Browsing by Author "Birdas, Thomas J."
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Item Barriers to mental health service use and preferences for addressing emotional concerns among lung cancer patients(Wiley, 2014-07) Mosher, Catherine E.; Winger, Joseph G.; Hanna, Nasser; Jalal, Shadia I.; Fakiris, Achilles J.; Einhorn, Lawrence H.; Birdas, Thomas J.; Kesler, Kenneth A.; Champion, Victoria L.; Psychology, School of ScienceOBJECTIVE: This study examined barriers to mental health service use and preferences for addressing emotional concerns among lung cancer patients (N=165) at two medical centers in the Midwestern United States. METHODS: Lung cancer patients completed an assessment of anxiety and depressive symptoms, mental health service use, barriers to using these services, and preferences for addressing emotional concerns. RESULTS: Only 45% of distressed patients received mental health care since their lung cancer diagnosis. The most prevalent patient-reported barriers to mental health service use among non-users of these services (n=110) included the desire to independently manage emotional concerns (58%) and inadequate knowledge of services (19%). In addition, 57% of distressed patients who did not access mental health services did not perceive the need for help. Seventy-five percent of respondents (123/164) preferred to talk to a primary care physician if they were to have an emotional concern. Preferences for counseling, psychiatric medication, peer support, spiritual care, or independently managing emotional concerns also were endorsed by many patients (range=40-50%). Older age was associated with a lower likelihood of preferring to see a counselor. CONCLUSIONS: Findings suggest that many distressed lung cancer patients underuse mental health services and do not perceive the need for such services. Efforts to increase appropriate use of services should address patients' desire for autonomy and lack of awareness of services.Item Coping Skills Practice and Symptom Change: A Secondary Analysis of a Pilot Telephone Symptom Management Intervention for Lung Cancer Patients and their Family Caregivers(Elsevier, 2018) Winger, Joseph G.; Rand, Kevin L.; Hanna, Nasser; Jalal, Shadia I.; Einhorn, Lawrence H.; Birdas, Thomas J.; Ceppa, DuyKhanh P.; Kesler, Kenneth A.; Champion, Victoria L.; Mosher, Catherine E.; Psychology, School of ScienceContext Little research has explored coping skills practice in relation to symptom outcomes in psychosocial interventions for cancer patients and their family caregivers. Objectives To examine associations of coping skills practice to symptom change in a telephone symptom management (TSM) intervention delivered concurrently to lung cancer patients and their caregivers. Methods This study was a secondary analysis of a randomized pilot trial. Data were examined from patient-caregiver dyads (n=51 dyads) that were randomized to the TSM intervention. Guided by social cognitive theory, TSM involved four weekly sessions where dyads were taught coping skills including: a mindfulness exercise, guided imagery, pursed lips breathing, cognitive restructuring, problem solving, emotion-focused coping, and assertive communication. Symptoms were assessed, including patient and caregiver psychological distress and patient pain interference, fatigue interference, and distress related to breathlessness. Multiple regression analyses examined associations of coping skills practice during the intervention to symptoms at 6 weeks post-intervention. Results For patients, greater practice of assertive communication was associated with less pain interference (β=-0.45, p=0.02) and psychological distress (β=-0.36, p=0.047); for caregivers, greater practice of guided imagery was associated with less psychological distress (β=-0.30, p=0.01). Unexpectedly, for patients, greater practice of a mindfulness exercise was associated with higher pain (β=0.47, p=0.07) and fatigue interference (β=0.49, p=0.04); greater practice of problem solving was associated with higher distress related to breathlessness (β=0.56, p=0.01) and psychological distress (β=0.36, p=0.08). Conclusion Findings suggest the effectiveness of TSM may have been reduced by competing effects of certain coping skills. Future interventions should consider focusing on assertive communication training for patients and guided imagery for caregivers.Item Development of a Multidisciplinary Program to Expedite Care of Esophageal Emergencies(Elsevier, 2017-09) Ceppa, DuyKhanh P.; Rosati, Carlo Maria; Chabtini, Lola; Stokes, Samantha M.; Cook, Holly C.; Rieger, Karen M.; Birdas, Thomas J.; Lappas, John C.; Kessler, William R.; DeWitt, John M.; Maglinte, Dean D.; Kesler, Kenneth A.; Surgery, School of MedicineBackground Level 1 programs have improved outcomes by expediting the multidisciplinary care of critically ill patients. We established a novel level 1 program for the management of esophageal emergencies. Methods After institutional review board approval, we performed a retrospective analysis of patients referred to our level 1 esophageal emergency program from April 2013 through November 2015. A historical comparison group of patients treated for the same diagnosis in the previous 2 years was used. Results Eighty patients were referred