Thordis Thomsen

Cost‐analysis of robotic‐assisted laparoscopic hysterectomy versus total abdominal hysterectomy for women with endometrial cancer and atypical complex hyperplasia

The aim of this study was to analyse the hospital cost of treatment with robotic‐assisted laparoscopic hysterectomy and total abdominal hysterectomy for women with endometrial cancer or atypical complex hyperplasia and to identify differences in resource use and cost.

ICU-recovery in Scandinavia: a comparative study of intensive care follow-up in Denmark, Norway and Sweden.

OBJECTIVES The aim of our study was to describe and compare models of intensive care follow-up in Denmark, Norway and Sweden to help inform clinicians regarding the establishment and continuation of ICU aftercare programmes. METHODS Our study had a multi-centre comparative qualitative design with triangulation of sources, methods and investigators. We combined prospective data from semi-structured key-informant telephone interviews and unreported data from a precursory investigation. RESULTS Four basic models of follow-up were identified representing nurse-led or multidisciplinary programmes with or without the provision of patient diaries. A conceptual model was constructed including a catalogue of interventions related to the illness trajectory. We identified three temporal areas for follow-up directed towards the past, present or future. CONCLUSIONS ICU follow-up programmes in the Scandinavian countries have evolved as bottom-up initiatives conducted on a semi-voluntary basis. We suggest reframing follow-up as an integral part of patient therapy. The Scandinavian programmes focus on the human experience of critical illness, with more attention to understanding the past than looking towards the future. We recommend harmonization of programmes with clear goals enabling programme assessment, while moving towards a paradigm of empowerment, enabling patient and family to take an active role in their recovery and wellbeing.

Brief Smoking Cessation Intervention in Relation to Breast Cancer Surgery: A Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND Smokers are more prone to develop postoperative complications. Smoking cessation intervention beginning 4-8 weeks prior to surgery improves the postoperative outcome. Cancer patients, however, often undergo surgery less than 4 weeks after diagnosis. The primary objective of this study was therefore to examine if a brief smoking cessation intervention shortly before breast cancer surgery would influence postoperative complications and smoking cessation. METHODS A randomized controlled multicentre trial with blinded outcome assessment conducted at 3 hospitals in Denmark. One hundred and thirty patients were randomly assigned to brief smoking intervention (n = 65) or standard care (n = 65). The intervention followed the principles of motivational interviewing and included personalized nicotine replacement therapy aimed at supporting smoking cessation from 2 days before to 10 days after surgery. RESULTS The overall postoperative complication rate (including seroma requiring aspiration) was 61% in both groups risk ratio (RR) 1.00 (95% CI 0.75-1.33). The wound complication rate was 44% versus 45%. The effect on perioperative smoking cessation was modest, 28% intervention versus 11% control group patients, RR 2.49 (95% CI 1.10-5.60). There was no effect on smoking cessation at 12 months, 13% versus 9%. CONCLUSIONS Brief smoking intervention administered shortly before breast cancer surgery modestly increased self-reported perioperative smoking cessation without having any clinical impact on postoperative complications. The study adds to the body of evidence indicating that brief intervention has no clinical importance for surgical patients in regard to postoperative morbidity. Future studies should be designed to determine the optimal time of smoking cessation before surgery.

Individualised dietary counselling for nutritionally at-risk older patients following discharge from acute hospital to home: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND Many older patients are undernourished after hospitalisation. Undernutrition impacts negatively on physical function and the ability of older patients to perform activities of daily living at home after discharge from acute hospital. The present study aimed to evaluate the evidence for an effect of individualised dietary counselling following discharge from acute hospital to home on physical function, and, second, on readmissions, mortality, nutritional status, nutritional intake and quality of life (QoL), in nutritionally at-risk older patients. METHODS A systematic review of randomised controlled trials was conducted. The overall quality of the evidence was assessed according to Grading of Recommendations Assessment, Development and Evaluation system (GRADE) criteria. RESULTS Four randomised controlled trials (n = 729) were included. Overall, the evidence was of moderate quality. Dietitians provided counselling in all studies. Meta-analyses showed a significant increase in energy intake [mean difference (MD) = 1.10 MJ day(-1), 95% confidence interval (CI) = 0.66-1.54, P < 0.001], protein intake (MD = 10.13 g day(-1), 95% CI = 5.14-15.13, P < 0.001) and body weight (BW) (MD = 1.01 kg, 95% CI = 0.08-1.95, P = 0.03). Meta-analyses revealed no significant effect on physical function assessed using hand grip strength, and similarly on mortality. Narrative summation of effects on physical function using other instruments revealed inconsistent effects. Meta-analyses were not conducted on QoL and readmissions as a result of a lack of data. CONCLUSIONS Individualised dietary counselling by dietitians following discharge from acute hospital to home improved BW, as well as energy and protein intake, in older nutritionally at-risk patients, although without clearly improving physical function. The effect of this strategy on physical function and other relevant clinical outcomes warrants further investigation.

