The effect of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown measures on plastic, reconstructive and hand surgery emergency presentations: a comparative retrospective study in a regional referral center in Germany

Background The global COVID-19 pandemic has led to social constraints and changes in injury patterns during the government-imposed restrictions. The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of the lockdown period on the pattern of emergency presentations in a plastic, hand and reconstructive surgery department in a German referral center. Methods A retrospective cohort study was conducted comparing patients presenting during the enforced lockdown period in 2020 and the same pre-pandemic period during the previous year 2019. All emergency presentations in the emergency unit requiring treatment by plastic, hand and reconstructive surgery were included. Patient demographics, reason for presentation, need for hospital admission, body region affected, location of injury and/or occurrence of first clinical symptoms and injuries of anatomical structures were considered. Results Demographics were comparable among both groups. A 42.7% reduction in emergency cases was observed during the lockdown period. A significant elevation of domestic injuries and symptoms in the pandemic group (51.54% vs. 66.15%, p = 0.007) was registered. Concurrently, a decrease in recreational injuries (27.31% vs. 15.38%, p = 0.009) and workplace injuries (10.57% vs. 7.69%, p = 0.37) was noted. Hospital admission rates and length of stay were comparable. Similarly, no statistically significant differences could be detected regarding injuries of functional anatomical structures. The same holds true for crush injuries, animal bites, fall injuries, finger amputations, disc saw injuries, and distortion injuries. Fractures of the phalanges, the metacarpus/carpus and the forearm exhibited an increase. Conclusions In spite of decreasing total emergency caseloads, there was an unchanged need for plastic, hand and reconstructive in-patient surgery and care during the lockdown period. Resource allocation has to be considered in future pandemic waves. Prevention strategies are warranted and should focus on finding measures to counteract domestic injuries

Evaluating ChatGPT-4o as a decision support tool in multidisciplinary sarcoma tumor boards: heterogeneous performance across various specialties

Background and objectivesSince the launch of ChatGPT in 2023, large language models have attracted substantial interest to be deployed in the health care sector. This study evaluates the performance of ChatGPT-4o as a support tool for decision-making in multidisciplinary sarcoma tumor boards.MethodsWe created five sarcoma patient cases mimicking real-world scenarios and prompted ChatGPT-4o to issue tumor board decisions. These recommendations were independently assessed by a multidisciplinary panel, consisting of an orthopedic surgeon, plastic surgeon, radiation oncologist, radiologist, and pathologist. Assessments were graded on a Likert scale from 1 (completely disagree) to 5 (completely agree) across five categories: understanding, therapy/diagnostic recommendation, aftercare recommendation, summarization, and support tool effectiveness.ResultsThe mean score for ChatGPT-4o performance was 3.76, indicating moderate effectiveness. Surgical specialties received the highest score, with a mean score of 4.48, while diagnostic specialties (radiology/pathology) performed considerably better than the radiation oncology specialty, which performed poorly.ConclusionsThis study provides initial insights into the use of prompt-engineered large language models as decision support tools in sarcoma tumor boards. ChatGPT-4o recommendations regarding surgical specialties performed best while ChatGPT-4o struggled to give valuable advice in the other tested specialties. Clinicians should understand both the advantages and limitations of this technology for effective integration into clinical practice

C-reactive protein for diagnosing late-onset infection in newborn infants

BACKGROUND: Late-onset infection is the most common serious complication associated with hospital care for newborn infants. Because confirming the diagnosis by microbiological culture typically takes 24 to 48 hours, the serum level of the inflammatory marker C-reactive protein (CRP) measured as part of the initial investigation is used as an adjunctive rapid test to guide management in infants with suspected late-onset infection. OBJECTIVES: To determine the diagnostic accuracy of serum CRP measurement in detecting late-onset infection in newborn infants. SEARCH METHODS: We searched electronic databases (MEDLINE, Embase, and Science Citation Index to September 2017), conference proceedings, previous reviews, and the reference lists of retrieved articles. SELECTION CRITERIA: We included cohort and cross-sectional studies evaluating the diagnostic accuracy of serum CRP levels for the detection of late-onset infection (occurring more than 72 hours after birth) in newborn infants. DATA COLLECTION AND ANALYSIS: Two review authors independently assessed eligibility for inclusion, evaluated the methodological quality of included studies, and extracted data to estimate diagnostic accuracy using hierarchical summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) models. We assessed heterogeneity by examining variability of study estimates and overlap of the 95% confidence interval (CI) in forest plots of sensitivity and specificity. MAIN RESULTS: The search identified 20 studies (1615 infants). Most were small, single-centre, prospective cohort studies conducted in neonatal units in high- or middle-income countries since the late 1990s. Risk of bias in the included studies was generally low with independent assessment of index and reference tests. Most studies used a prespecified serum CRP threshold level as the definition of a 'positive' index test (typical cut-off level between 5 mg/L and 10 mg/L) and the culture of a pathogenic micro-organism from blood as the reference standard.At median specificity (0.74), sensitivity was 0.62 (95% CI 0.50 to 0.73). Heterogeneity was evident in the forest plots but it was not possible to conduct subgroup or meta-regression analyses by gestational ages, types of infection, or types of infecting micro-organism. Covariates for whether studies used a predefined threshold or not, and whether studies used a standard threshold of between 5 mg/L and 10 mg/L, were not statistically significant. AUTHORS' CONCLUSIONS: The serum CRP level at initial evaluation of an infant with suspected late-onset infection is unlikely to be considered sufficiently accurate to aid early diagnosis or select infants to undergo further investigation or treatment with antimicrobial therapy or other interventions