and transported an average distance of 56 miles (range, 1–163 miles). Median time from referral to arrival was 2.4 hours (range, 0.4-12.9 hours). Referrals included 6 (7%) patients with esophageal obstruction and 71 (89%) patients with suspected esophageal perforation. Of the patients with suspected esophageal perforation, causes included iatrogenic (n = 26), Boerhaave’s syndrome (n = 32), and other (n = 13). Forty-six percent (n = 33) of patients were referred because of pneumomediastinum, but perforation could not be subsequently demonstrated. Initial management of patients with documented esophageal perforation included operative treatment (n = 25), endoscopic intervention (n = 8), and supportive care (n = 5). Retrospective analysis demonstrated a statistically significant difference in mean Pittsburgh severity index score (PSS) between esophageal perforation treatment groups (p < 0.01). In patients with confirmed perforations, there were 3 (8%) mortalities within 30 days. More patients in the esophageal level 1 program were transferred to our institution in less than 24 hours after diagnosis than in the historical comparison group (p < 0.01). Conclusions Development of an esophageal emergency referral program has facilitated multidisciplinary care at a high-volume institution, and early outcomes appear favorable.Item Economic and Social Changes Among Distressed Family Caregivers of Lung Cancer Patients(Springer, 2013-03) Mosher, Catherine E.; Champion, Victoria L.; Azzoli, Christopher G.; Hanna, Nasser; Jalal, Shadia I.; Fakiris, Achilles J.; Birdas, Thomas J.; Okereke, Ikenna C.; Kesler, Kenneth A.; Einhorn, Lawrence H.; Monahan, Patrick O.; Ostroff, Jamie S.Purpose: Although costs of lung cancer care have been documented, economic and social changes among lung cancer patients' family caregivers have yet to be fully examined. In addition, research has not focused on caregivers with greater need for support services. This study examined various economic and social changes among distressed family caregivers of lung cancer patients during the initial months of cancer care in the USA. Methods: Lung cancer patients' primary family caregivers with significant anxiety or depressive symptoms were recruited from three medical centers within 12 weeks of the patient's new oncology visit. Caregivers (N = 83) reported demographic and medical information and caregiving burden at baseline. Seventy-four caregivers reported anxiety and depressive symptoms and economic and social changes 3 months later. Results: Seventy-four percent of distressed caregivers experienced one or more adverse economic or social changes since the patient's illness. Common changes included caregivers' disengagement from most social and leisure activities (56%) and, among employed caregivers (n = 49), reduced hours of work (45%). In 18% of cases, a family member quit work or made another major lifestyle change due to caregiving. Additionally, 28% of caregivers reported losing the main source of family income, and 18% reported losing most or all of the family savings. Loss of the main source of family income and disengagement from most social and leisure activities predicted greater caregiver distress. Conclusions: Findings suggest that distressed caregivers of lung cancer patients experience high rates of adverse economic and social changes that warrant clinical and research attention.Item Economic and Social Changes Among Distressed Family Caregivers of Lung Cancer Patients(Supportive Care in Cancer, 2013-03) Mosher, Catherine E.; Champion, Victoria L.; Azzoli, Christopher G.; Hanna, Nasser; Jalal, Shadia I.; Fakiris, Achilles J.; Birdas, Thomas J.; Okereke, Ikenna C.; Kesler, Kenneth A.; Einhorn, Lawrence H.; Monahan, Patrick O.; Ostroff, Jamie S.Purpose: Although costs of lung cancer care have been documented, economic and social changes among lung cancer patients' family caregivers have yet to be fully examined. In addition, research has not focused on caregivers with greater need for support services. This study examined various economic and social changes among distressed family caregivers of lung cancer patients during the initial months of cancer care in the USA. Methods: Lung cancer patients' primary family caregivers with significant anxiety or depressive symptoms were recruited from three medical centers within 12 weeks of the patient's new oncology visit. Caregivers (N = 83) reported demographic and medical information and caregiving burden at baseline. Seventy-four caregivers reported anxiety and depressive symptoms and economic and social changes 3 months later. Results: Seventy-four percent of distressed caregivers experienced one or more adverse economic or social changes since the patient's illness. Common changes included caregivers' disengagement from most social and leisure activities (56%) and, among employed caregivers (n = 49), reduced hours of work (45%). In 18% of cases, a family member quit work or made another major lifestyle change due to caregiving. Additionally, 28% of caregivers reported losing the main source of family income, and 18% reported losing most or all of the family savings. Loss of the main source of family income and disengagement from most social and leisure activities predicted greater caregiver