Does evidence support physiotherapy management of adult female chronic pelvic pain? A systematic review

Abstract Background and purpose Chronic pelvic pain (CPP) is a debilitating condition among women with a major impact on health-related quality of life, work productivity and health care utilisation. The exact prevalence of chronic pelvic pain is not known, but 3.8% is commonly suggested. Musculoskeletal dysfunction is frequently cited as a possible aetiology. Physiotherapy is therefore recommended as one treatment modality. The aim of this systematic review was to source and critically evaluate the evidence for an effect of physiotherapy on pain, physical activity and quality of life in the treatment of female CPP. Methods Electronic databases, conference proceedings, text books and clinical guidelines were searched for quantitative, observational, and prospective clinical intervention studies of female chronic pelvic pain where physiotherapy was a sole or significant component of the intervention. Trial inclusion, data extraction according to predefined criteria and risk of bias assessment were performed by two independent authors. Methodological quality of the included clinical intervention studies was assessed using The Cochrane Collaboration’s tool for assessing risk of bias. Review Manager (RevMan) version 5.0 was used for data analysis. Effect estimates (relative risk, mean difference and mean change) with 95% confidence intervals were calculated for the above outcomes. For significant outcomes the numbers needed to treat were calculated. Results The search strategy identified 3469 potential articles. Of these, 11 articles, representing 10 studies, met the inclusion criteria. There were 6 randomised clinical trials, 1 cohort study and 3 case series. Methodological quality was dependent on study type. Accordingly, level of evidence was judged higher in randomised clinical trials than in the other study types. Physiotherapy treatments varied between studies and were provided in combination with psychotherapeutic modalities and medical management. This did not allow for the ‘stand-alone’ value of physiotherapy to be determined. Heterogeneity across the studies, with respect to participants, interventions, outcome measures and times of follow-up, prevented meta-analysis. Narrative synthesis of the results, based on effect estimates and clinically relevant pain improvement, disclosed some evidence to support an effect of multidisciplinary intervention and Mensendieck somatocognitive therapy on female chronic pelvic pain. Conclusion Chronic pelvic pain in women is a major health care problem with no specific therapies and poor prognosis. There seems to be some evidence to support the use of a multidisciplinary intervention in the management of female chronic pelvic pain. Somatocognitive therapy is a new approach that appears to be promising and randomised clinical trials are underway in order to establish its evidence base. Implications Based on the findings of this review, recommendations for physiotherapy in chronic pelvic pain clinical guidelines, textbooks and narrative reviews should be interpreted with caution due to the lack of a sufficient evidence base. Only small and largely non-randomised studies have been undertaken of physiotherapeutic interventions and this greatly limits the available evidence on which to base clinical practice. High quality randomised clinical trials are therefore urgently needed.

Dependency in elderly people newly diagnosed with cancer – A mixed-method study

PURPOSE This study, based on data from an empirical investigation, combines quantitative and qualitative approaches in a mixed-method design to explore dependency in elderly people newly diagnosed with cancer. METHODS AND SAMPLE 101 elderly people newly diagnosed with cancer were included in the quantitative part, with 16 in the qualitative part. A questionnaire concerning quality of life and dependency issues was developed. For the qualitative part, open-ended interviews were conducted to get closer to the experience of dependency. RESULTS Combining the two methods was seen as complementary. Involvement of the patient in decision-making related to contact with the primary and secondary health-care systems is an important element in reducing the perception of dependency and maintaining the Quality of Life (QoL) of elderly cancer patients. A more precise intervention in this patient population can be achieved by assessing, Activities of Daily Living (ADL) in the elderly. Receiving assistance from children seems to increase perceived dependency and to affect QoL negatively. CONCLUSIONS The results of this mixed-method study indicate that dependency had a negative influence on the elderly with cancer. Being dependent on others was experienced as deterioration. Fatigue represents a significant risk factor for decreased functional ability and is experienced as a reminder of being old and the situation as being out of control. Patients may benefit from health-care professionals acquiring a complete picture of dependency and cancer-related fatigue in the elderly through a systematic assessment, where for example, functional limitations related to fatigue can be determined.

