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Purpose Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education (ACGME) program director (PD) qualifications includes scholarly activity with demonstrated academic productivity and dissemination. Our hypothesis: academic productivity among adult critical care medicine (CCM) fellowship PDs is affected by gender with women having lower productivity. Materials and methods PDs in 39 institutions with CCM fellowships in anesthesiology, surgery, and pulmonary medicine were analyzed using data from ACGME website, PubMed, and NIH Research Portfolio Online Reporting Tools. Primary outcomes were total publications and h-index. Secondary outcomes included NIH funding and past five year publications. Independent variables and covariates included gender, academic rank, year appointed as program director, years certified in CCM, and specialty. Results PDs who were women had fewer total publications (median: 13 vs: 20, p = 0.030), past 5 years publications (median: 6 vs median: 9; p = 0.025), and less NIH funding (12% vs 32%; p = 0.046) compared to men. In exploratory analyses stratified by rank, assistant professor ranked women had fewer total (p = 0.027) and recent publications (p = 0.031) compared to men. Conclusions Women who were PDs had fewer publications and less NIH funding compared to men with differences in publications more prominent in early career faculty.

Introduction Spinal cord stimulators (SCS) function by transmission of electrical impulses to electrode contacts placed within the epidural space depending on the painful area to be treated. Because of the electrical nature of the SCS, there has been concern about the interaction between these devices and devices that monitor or augment the cardiac system. Implantable loop recorders help to identify the causes of syncope or palpitation by continuously evaluating and recording portions of an electrocardiograph in patients being evaluated for cardiac conduction arrhythmias. The purpose of the study is to simulate the possible effects of spinal cord stimulation on a Confirm cardiac monitor (St. Jude Medical, St. Paul, MN, USA). Methods Twenty patients without preexisting cardiac disease, who were successfully being treated with SCS, were enrolled. Confirm loop recorders (St. Jude Medical) were placed on their chest wall in a noninvasive manner, with all programmed at identical settings. Multiple stimulation settings were adjusted on the stimulators and the recordings from the Confirm loop recorder were analyzed for evidence of interference. Results Fifteen of the patients had no electrical noise detected at any of the tested combinations of stimulation. Five patients had some electrical “noise” detected by the loop recorder, but it did not inhibit the cardiologist evaluating the recording from analyzing the electrocardiograph for diagnostic purposes. At no point with any of the patients at any tested setting was there an appearance of a life-threatening arrhythmia. Conclusion Our study demonstrates that spinal cord stimulation is unlikely to interfere with the data collected by the Confirm loop recorder, and the presence of an SCS should not interfere with the ability to use a loop recorder for diagnostic purposes.

Background: One of the potential side effects with radiofrequency ablation (RFA) includes painful cutaneous dysesthesias and increased pain due to neuritis or neurogenic inflammation. This pain may require the prescription of opioids or non-opioid analgesics to control post-procedural pain and discomfort. Objectives: The goal of this study is to compare post-procedural pain scores and post-procedural oral analgesic use in patients receiving continuous thermal radiofrequency ablation versus patients receiving pulsed dose radiofrequency immediately followed by continuous thermal radiofrequency ablation for zygopophaseal joint disease. Study Design: This is a prospective, double-blinded, randomized, controlled trial. Patients who met all the inclusion criteria and were not subject to any of the exclusion criteria were required to have two positive diagnostic medial branch blocks prior to undergoing randomization, intervention, and analysis. Setting: University hospital. Methods: Eligible patients were randomized in a 1:1 ratio to either receive thermal radiofrequency ablation alone (standard group) or pulsed dose radiofrequency (PDRF) immediately followed by thermal radiofrequency ablation (investigational group), all of which were performed by a single Board Certified Pain Medicine physician. Post-procedural pain levels between the two groups were assessed using the numerical pain Scale (NPS), and patients were contacted by phone on postprocedural days 1 and 2 in the morning and afternoon regarding the amount of oral analgesic medications used in the first 48 hours following the procedure. Results: Patients who received pulsed dose radiofrequency followed by continuous radiofrequency neurotomy reported statistically significantly lower post-procedural pain scores in the first 24 hours compared to patients who received thermal radiofrequency neurotomy alone. These patients also used less oral analgesic medication in the post-procedural period. Limitations: These interventions were carried out by one board accredited pain physician at one center. The procedures were exclusively performed using one model of radiofrequency generator, at one setting for the PDRF and RFA. The difference in the number of levels of ablation was not considered in the analysis of the results. Conclusion: Treating patients with pulsed dose radiofrequency prior to continuous thermal radiofrequency ablation can provide patients with less post-procedural pain during the first 24 hours and also reduce analgesic requirements. Furthermore, the addition of PDRF to standard thermal RFA did not prolong the time of standard thermal radiofrequency ablation procedures, as it was performed during the typically allotted time for local anesthetic action. Key words: Low back pain, facet joint disease, medial branch block, Radiofrequency ablation, thermal radiofrequency, pulsed dose radiofrequency, PDRF, zygapophyseal joint

Background: Spinal cord stimulators (SCS) have been used for many years to treat a myriad of chronic pain conditions using electrical signals to diminish the perception of a painful stimulus. Because of the electrical nature of the devices, there is a concern about the potential for electromagnetic interaction between the device and lifesaving cardiac implantable cardiovertersdefibrillators (ICVD). Objective: The purpose of this study was to use a swine model to evaluate the potential for interaction between an implanted SCS and ICVD using the closest possible proximity, highest stimulation settings, and most sensitive ICVD settings. Methods: A pig was anesthetized and subsequently an ICVD and ICVD lead (Cogni 100-D and Endotak Reliance®, Boston Scientific, Natick, MA) were placed into the right prepectoral region and the right ventricle, respectively. An SCS (50 cm linear ST Precision Plu octad electrode lead [Boston Scientific, Valencia, CA] with 3 mm wide contacts spaced one mm apart) was implanted using fluoroscopic guidance into the posterior epidural space. Remote interrogation and programming of the ICVD were performed while the SCS lead was placed in as close proximity as possible, using fluoroscopy to guide the final position of the SCS electrode. After confirming that both systems were working, appropriately 9 stimulating configurations of varying current, pulse width, and frequency, including maximal settings, were delivered through the SCS. The effects on the ICVD were recorded at 2 sensitivity settings. Results: None of the tested SCS configurations caused interference with the proper functioning of the ICVD. Limitations: The anatomical proximity of the posterior epidural space and right ventricle of the swine is different from humans. While the entire pacer, including generator, was imbedded in a subcutaneous pocket, an implantable pulse generator for the SCS was not implanted, which did not allow us to study if any damage or a resetting of settings had occurred to the generator. Only one manufacturer was used in this study. Also, this study was performed in an anesthetized pig and the anatomical positions remained static. Realistically, changes in position of the devices would occur in patients who perform activities of daily living, and this can potentially shorten the distance between the 2 leads causing adverse interaction. Conclusion: This study clearly demonstrated the feasibility of the 2 devices coexisting and functioning appropriately in an animal model using an ICVD and SCS donated by Boston Scientific. Further studies are needed to elucidate restrictions, optimal settings and parameters in a human setting. Key words: Spinal cord stimulator, interaction, implantable cardioverter defibrillator, pacemaker, swine model, cross-talk.