distress. Conclusions: Findings suggest that distressed caregivers of lung cancer patients experience high rates of adverse economic and social changes that warrant clinical and research attention.Item Effectiveness and safety of camrelizumab-containing neoadjuvant therapy in patients with esophageal squamous cell carcinoma: a prospective multicenter observational cohort study(AME, 2023) Zhang, Yi; Shen, Guoyi; Xu, Rongyu; Huang, Guozhong; Huang, Zhijun; Duan, Hongbing; Yang, Shengsheng; Zheng, Qingfeng; Yang, Libao; Liu, Rongxing; Ma, Liangyun; Chen, Shaogeng; Yi, Yunfeng; Zhang, Zheming; Li, Kezhi; Birdas, Thomas J.; Koyanagi, Kazuo; Simone, Charles B., II; Surgery, School of MedicineBackground: Camrelizumab has been demonstrated to be a feasible treatment option for locally advanced esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) when combined with neoadjuvant chemotherapy. This trial was conducted to investigate the effectiveness and safety of camrelizumab-containing neoadjuvant therapy in patients with ESCC in daily practice. Methods: This prospective multicenter observational cohort study was conducted at 13 tertiary hospitals in Southeast China. Patients with histologically or cytologically confirmed ESCC [clinical tumor-node-metastasis (cTNM) stage I-IVA] who had received at least one dose of camrelizumab-containing neoadjuvant therapy were eligible for inclusion. Results: Between June 1, 2020 and July 13, 2022, 255 patients were enrolled and included. The median age was 64 (range, 27 to 82) years. Most participants were male (82.0%) and had clinical stage III-IVA diseases (82.4%). A total of 169 (66.3%) participants underwent surgical resection; 146 (86.4%) achieved R0 resection, and 36 (21.3%) achieved pathological complete response (pCR). Grades 3-5 adverse events (AEs) were experienced by 14.5% of participants. Reactive cutaneous capillary endothelial proliferation occurred in 100 (39.2%) of participants and all were grade 1 or 2. Conclusions: Camrelizumab-containing neoadjuvant therapy has acceptable effectiveness and safety profiles in real-life ESCC patients.Item First report of pulmonary large cell neuroendocrine carcinoma treated with stereotactic body radiation therapy(Elsevier, 2019-11) McClelland, Shearwood; Durm, Gregory A.; Birdas, Thomas J.; Musto, Paul M.; Lautenschlaeger, Tim; Medicine, School of MedicineIntroduction: Pulmonary large-cell neuroendocrine carcinoma (LCNEC) is a very rare disease, comprising approximately 3% of lung cancers. Even for Stage I disease, recurrence after resection is common, with a poor five-year overall survival. We present the first report of stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) for pulmonary LCNEC. Methods: A 54-year-old woman with a left upper lobe pulmonary nodule underwent a wedge resection with thoracoscopic mediastinal lymph node dissection, revealing a 2.3 cm pT1b N0 LCNEC. Approximately one year later, surveillance imaging demonstrated a new left upper lobe PET-avid nodule, resulting in completion left upper lobectomy revealing LCNEC, with 0/6 involved lymph nodes and negative staging studies. The patient subsequently chose surveillance over adjuvant chemotherapy; unfortunately 23 months later imaging revealed an enlarging 0.7 cm nodule adjacent to the previous resection site, despite the patient remaining in good health (KPS = 90). Subsequent restaging demonstrated no evidence of metastatic disease. Due to the morbidity of a third operation in this region, and based on the safety of SBRT for Stage I non small-cell lung cancer, the consensus decision from our thoracic oncology team was to proceed with SBRT as preferred management for presumptive second recurrence of LCNEC. The patient shortly thereafter underwent SBRT (50 Gy in 10 Gy/fraction) to this new nodule, 41 months following initial LCNEC diagnosis. Results: Four months following SBRT, the patient remains in excellent clinical condition (KPS 90), with no evidence of disease spread on surveillance studies. The nodule itself demonstrated no evidence of growth following SBRT. Conclusions: This first report of SBRT for pulmonary LCNEC demonstrates that SBRT is a feasible modality for this rare disease. A multidisciplinary thoracic oncology approach involving medical oncology, thoracic surgery, radiation oncology and pulmonology is strongly recommended to ensure proper patient selection for receipt of SBRT.Item Hypercalcemic Crisis Caused by a Parathyroid Mass Requiring Thoracoscopic Resection(Elsevier, 2021-02-04) Kim, Rachel C.; Roch, Alexandra M.; Birdas, Thomas J.; Ritter, Hadley E.; McDow, Alexandria D.; Surgery, School of MedicineObjective: To describe the presentation, work up, and treatment of a giant parathyroid adenoma presenting as hypercalcemic crisis that ultimately weighed 57 g and extended into the mediastinum, requiring hand-assisted thoracoscopic resection. Methods: The patient is a 68-year-old man with a prior history of parathyroidectomy, who initially presented with a severe hypercalcemia of 16.3 mg/dL and a parathyroid hormone (PTH) level of 2692 pg/mL on routine labs. Results: Diagnostic and staging work up revealed a 7.2-cm mass extending from just superior to the sternal notch into the right posterior mediastinum to the carina, causing