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Purpose: Despite the growing presence of interventional radiology (IR) in inpatient care, its global impact on the health care system remains uncharacterized. The aim of this study was to quantitate the use of IR services rendered to hospitalized patients in the United States and the impact on cost., Methods: The National Inpatient Sample 2016 was queried. Using the International Classification of Diseases, 10th revision, Clinical Modification/Procedure Classification System, adult inpatients who underwent routine IR procedures were identified. Unadjusted and adjusted analyses were performed. Weighted patient data are presented to provide national estimates., Results: Of the 29.7 million inpatient admissions in 2016, 2.3 million (7.8%) had at least one IR procedure. Patients who needed IR were older (62.8 versus 57.1 years, P < .001), were sicker on the basis of the All Patient Refined Diagnosis Related Groups (27% major or extreme versus 14% for non-IR, P < .001), and had higher inpatient mortality (8.2% versus 1.7%, P < .001). While representing 7.8% of all admissions, this cohort accounted for 18.4% ($68.4 billion) of adult inpatient health care costs and about 3 times higher mean hospitalization cost compared with other inpatients ($29,402 versus $11,062, P < .001), which remained significant even after controlling for age and All Patient Refined Diagnosis Related Group., Conclusions: Approximately 1 in 10 US inpatients are treated by IR during their hospitalizations. These patients are sicker, with about 4 times higher mortality and 2.5 times greater length of stay, accounting for almost one-fifth of all health care costs. These findings suggest that IR should have a voice in discussions of means to save costs and improve patient outcomes in the United States., (Copyright © 2020 American College of Radiology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: Similar to women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics disciplines, women in medicine are subject to negative stereotyping when they do not adhere to their sex-role expectations. These biases may vary by specialty, largely dependent on the gender's representation in that specialty. Thus, females in male-dominated surgical specialties are especially at risk of stereotype threat. Herein, we present the role of gender expectations using trainee evaluations of physician faculty at a single academic center, over a 5-year period (2010-2014)., Design: Using Graduate Medical Education evaluation data of physician faculty from MedHub, we examined the differences in evaluation scores for male and female physicians within specialties that have traditionally had low female representation (e.g., surgical fields) compared to those with average or high female representation (e.g., pediatrics)., Setting: Stanford Medicine residents and fellows' MedHub ratings of their physician faculty from 2010 to 2014., Participants: A total of 3648 evaluations across 1066 physician faculty., Results: Overall, female physicians received lower median scores than their male counterparts across all specialties. When using regression analyses controlling for race, age, rank, and specialty-specific characteristics, the negative effect persists only for female physicians in specialties with low female representation., Conclusions: This finding suggests that female physicians in traditionally male-dominated specialties may face different criteria based on sex-role expectations when being evaluated by trainees. As trainee evaluations play an important role in career advancement decisions, dictate perceptions of quality within academic medical centers and affect overall job satisfaction, we propose that these differences in evaluations based merely on gender stereotypes could account, in part, for the narrowing pipeline of women promoted to higher ranks in academic medicine., (Copyright © 2018 Association of Program Directors in Surgery. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: To apply and monitor a single institution's adherence to internally established guidelines for the preoperative administration of platelets and/or fresh frozen plasma (FFP) before a specified subset of minimally invasive interventional radiology (IR) procedures., Materials and Methods: Beginning in December 2008, we implemented a set of restrictive guidelines for preoperative platelet and/or FFP administration before IR procedures at a single academic hospital. Basing our program on the methodology of Lean Six Sigma, we compared the number and appropriateness of transfusions between the months of January and October in 2008 (prepolicy), again in 2010 (postpolicy), and finally in 2015 (follow-up). Patients with a platelet count less than or equal to 50,000 or an international normalized ratio greater than or equal to 1.7 met criteria for receiving platelets or FFP, respectively, before their IR procedure. For all three periods, we compared the rates of transfusion, hemorrhagic complications, and proportion of appropriate versus inappropriate blood product administration (BPA) per our guidelines., Results: There was a significant increase in the number of appropriate BPAs between 2008 and 2010 from 58% to 76% (P = .021). Between 2010 and 2015, the rate trended up further, from 76% to 88% (P = .051). Overall, between 2008 and 2015, the improvement from 58% to 88% was significant (P < .001). The rate of hemorrhagic complications was extremely low in all three groups., Conclusion: Restrictive guidelines for receiving platelets and FFP administrations before IR procedures can sustainably decrease the rate of overall BPA while increasing the proportion of appropriate BPA without impacting the rate of hemorrhagic complications., (Copyright © 2017 American College of Radiology. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Objective: The objective of the study was to determine whether women with significant left common iliac vein stenosis who also use combined oral contraceptives (COCs) have a combined likelihood of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) greater than each independent risk., Study Design: This was a case-control study comparing 35 women with DVT against 35 age-matched controls. Common iliac vein diameters were measured from computed tomography and magnetic resonance imaging. Logistic regression modeling was used with adjustment for risk factors., Results: DVT was associated with COC use (P = .022) and with increasing degrees of common iliac vein stenosis (P = .004). Compared with women without venous stenosis or COC use, the odds of DVT in women with a 70% venous stenosis who also use COCs was associated with a 17-fold increase (P = .01)., Conclusion: Venous stenosis and COC use are independent risk factors for DVT. Women concurrently exposed to both have a multiplicative effect resulting in an increased risk of DVT. We recommend further studies to investigate this effect and its potential clinical implications., (Copyright © 2011 Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.)

