Methods: We performed an analytical retrospective cohort study at five different institutions. All patients with a diagnosis of SM were included in this study, including those with recurrent tumors. Meningiomas of the foramen magnum were excluded. Useful histopathological characteristics were separately extracted. Surgical resection was evaluated according to the Simpson grading scale. Patient outcomes and clinical states were assessed with the help of their medical records using four different scales: the modified Ranawat score, the Nurick scale, the Prolo score, the Frankel grade, and the Eastern Cooperative Oncology Group–World Health Organization– Zubrod score. Results: Between 1991 and 2018, 417 patients were identified, of which 85.8% were female. The median age at surgery was 67.2 years (interquartile range [IQR], 56.7–76.5). The lesion was located in the thoracic region in 77.9% of the patients, cervical region in 16.8%, and lumbar region in 4.1%. Surgical resection was complete in 95.5% of the cases. Only 0.96% of the patients died within the first postoperative month. Neurological status, which improved in 76.9% of the patients, was unchanged in 17.5% and even worsened in 4.4%. Functional status was assessed using the Ranawat score and Nurick scale, with scores of 1 (IQR, 0–2) (i.e., hyperreflexia and asymptomatic; mean, 1.3±1.3) and 1 (IQR, 0−2) (i.e., signs of spinal cord disease, but no difficulty in walking; mean, 1.2±1.4), respectively. Approximately 10.1% of the patients were not ambulant at the last neurosurgical follow-up visit. Older age at surgery was not significantly associated with a chair-bound status (p =0.427). Conclusions This large series confirms the favorable FO after spinal meningioma surgery even in the case of seriously impaired preoperative status. A validated scale is needed to assess the factors predicting a worsening of the functional status and guide the management of patients.

Methods: The current study processed the Système National des Données de Santé (SNDS), the French national administrative medical database, to retrieve appropriate cases. Results: This study identified 2,844 patients (79.1% females) between 2008 and 2017. The median age at surgery was 66 years (interquartile range [IQR], 56–75 years). Moreover, 95.9% of SMs were removed through posterior or posterolateral approaches, and 6.9% were epidural and 0.7% needed an associated spine stabilization. Benign meningioma represented 92.9%, with 5% and 2.1% atypical and malignant, respectively. The median follow-up was 3.3 years (IQR, 3.1–3.5 years). Of the patients, 0.25% and 1.2% expired within a month and a year of surgery, respectively. At data collection, 225 patients (7.9%) expired. The 5-year overall survival (OS) probability was 90.1% (95% CI, 88.6%–91.7%). However, absolute excess risk of mortality after SM surgery was null, and the related standardized mortality ratio was 1 (95% CI, 0.9–1.2; p =0.565). In the adjusted regression, age at surgery (hazard ratio [HR], 1.06; 95% CI, 1.04–1.07; p <0.001), level of comorbidities (HR, 1.44; 95% CI, 1.34–1.54; p <0.001), neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2; HR, 3.65; 95% CI, 1.28–10.39; p =0.0152), epidural SM (HR, 1.73; 95% CI, 1.09–2.75; p =0.0206), and malignant meningioma (HR, 2.64; 95% CI, 1.51–4.61; p <0.001) remained significantly associated to a reduced OS. Conclusions The SNDS is of great value in assessing SM incidence, associated mortality, and its predictors. OS after meningioma surgery is favorable but may be impaired for NF2 or older patients with a high level of comorbidities, epidural tumor, and malignant histopathology. SM surgery is not associated with an increased absolute excess mortality risk despite being performed on even more senior patients compared with intracranial meningioma.

BACKGROUND: We aimed to compare the diagnostic accuracy of the Alere Triage Cardio3 Tropinin I (TnI) assay (Alere, Inc., USA) and the PathFast cTnI-II (Mitsubishi Chemical Medience Corporation, Japan) against the central laboratory assay Singulex Erenna TnI assay (Singulex, USA). METHODS: Using the Markers in the Diagnosis of Acute Coronary Syndromes (MIDAS) study population, we evaluated the ability of three different assays to identify patients with acute myocardial infarction (AMI). The MIDAS dataset, described elsewhere, is a prospective multicenter dataset of emergency department (ED) patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome (ACS) and a planned objective myocardial perfusion evaluation. Myocardial infarction (MI) was diagnosed by central adjudication. RESULTS: The C-statistic with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for diagnosing MI by using a common population (n=241) was 0.95 (0.91-0.99), 0.95 (0.91-0.99), and 0.93 (0.89-0.97) for the Triage, Singulex, and PathFast assays, respectively. Of samples with detectable troponin, the absolute values had high Pearson (R(P)) and Spearman (R(S)) correlations and were R(P)=0.94 and R(S)=0.94 for Triage vs Singulex, R(P)=0.93 and R(S)=0.85 for Triage vs PathFast, and R(P)=0.89 and R(S)=0.73 for PathFast vs Singulex. CONCLUSIONS: In a single comparative population of ED patients with suspected ACS, the Triage Cardio3 TnI, PathFast, and Singulex TnI assays provided similar diagnostic performance for MI.
Acute Coronary Syndrome/*diagnosis ; Biomarkers/analysis ; Emergency Service, Hospital ; Humans ; Laboratories/standards ; Myocardial Infarction/diagnosis ; *Point-of-Care Systems ; Prospective Studies ; Reagent Kits, Diagnostic ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; Troponin I/*analysis

Objective: To determine the utility of a highly sensitive troponin assay when utilized in the emergency department. Methods The FAST-TRAC study prospectively enrolled >1,500 emergency department patients with suspected acute coronary syndrome within 6 hours of symptom onset and 2 hours of emergency department presentation. It has several unique features that are not found in the majority of studies evaluating troponin. These include a very early presenting population in whom prospective data collection of risk score parameters and the physician’s clinical impression of the probability of acute coronary syndrome before any troponin data were available. Furthermore, two gold standard diagnostic definitions were determined by a pair of cardiologists reviewing two separate data sets; one that included all local troponin testing results and a second that excluded troponin testing so that diagnosis was based solely on clinical grounds. By this method, a statistically valid head-to-head comparison of contemporary and high sensitivity troponin testing is obtainable. Finally, because of a significant delay in sample processing, a unique ability to define the molecular stability of various troponin assays is possible.Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier NCT00880802