Evaluation of volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT) — based total body irradiation (TBI) in pediatric patients

BackgroundThe dosimetric characterization of volumetric modulated arc therapy (VMAT)-based total-body irradiation (TBI) in pediatric patients is evaluated.Materials and methodsTwenty-two patients between the ages of 2 and 12 years were enrolled for VMAT-based TBI from 2018 to 2020. Three isocenters were irradiated over three overlapping arcs. While prescribing 90% of the TBI dose to the planning treatment volume (PTV), two fractions (2 Gy each) were delivered each day; hence 12 Gy was delivered in six fractions. During treatment optimization, the mean lung and kidney doses were set not to exceed 7 Gy and 7.5 Gy, respectively. The maximum lens dose was also set to less than 4 Gy. Patient quality assurance was carried out by comparing treatment planning system doses to the 3-dimensional measured doses by the ArcCHECK^® detector. The electronic portal imaging device (EPID) gamma indices were also obtained.ResultsThe average mean lung dose was 7.75 ± 0.18 Gy, mean kidney dose 7.63 ± 0.26 Gy, maximum lens dose 4.41 ± 0.39 Gy, and the mean PTV dose 12.69 ± 0.16 Gy. The average PTV heterogeneity index was 1.15 ± 0.03. Average differences in mean kidney dose, mean lung dose, and mean target dose were 2.79% ± 0.88, 0.84% ± 0.45 and 0.93% ± 0.47, respectively; when comparing planned and ArcCHECK^® measured doses. Only grade 1–2 radiation toxicities were recorded, based on CTCAE v5.0 scoring criteria.ConclusionsVMAT-TBI was characterized with good PTV coverage, homogeneous dose distribution, planned and measured dose agreement, and low toxicity.     

How the Electronic Health Record Will Change the Future of Health Care

Genetic testing is expected to play a critical role in patient care in the near future. Advances in genomic research have the potential to impact medicine in very tangible and direct ways, from carrier screening to disease diagnosis and prognosis to targeted treatments and personalized medicine. However, numerous barriers to widespread adoption of genetic testing continue to exist, and health information technology will be a critical means of addressing these challenges. Electronic health records (EHRs) are a digital replacement for the traditional paper-based patient chart designed to improve the quality of patient care. EHRs have become increasingly essential to managing the wealth of existing clinical information that now includes genetic information extracted from the patient genome. The EHR is capable of changing health care in the future by transforming the way physicians use genomic information in the practice of medicine.     

WHAT DO ISLAMIC INSTITUTIONAL FATWAS SAY ABOUT MEDICAL AND RESEARCH CONFIDENTIALITY AND BREACH OF CONFIDENTIALITY?

Protecting confidentiality is an essential value in all human relationships, no less in medical practice and research.(1) Doctor-patient and researcher-participant relationships are built on trust and on the understanding those patients' secrets will not be disclosed.(2) However, this confidentiality can be breached in some situations where it is necessary to meet a strong conflicting duty.(3) Confidentiality, in a general sense, has received much interest in Islamic resources including the Qur'an, Sunnah and juristic writings. However, medical and research confidentiality have not been explored deeply. There are few fatwas about the issue, despite an increased effort by both individuals and Islamic medical organizations to use these institutional fatwas in their research. Infringements on confidentiality make up a significant portion of institutional fatwas, yet they have never been thoroughly investigated. Moreover, the efforts of organizations and authors in this regard still require further exploration, especially on the issue of research confidentiality. In this article, we explore medical and research confidentiality and potential conflicts with this practice as a result of fatwas released by international, regional, and national Islamic Sunni juristic councils. We discuss how these fatwas affect research and publication by Muslim doctors, researchers, and Islamic medical organizations. We argue that more specialized fatwas are needed to clarify Islamic juristic views about medical and research confidentiality, especially the circumstances in which infringements on this confidentiality are justified.     

