Objective To summarize the treatment outcomes of antegrade sequential anastomosis of great saphenous veins in off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting for coronary atherosclerotic heart disease. Methods A total of 116 patients with coronary atherosclerotic heart diseases underwent off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting from January 2013 to June 2015 in our hospital. There were 63 males and 53 females with a mean age of 42–80 (64.26±9.67) years. Left internal mammary artery was anastomosed to left anterior descending artery. The rest of the target vessels received antegrade sequential anastomosis of great saphenous veins with the order of proximal ascending aorta, diagonal branch, circumflex branch, obtuse marginal branch, left ventricular branch and posterior descending artery. Results All patients were performed off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting successfully without death or perioperative myocardial infarction. A total of 436 grafts were adopted with 3.75±0.53 in each patient. Three patients suffered low cardiac output syndrome, and were cured after administration of vasoactive drugs combined with the intra-aortic balloon pump. One patient suffered tardive pericardial tamponade and one acute renal failure, who were cured with disappearance of angina symptoms and increase of activities without discomfort. Conclusion Antegrade sequential anastomosis, as a safe and effective method, can reduce aortic stoma, save the length of grafts, shorten operative time and quickly restorate blood supply of myocardium in off-pump coronary artery bypass grafting.
ObjectiveTo explore the application of enhanced funnel plots (EFP) and trial sequential analysis (TSA) in robustness assessment of meta-analysis results.MethodsData were extracted from published meta-analysis. The EFP was used to evaluate the robustness of the significance and heterogeneity of the current meta-analysis. The TSA was used to judge the sufficiency of the cumulative sample size of the current meta-analysis and to assess the robustness of conclusions based on current evidence.ResultsThe EFP showed that the meta-analysis results of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) was robust, and the meta-analysis results of triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL) were not stable. The TSA showed that the cumulative sample size of LDL had reached the required information size (RIS), and the current conclusion was stable. The cumulative Z value of TG, TC and HDL neither reached the RIS nor passed through the TSA monitoring boundary or futility boundary, indicating that current conclusions were not robust.ConclusionsThe combination of EFP and TSA can make a comprehensive judgment on the robustness of current meta-analysis results, and provide methodological support in the robustness assessment of results for future systematic reviews and meta-analyses.
The assumption of fixed-effects model is based on that the true effect of the each trial is same. However, the assumption of random-effects model is based on that the true effect of included trials is normal distributed. The total variance is equal to the sum of within-trial variance and between-trial variance under the random-effects model. There are many estimators of the between-trial variance. The aim of this paper is to give a brief introduction of the estimators of between-trial variance in trial sequential analysis for random-effects model.
Trial sequential analysis (TSA) could be performed in both TSA software and Stata software. The implementation process of TSA in Stata needs the command of "metacumbounds" of Stata combines with the packages of "foreign" and "ldbounds" of R software. This paper briefly introduces how to implement TSA using Stata software.
Cumulative meta-analysis could help researchers to justify the effectiveness of the intervention and whether the obtained evidence is sufficient. However, the process of the meta-analysis does not adjust the repeated testing of the null hypothesis and neither quantifies the statistical power. The sequential meta-analysis has solved the aforementioned problems and has been widely used in the clinical practice and decision-making. Currently several methods of sequential meta-analysis have been proposed and these methods differ from each other. Of which, the methodology of trial sequential (TSA) is well developed and corresponding performance is relatively easy; the methodology of double-triangular test of Whitehead is lagged than TSA and its performance is relatively difficult; the approach of semi-Bayes refers to the theory of Bayes and it's very difficult to generalize. Our paper aimed to give a brief introduction of the methodology of the sequential meta-analysis.
Objective To detect the false-negative results of cumulative meta-analyses of Cochrane Urology Group with the trial sequential analysis (TSA). Methods The Urology Group of The Cochrane Library (Issue 6, 2016) was searched to collect meta-analyses with negative results. Two researchers independently screened literature and extracted data of included meta-analyses. Then, TSA was performed using TSA software version 0.9 beta. Results A total of 11 papers involving 12 meta-analyses were included. The results of TSA showed that, four (33%) out of 12 meta-analyses were potentially false-negative results for failing to surpass the trial sequential monitoring boundary and to reach the required information size. Conclusion Some of the negative results of systematic reviews from Cochrane Urology Group was false-negative. TSA can help researchers to identify the false-negative results of meta-analyses.
