefits of a four-year longitudinally integrated curriculum.

Context: Point-of-care ultrasound (POCUS) has diverse applications across various clinical specialties, serving as an adjunct to clinical findings and as a tool for increasing the quality of patient care. Owing to its multifunctionality, a growing number of medical schools are increasingly incorporating POCUS training into their curriculum, some offering hands-on training during the first 2 years of didactics and others utilizing a longitudinal exposure model integrated into all 4 years of medical school education. Midwestern University Arizona College of Osteopathic Medicine (MWU-AZCOM) adopted a 4-year longitudinal approach to include POCUS education in 2017.

Trends and Outcomes in Sarcomatoid Renal Cell Carcinoma: Analysis of the National Cancer Data Base.

Background And Objective: Our aim was to determine the clinical characteristics, temporal trends, and survival outcomes for sarcomatoid-dedifferentiated renal cell carcinoma (sRCC), as sRCC has historically had poor prognosis and a contemporary cohort has not been well characterized in a population-based study.

Methods: Data for 302 630 RCC cases from 2010 to 2019 were extracted from the National Cancer Data Base, of which 4.1% (12 329) were sRCC.

A Guide to Pediatric Antibiotic Allergy Testing: A Report from the United States Drug Allergy Registry.

Pediatric antibiotic labels are common, and unnecessary antibiotic avoidance is associated with negative personal and public health outcomes; as a result, there is an increasing emphasis on the importance of pediatric antibiotic allergy evaluations. Different testing strategies have been advised, including skin testing and challenge testing with varied doses and duration. Established consensus testing protocols are lacking.

Donor Type Does Not Impact Late Graft Failure Following Reduced Intensity Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation with Post-Transplant Cyclophosphamide Based Graft-Versus-Host Disease Prophylaxis.

Background: Post-transplant cyclophosphamide (PTCy) is a commonly used graft-vs-host disease (GVHD) prophylaxis, particularly in the setting of haploidentical (haplo) hematopoietic cell transplantation (HCT). The rate of graft failure has been reported to be as high as 12-20% in haplo-HCT recipients using PTCy. The objective of this study was to determine if donor type influenced the risk of late graft failure following RIC HCT using PTCy-based GVHD prophylaxis.

Unintentional exposure to leuprolide acetate during early pregnancy with a huge intramural myoma.

Leuprolide acetate is commonly used to reduce the size of myomas before surgery. Initially, it stimulates pituitary gonadotropin secretion, followed by sustained suppression of gonadal function. However, the impact on pregnancy outcomes from inadvertent exposure remains unclear.

Risk of Acute Cholecystitis Based on Combination of Patient Age, Patient Sex, Leukocytosis, and Sonographic Murphy Sign.

Objectives: To combine sonographic Murphy sign (SMS) with clinical parameters to effectively stratify patients into risk groups for acute cholecystitis.

Methods: Consecutive emergency department patients from April 1, 2019 to August 31, 2022 with possible acute cholecystitis were grouped using patient age, sex, and white blood cell count to determine the rate of acute cholecystitis found in subgroups. Three distinct clinical risk groups were established and then regrouped by prospective assessment of SMS into three non-imaging risk groups.

Engraft: A Collaborative Learning Health Network for Enhanced Transplant and Cellular Therapy Outcomes.

The Engraft Learning Health Network (LHN) aims to improve outcomes for patients undergoing transplant and cellular therapy (TCT) through a collaborative, data-driven approach. Engraft brings together diverse stakeholders, including clinicians, patients, caregivers, and institutions, to standardize best practices and accelerate the dissemination of innovations in TCT care. By establishing a multicenter, real-world clinical registry focused on rapid-cycle quality improvement (QI) and implementation research, Engraft seeks to reduce variability in clinical practice to improve TCT outcomes across centers.

Predictors of Outcomes After Gastric Peroral Endoscopic Myotomy for Refractory Gastroparesis: A Systematic Review.

Introduction: Gastroparesis is a debilitating gastroduodenal disorder for which gastric peroral endoscopic myotomy (GPOEM) has emerged as an efficacious treatment option. However, response to GPOEM varies between 50% and 80%, such that preoperative predictors of treatment success are needed to guide patient selection.

Methods: We performed a systematic review to identify predictors of clinical and functional response to GPOEM among adult patients with gastroparesis (PROSPERO: CRD42023457359).

Stomach and duodenal ulcer as a cause of death in patients with cancer: a cohort study.