esophageal displacement. No evidence of local invasion or distant metastasis was observed on further imaging, and cytology demonstrated hypercellular parathyroid tissue. The PTH level of the aspirate was >5000 pg/mL. The patient subsequently underwent a right hand-assisted video-assisted thoracoscopic resection of the intrathoracic mass. Final pathology identified a 7.0-cm, 57-g parathyroid adenoma, without any pathologic findings suspicious for malignancy. However, the endocrine surgery team plans for annual laboratory assessment to ensure no recurrence. Conclusion: Primary hyperparathyroidism is most commonly caused by a single adenoma. However, in the setting of severe hypercalcemia and elevated PTH, one must have a high suspicion for malignancy, and care should be taken to remove the mass en bloc. For extremely large adenomas extending into the mediastinum, a minimally invasive, hand-assisted, thoracoscopic approach is a safe and effective method of resection.Item Impact of the development of an endoscopic eradication program for Barrett's esophagus with high grade dysplasia or early adenocarcinoma on the frequency of surgery(Thieme, 2018-09) Chilukuri, Prianka; Gromski, Mark A.; Johnson, Cynthia S.; Ceppa, Duy Khanh P.; Kesler, Kenneth A.; Birdas, Thomas J.; Rieger, Karen M.; Fatima, Hala; Kessler, William R.; Rex, Douglas K.; Al-Haddad, Mohammad; DeWitt, John M.; Medicine, School of MedicineBackground and aims The impact of the advent of an institutional endoscopic eradication therapy (EET) program on surgical practice for Barrett's esophagus (BE)-associated high grade dysplasia (HGD) or suspected T1a esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC) is unknown. The aims of this study are to evaluate the different endoscopic modalities used during development of our EET program and factors associated with the use of EET or surgery for these patients after its development. Methods Patients who underwent primary endoscopic or surgical treatment for BE-HGD or early EAC at our hospital between January 1992 and December 2014 were retrospectively identified. They were categorized by their initial modality of treatment during the first year, and the impact over time for choice of therapy was assessed by multivariable logistic regression. Results We identified 386 patients and 80 patients who underwent EET and surgery, respectively. EET included single modality therapy in 254 (66 %) patients and multimodal therapy in 132 (34 %) patients. Multivariable logistic regression showed that, for each subsequent study year, EET was more likely to be performed in patients who were older ( P = 0.0009), with shorter BE lengths ( P < 0.0001), and with a pretreatment diagnosis of HGD ( P = 0.0054) compared to surgical patients. The diagnosis of EAC did not increase the utilization of EET compared to surgery as time progressed ( P = 0.8165). Conclusion The introduction of an EET program at our hospital increased the odds of utilizing EET versus surgery over time for initial treatment of patients who were older, had shorter BE lengths or the diagnosis of BE-HGD, but not in patients with EAC.Item Management of anastomotic leaks following esophagectomy: when to intervene?(AME Publishing Company, 2019-01) Manghelli, Joshua L.; Ceppa, DuyKhanh P.; Greenberg, Jason W.; Blitzer, David; Hicks, Adam; Rieger, Karen M.; Birdas, Thomas J.; Department of Surgery, Indiana University School of MedicineBackground: Esophagectomy is the mainstay treatment for early stage and locoregionally advanced esophageal cancer. Anastomotic leaks following esophagectomy are associated with numerous detrimental sequelae. The management of anastomotic leaks has evolved over time. The present study is a single-institution experience of esophageal leak management over an 11-year period, in order to identify when these can be managed nonoperatively. Methods: All patients undergoing esophagectomy with gastric reconstruction at our institution between 2004 and 2014 were identified. Preoperative patient characteristics and perioperative factors were reviewed. Failure of initial leak treatment was defined as need for escalation of therapy. Length of stay (LOS) and postoperative mortality were the primary outcomes. Follow-up was obtained through institutional medical records and the Social Security Death Index. Results: Sixty-one of 692 (8.8%) patients developed an anastomotic leak. Forty-six patients (75.4%) first underwent observation, which was successful in 35 patients. Predictors of successful observation included higher preoperative albumin (P=0.02), leak diagnosed by esophagram (P=0.004), and contained leaks (P=0.01). Successful observation was associated with shorter LOS (P=0.001). Predictors of mortality included lower preoperative serum albumin (P=0.01) and induction therapy (P=0.03). Thirty and 90-day mortality among patients who developed an anastomotic leak were 9.8% and 16.7%, respectively. Conclusions: Over half of anastomotic leaks were managed successfully with observation alone and did not require additional interventions. We have identified factors that may predict successful therapy with observation in these patients. Further research is warranted to determine more timely interventions for patients likely to fail conservative management.