综合医院医疗不良事件报告的障碍因素以及改进策略分析

????? 医疗不良事件的分析总结对保证医疗质量起着促进作用,而医疗不良事件的报告存在着许多障碍因素。通过调查湖北省、江苏省、浙江省12家医院的医疗不良事件的报告情况,分析阻碍医疗不良事件报告的原因,并提出相应建议。

     

医患不信任问题对医方医疗行为的影响及对策分析

目的 客观真实的描述医患间的信任现状及其对医方医疗行为的影响,并提出相关对策建议。方法 对北京市5家三甲医院医务人员和患者共1 010人进行问卷调查,对25位医务人员进行定性访谈,通过统计分析描述并分析医患不信任问题现状及其对医方医疗行为的影响。结果 医方对于医患关系的评价低于患方,存在感觉患者不信任医方的担忧;继而产生了其言行过分谨慎、规避风险、消极自保的行为,甚至偏离医学科学原则的现象。结论 医患不信任情况的确存在,已经对于医方的医疗行为造成了不良影响,必须从政府、医院以及媒体3方面采取应对措施,以缓解医患间的不和谐关系,重建医患间不可或缺的信任。     

抓住电子病历应用共享核心 推进数字化医院建设

国家卫生部对电子病历应用水平验收主要是对医院、区域电子病历共享进行验收,意在促进区域协同医疗和全民健康管理。长安医院紧紧抓住全国电子病历试点医院这一契机,努力建设数字化医院,获得国家卫生部“电子病历系统应用水平”考核全国第一,医院建设获得全面推进。     

中国临终关怀服务现状与伦理探讨

随着社会经济的发展、人口老龄化和疾病谱的改变,临终关怀已成为我国社会所关注的重要民生问题,也成为医学伦理的热点。该文结合中国生命关怀协会对我国城市临终关怀服务利用与需要状况的调研,反映当前我国城市临终关怀服务的基本特征,对临终关怀中涉及医学伦理的部分概念,以及临终关怀服务中的相关权益进行阐述,并建议应当在逐步完善全民医疗保健制度的基础上,健全服务体系,包括临终关怀伦理道德法规体系,才能更好地为临终患者服务,提高患者的生命质量。     

Incidence of adult brain cancers is higher in countries where the protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii is common

We explored associations between the common protozoan parasite Toxoplasma gondii and brain cancers in human populations. We predicted that T. gondii could increase the risk of brain cancer because it is a long-lived parasite that encysts in the brain, where it provokes inflammation and inhibits apoptosis. We used a medical geography approach based on the national incidence of brain cancers and seroprevalence of T. gondii. We corrected reports of incidence for national gross domestic product because wealth probably increases the ability to detect cancer. We also included gender, cell phone use and latitude as variables in our initial models. Prevalence of T. gondii explained 19 per cent of the residual variance in brain cancer incidence after controlling for the positive effects of gross domestic product and latitude among nations. Infection with T. gondii was associated with a 1.8-fold increase in the risk of brain cancers across the range of T. gondii prevalence in our dataset (4-67%). These results, though correlational, suggest that T. gondii should be investigated further as a possible oncogenic pathogen of humans.     

Parental refusal of life-saving treatments for adolescents: Chinese familism in medical decision-making re-visited

This paper reports two cases in Hong Kong involving two native Chinese adolescent cancer patients (APs) who were denied their rights to consent to necessary treatments refused by their parents, resulting in serious harm. We argue that the dynamics of the 'AP-physician-family-relationship' and the dominant role Chinese families play in medical decision-making (MDM) are best understood in terms of the tendency to hierarchy and parental authoritarianism in traditional Confucianism. This ethic has been confirmed and endorsed by various Chinese writers from Mainland China and Hong Kong. Rather than giving an unqualified endorsement to this ethic, based more on cultural sentimentalism than rational moral reasoning, we warn that a strong familism in MDM, which deprives 'weak' family members of rights, represents the less desirable elements of this tradition, against which healthcare professionals working in this cultural milieu need to safeguard. Specifically for APs, we suggest that parental authority and family integrity should be re-interpreted in terms of parental responsibility and the enhancement of children's interests respectively, as done in the West. This implies that when parents refuse to consent to necessary treatment and deny their adolescent children's right to consent, doctors, as the only remaining advocates of the APs' interest, have the duty to inform the state, which can override parental refusal to enable the doctors to fulfill their professional and moral obligations. In so doing the state exercises its 'parens patriae' power to defend the defenseless in society and the integrity of the medical profession.