Introduction: Non-cancer deaths are now becoming a significant threat to the health of cancer patients. Death from stomach and duodenal ulcer is linked to cancer due to the side effects of treatment and its pathogenesis. However, guidelines for identifying cancer patients at the highest risk of death from stomach and duodenal ulcer remain unclear.

Optimizing Ewing Sarcoma and Osteosarcoma Biopsy Acquisition: A Children's Oncology Group Bone Tumor Committee Consensus Statement.

Trends in diagnostic biopsy sample collection approaches for primary bone sarcomas have shifted in the past 2 decades. Although open/incisional biopsies used to be the predominant approach to obtain diagnostic material for Ewing sarcoma and osteosarcoma, image-guided core needle biopsies have increased in frequency and are safe for patients. These procedures are less invasive and reduce recovery times but have potential limitations.

DEK::AFF2 Fusion Sinonasal and Skull Base Nonkeratinizing Squamous Cell Carcinoma: A Clinical Outcome Study Compared With Conventional Sinonasal Squamous Cell Carcinoma.

DEK::AFF2 fusion nonkeratinizing squamous cell carcinoma (NKSCC) is an emerging entity in the sinonasal tract, temporal bone, and skull base. However, the clinical behavior of these tumors has not been well studied. Here, we report the largest cohort of DEK::AFF2 carcinomas to determine if morphology, mitotic rate, and/or Ki-67 IHC are associated with patient outcomes, including a comparison with high-risk human papillomavirus (HPV)-associated and independent patients.

Case 332: Tyrosine Kinase Inhibitor-induced Intestinal Lymphangiectasia.

History A 65-year-old male patient with a history of sarcomatoid renal cell carcinoma and prior right nephrectomy developed recurrent disease adjacent to the inferior vena cava. The patient underwent surveillance imaging 7 months after initiation of treatment with maximum-dose pazopanib and less than 1 month after completing a 2-month regimen of palliative stereotactic body radiation therapy to the right nephrectomy bed and site of recurrence. (Stereotactic body radiation therapy was initiated 5 months after pazopanib treatment was initiated.

Outcomes of DCD Liver Transplant Using Sequential Normothermic Regional Perfusion and Normothermic Machine Perfusion or NRP Alone Versus Static Cold Storage.

Background: The availability of in situ normothermic regional perfusion (NRP) or ex situ normothermic machine perfusion (NMP) has revolutionized donation after circulatory death (DCD) liver transplant (LT). While some have suggested that NRP and NMP may represent competing technologies for DCD LT, there are many scenarios where these technologies can function in a complementary manner.

Methods: Between January 2022 and March 2024, 83 DCD LTs were performed using NRP (62 NRP alone and 21 NRP + NMP) and were compared with 297 static cold storage (SCS) DCD LTs.

Development of an automated CBCT-based simulation-free platform for expedited palliative radiotherapy on a conventional linear accelerator.

Background: Conventional approaches for emergent or expedited palliative radiotherapy (RT) involve the application of cumbersome vendor-provided solutions and/or multiple patient appointments to complete the RT workflow within a compressed timeframe.

Purpose: This report delineates the clinical development of an in-house, semi-automated Cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT)-based simulation-free platform for expedited palliative RT on conventional linacs, intended to supplant existing techniques employed at this institution.

Methods: The internal software, termed SimFree Wizard (SFW), was engineered utilizing a C#-based application programming interface integrated within the treatment planning system (TPS).

Atraumatic Cervical Disc Herniation With Rapidly Progressive Myelopathy in a 47-Year-Old Male: A Case Report.

Atraumatic acute myelopathy caused by idiopathic disc herniation is rare. This case presents a 47-year-old male with a sudden onset of severe neck pain and weakness upon waking that progressively worsened. His rapidly progressive myelopathy led to an MRI of the cervical spine, revealing severe spinal canal stenosis at the C6-C7 level due to a large disc herniation deforming the spinal cord.

Acute Muscle Weakness in Graves' Disease: A Case Report of Hypokalemic Thyrotoxic Periodic Paralysis.

Thyrotoxic periodic paralysis (TPP) is a rare but significant complication of hyperthyroidism, characterized by episodes of muscle weakness or paralysis and associated hypokalemia. This case report details a 30-year-old Latin American male with a history of Graves' disease, presenting with acute muscle weakness and hypokalemia. The patient reported transient episodes of weakness over recent weeks, culminating in a severe episode prompting emergency evaluation.