Pelvic floor muscle dysfunctions are prevalent in female chronic pelvic pain: a cross-sectional population-based study.

No current standardized set of pelvic floor muscle (PFM) outcome measures have been specifically tested for their applicability in a general female chronic pelvic pain (CPP) population. We aimed to compare PFM function between a randomly selected population‐based sample of women with CPP and age‐matched pain‐free controls using multiple standardized intravaginal examination measures recommended by the International Continence Society.

Brief preoperative smoking cessation counselling in relation to breast cancer surgery: A qualitative study

AIM To describe how women smokers with newly diagnosed breast cancer experienced brief preoperative smoking cessation intervention in relation to breast cancer surgery. BACKGROUND Preoperative smoking cessation intervention is relevant for short- and long-term risk reduction in newly diagnosed cancer patients. Our knowledge of how patients with malignant diagnoses experience preoperative smoking intervention is however scarce. METHODS A qualitative descriptive study that collected data through one-time individual, semi-structured interviews with 11 Danish women. Ricoeurs theory of interpretation was used for the analysis. RESULTS The women experienced that brief preoperative smoking intervention triggered reflection upon smoking and health. They furthermore experienced the smoking intervention as an opportune aid to escaping the social stigma of being a smoker. Quitting in the context of cancer diagnosis was difficult for some women. They relapsed to smoking as an ingrown response to emotional distress. The smoking intervention heightened the womens awareness of their addiction to smoking; however, they expressed a need for prolonged smoking cessation support. For others, the smoking intervention was supportive of cessation, and these women experienced smoking cessation as an enactment of a duty of responsibility to themselves and those nearest to them. They furthermore experienced a sense of personal achievement, improved well-being and endorsement from family and friends. CONCLUSION In newly diagnosed breast cancer patients, brief preoperative smoking intervention motivated smoking cessation. However, prolonged intervention, pre- and postoperatively, may more effectively support cessation in breast cancer patients and should therefore be evaluated in this patient population.

Health-related quality of life after robotic-assisted laparoscopic hysterectomy for women with endometrial cancer — A prospective cohort study

OBJECTIVE The aim of this prospective cohort study using patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs) was to detect short term changes in functioning, symptoms and health-related quality of life (HRQoL) after robotic-assisted laparoscopic hysterectomy (RALH) for endometrial cancer or atypical complex hyperplasia. METHODS/MATERIALS A total of 139 women answered the EORTC C-30, EN-24 and EQ-5D-3L preoperatively (baseline) by face to face interview and again 1 week, 5 weeks and 4 months postoperatively by telephone interview. The women furthermore reported their level of activity compared to their habitual level in a diary during the first 5 weeks after surgery. RESULTS We found a clinically relevant decrease in HRQoL after 1 week. At 5 weeks postoperatively, HRQoL was again at the preoperative level. Fatigue, pain, constipation, gastrointestinal symptoms, and appetite were all negatively affected 1 week postoperatively, but back to baseline level at 5 weeks. Ability to perform work or hobbies and change of taste were still affected at 5 weeks. CONCLUSIONS HRQoL and postoperative symptoms were overall back to the preoperative level 5 weeks after RALH. These findings indicate fatigue, pain, constipation, gastrointestinal symptoms, appetite, ability to perform work and hobbies, change of taste and sexually related problems should be addressed in future research and in the pre- and postoperative care for women undergoing RALH.

Physical health problems experienced in the early postoperative recovery period following total knee replacement

BACKGROUND The length of stay in hospital following total knee replacement is markedly shortened due to fast-track programmes. Patients have to be responsible for their recovery at a very early stage. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of physical health problems and the level of exercising in the early recovery period after discharge from hospital following total knee replacement. METHOD A cross-sectional survey was conducted using a questionnaire. A total of 86 patients were included following first-time elective total knee replacement. Descriptive statistics were used. RESULTS The majority of the patients experienced leg oedema (90.7%). Secondary to this were pain (81.4%), sleeping disorders (47.7%) problems with appetite (38.4%) and bowel function (34.9%) were the most frequently identified physical health problems. In total, 69.8% of the patients indicated that they did not exercise or only partly exercise as recommended, but without associated experience of pain. CONCLUSION Patients experienced a wide range of physical health problems following total knee replacement and deviation from recommended self-training was identified. These findings are valuable for health professionals in regard to improve treatment as well as patient education and information.