Purpose: We aimed to evaluate the efficacy of computed tomography (CT)-guided percutaneous lung biopsy of pulmonary nodules with indeterminate radiologic characteristics in patients at risk for malignant and nonmalignant processes such as infection or inflammation., Patients and Methods: From January 2003 to September 2008, 262 patients (mean age, 59 years; range, 18-92 years) with pulmonary nodules or a mass of uncertain etiology and with indeterminate radiologic characteristics underwent CT-guided percutaneous lung biopsy. Patients with discordant clinical history and imaging findings or immunocompromised patients at risk for both etiologies were included. Specimens were submitted for both cytology and microbiology., Results: Of the entire cohort, 166 patients (63.4%) had a nonmalignant process, and 96 patients (36.6%) had a malignancy. CT-guided percutaneous lung biopsy established a diagnosis in 166 patients (63.4%). Of the 166 patients with a nonmalignant etiology and 96 patients with malignancy, it provided a definitive diagnosis in 91 patients (54.8%) and 75 patients (78.1%), respectively, a difference that was statistically significant (P = .0001). Overall diagnostic efficacy between immunocompetent and immunocompromised patients was comparable (P = .2); however, detection of infection or inflammation in individual groups was lower compared with detection of malignancy (P = .002 and P = .06, respectively)., Conclusion: CT-guided percutaneous lung biopsy in patients who are clinically at risk for both nonmalignant and malignant processes continues to be a challenge. Although CT-guided percutaneous biopsy can establish an accurate diagnosis in a large majority of patients with malignancy, it is significantly less sensitive for infectious or inflammatory processes.

Purpose: This study was undertaken to compare the diagnostic accuracy and complication rate of computed tomography (CT)-guided percutaneous lung biopsies of lung nodules1.5 cm in diameter., Patients and Methods: A total of 139 patients (age range, 18-89 years; mean, 62.5 years) underwent CT-guided percutaneous fine-needle aspiration biopsy or 20-gauge core biopsy using an automated biopsy gun. In 37 patients, the lung nodule measured 1.5 cm (mean, 2.8 cm). Diagnostic accuracy was determined by cytopathology results. Major and minor complications were documented., Results: Overall diagnostic accuracy, pneumothorax rate, and thoracostomy tube insertion rates were 67.6%, 34.5%, and 5%, respectively. Of the 98 patients with malignancy, 77 patients (78.6%) had a definite diagnostic biopsy. Overall, nodules>1.5 cm were statistically more likely to result in a diagnostic specimen (73.5%) than nodules1.5 cm than in those1.5 cm. However, the diagnostic accuracy for malignancy is high in both groups, with a low risk of complications.

Purposes: The standard medical management for patients in extremis from massive pulmonary embolism (PE) is systemic thrombolysis, but the utility of this treatment relative to catheter-directed intervention (CDI) is unknown. We evaluated the effectiveness of CDI as part of a treatment algorithm for life-threatening PE., Methods: A retrospective review was performed on 70 consecutive patients with suspected acute PE over a 10-year period (from 1997 to 2006) who had been referred for pulmonary angiography and/or intervention. The criteria for study inclusion were patients who received CDI due to angiographically confirmed massive PE and hemodynamic shock (shock index, > or = 0.9). CDI involved suction embolectomy and fragmentation with or without catheter thrombolysis., Results: Twelve patients were treated with CDI. There were seven men and five women (mean age, 56 years; age range, 21 to 80 years). Seven patients (58%) were referred for CDI after failing systemic infusion with 100 mg of tissue plasminogen activator, and five patients (42%) had contraindications to systemic thrombolysis. Catheter-directed fragmentation and embolectomy were performed in all patients (100%). Additionally, catheter-guided thrombolysis was performed in eight patients (67%). Technical success was achieved in 12 of 12 cases (100%). There were no major procedural complications (0%). Significant hemodynamic improvement (shock index, < 0.9) was observed in 10 of 12 cases (83%). The remaining two patients (17%) died secondary to cardiac arrest within 24 h. Ten of 12 patients (83%) survived and remained stable until hospital discharge (mean duration, 20 days; range, 3 to 51 days)., Conclusion: In the setting of hemodynamic shock from massive PE, CDI is potentially a life-saving treatment for patients who have not responded to or cannot tolerate systemic thrombolysis.

Two cases of complications secondary to the use of microwave ablation (MWA) in non-small-cell lung cancer (NSCLC) are discussed herein. The first case involves a 62-year-old man with stage IB NSCLC who declined surgery and pursued MWA. Within 7 months, he had residual disease at the MWA treatment site, and surgery was performed. The patient was found to have pleural and chest wall involvement, making complete resection impossible. The second case involves an 86-year-old woman with a second local recurrence of NSCLC and previous treatment including surgery and chemoradiation therapy. She was initially a surgical candidate but declined surgery and pursued MWA. Within 6 months, she had residual disease at the MWA treatment site. A second MWA was performed, and she developed a large cavitary abscess at the MWA site and had subsequent clinical decline. Less invasive ablation therapies and stereotactic radiosurgery are being developed for patients with inoperable lung cancer. Because these modalities have recently been developed, trials that clearly show efficacy and survival benefit are yet to be completed. Ablation procedures can result in complications, including residual disease and cavitary lesions susceptible to infection. These cases highlight the caution that should still be observed when recommending lung ablation strategies and the importance of selecting appropriate patients.