ObjectiveTo summarize the experience of 4 patients with a great saphenous venous graft patency after 15 years of postoperitive great saphenous venous sequential aortic coronary artery bypass grafting. MethodWe retrospectively analyzed the clinical data of 4 patients accepted great saphenous vein aortic coronary artery bypass graft under moderate hypothermia cardiopulmonary bypass from November 1989 to December 1992 year. There were 3 males and 1 female with a mean age of 48.3 years ranging from 40-58 years. We harvested great saphenous vein under groin 45-50 cm. The proximal and distal anastomoses were performed with parachute technique under two clamps technique. Coronary artery bypass graft was performed by two sequential grafts routinely. Aspirin was given through nasal tube 6 hours after operation. The risk factors of arteriosclerosis were controlled by patients themselves after discharge. ResultFour patients received coronary angiography in 15, 16, 18, and 21 years after surgery and the grafts and both proximal and distal anastomoses were patent. The patients lived about 20 years without angina. Conclusioncarefully dealing with the vein graft, taking sequential bypass grafting to guarantee parabolic curve and meticulous anastomosis are preconditional and necessary for long-term patency.
Trial Sequential Analysis (TSA), one kind of cumulative meta-analysis, is a method which introduces sequential analysis into traditional meta-analysis to avoid random errors (false positive or false negative outcomes) that occurred during repeated updates when traditional meta-analysis is performing. It is also applied to calculate required information size (RIS) of a firm conclusion. This study aims to summarize the proposal, fundamental theory, application software, and current limitation of TSA, and to clarify the advantages of TSA on the basis of detailed examples, in order to attract more attention of researchers and promote the methodological development of meta-analysis in China.
Objective To explore the effect of sequential nutritional intervention mode on improving early postoperative nutritional status in patients with gastric cancer. Methods A total of 30 patients who underwent radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer in the Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, Ningbo No.2 Hospital between June and August 2022 were selected as the tiral group by convenience sampling, and another 30 patients who underwent radical gastrectomy for gastric cancer between September 2021 and January 2022 were retrospectively selected as the control group. The trial group received the sequential nutritional intervention model constructed by quality control circle activities in the Department of Gastrointestinal Surgery, and the control group received routine nutritional support. The nutritional status and quality of life of the two groups were evaluated one month after discharge. Results Before intervention, there was no statistically significant difference in the Patient-Generated Subjective Global Assessment (PG-SGA) score, serum albumin, serum prealbumin, body weight, or Quality of Life Questionnaire Core 30 (QLQ C30) score between the two groups (P>0.05). After intervention, both groups showed improvements in PG-SGA score, serum albumin, and serum prealbumin compared to before intervention (P<0.05); there was no significant change in body weight in the trial group (P>0.05), while the control group experienced a decrease in body weight (P<0.05); the trial group showed an improvement in QLQ C30 score (P<0.05), whereas the control group did not show significant change in QLQ C30 score (P>0.05). Compared to the control group after intervention, the trial group showed better PG-SGA score (7.97±1.65 vs. 8.83±1.26), serum albumin level [(40.61±1.30) vs. (39.93±0.78) g/L], serum prealbumin level [(0.266±0.030) vs. (0.229±0.051) g/L], body weight [(63.12±7.39) vs. (58.17±9.18) kg], and QLQ C30 score (62.63±9.01 vs. 57.23±7.13), with all differences being statistically significant (P<0.05). Conclusion Sequential nutritional intervention model is helpful to improve the early nutritional status and quality of life of patients after radical gastrectomy, and has clinical promotion value.
ObjectiveTo investigate the clinical value of quick sequential organ failure assessment (qSOFA) score in predicting the outcome of patients with septic shock. MethodsWe collected the clinical data of 170 patients with septic shock treated in the Emergency Intensive Care Unit between January 2013 and January 2014. According to the 28-day outcomes of the patients, they were recorded as survival group and non-survival group. We calculated the qSOFA score, acute physiology and chronic health evaluation (APACHE)Ⅱ score on patients' admission. Using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, we analyzed the qSOFA score, the effect of APACHE Ⅱ score in predicting the 28-day prognosis for patients with septic shock. The correlation between qSOFA score and APACHEⅡ score was also assessed. ResultsThe qSOFA and APACHEⅡ scores in non-survivors were higher than those in the survivors. According to ROC curve analysis, the area under the curve for qSOFA score and APACHE Ⅱ score was 0.666 and 0.791, respectively. For qSOFA score with 2 cut-off points to evaluate the prognosis of septic shock, the sensitivity was 62.7%, specificity was 61.1%, positive predictive value was 56.0%, negative predictive value was 67.4%, positive likelihood ratio was 1.61, and negative likelihood ratio was 0.61. For the APACHEⅡ score with 24 cut-off points to evaluate the prognosis of septic shock, the sensitivity was 70.7%, specificity was 80%, positive predictive value was 73.6%, negative predictive value was 67.3%, positive likelihood ratio was 3.54, and negative likelihood ratio was 0.37. The correlation coefficient of qSOFA score and APACHE Ⅱ score was 0.499. ConclusionThe qSOFA score is useful to evaluate the prognosis of the patients with septic shock early in Emergency Department.