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Socioeconomic and demographic factors in the diagnosis and treatment of Chiari malformation type I and syringomyelia

Syed Hassan A. Akbari, Asad A. Rizvi, Travis S. CreveCoeur, Rowland H. Han, Jacob K. Greenberg, James Torner, Douglas L. Brockmeyer, John C. Wellons III, Jeffrey R. Leonard, Francesco T. Mangano, James M. Johnston, Manish N. Shah, Bermans J. Iskandar, Raheel Ahmed, Gerald F. Tuite, Bruce A. Kaufman, David J. Daniels, Eric M. Jackson, Gerald A. Grant, Alexander K. Powers, Daniel E. Couture, P. David Adelson, Tord D. Alden, Philipp R. Aldana, Richard C. E. Anderson, Nathan R. Selden, Karin Bierbrauer, William Boydston, Joshua J. Chern, William E. Whitehead, Robert C. Dauser, Richard G. Ellenbogen, Jeffrey G. Ojemann, Herbert E. Fuchs, Daniel J. Guillaume, Todd C. Hankinson, Brent R. O’Neill, Mark Iantosca, W. Jerry Oakes, Robert F. Keating, Paul Klimo Jr., Michael S. Muhlbauer, J. Gordon McComb, Arnold H. Menezes, Nickalus R. Khan, Toba N. Niazi, John Ragheb, Chevis N. Shannon, Jodi L. Smith, Laurie L. Ackerman, Andrew H. Jea, Cormac O. Maher, Prithvi Narayan, Gregory W. Albert, Scellig S. D. Stone, Lissa C. Baird, Naina L. Gross, Susan R. Durham, Stephanie Greene, Robert C. McKinstry, Joshua S. Shimony, Jennifer M. Strahle, Matthew D. Smyth, Ralph G. Dacey Jr., Tae Sung Park, and David D. Limbrick Jr.

OBJECTIVE

The goal of this study was to assess the social determinants that influence access and outcomes for pediatric neurosurgical care for patients with Chiari malformation type I (CM-I) and syringomyelia (SM).

METHODS

The authors used retro- and prospective components of the Park-Reeves Syringomyelia Research Consortium database to identify pediatric patients with CM-I and SM who received surgical treatment and had at least 1 year of follow-up data. Race, ethnicity, and insurance status were used as comparators for preoperative, treatment, and postoperative characteristics and outcomes.

RESULTS

A total of 637 patients met inclusion criteria, and race or ethnicity data were available for 603 (94.7%) patients. A total of 463 (76.8%) were non-Hispanic White (NHW) and 140 (23.2%) were non-White. The non-White patients were older at diagnosis (p = 0.002) and were more likely to have an individualized education plan (p < 0.01). More non-White than NHW patients presented with cerebellar and cranial nerve deficits (i.e., gait ataxia [p = 0.028], nystagmus [p = 0.002], dysconjugate gaze [p = 0.03], hearing loss [p = 0.003], gait instability [p = 0.003], tremor [p = 0.021], or dysmetria [p < 0.001]). Non-White patients had higher rates of skull malformation (p = 0.004), platybasia (p = 0.002), and basilar invagination (p = 0.036). Non-White patients were more likely to be treated at low-volume centers than at high-volume centers (38.7% vs 15.2%; p < 0.01). Non-White patients were older at the time of surgery (p = 0.001) and had longer operative times (p < 0.001), higher estimated blood loss (p < 0.001), and a longer hospital stay (p = 0.04). There were no major group differences in terms of treatments performed or complications. The majority of subjects used private insurance (440, 71.5%), whereas 175 (28.5%) were using Medicaid or self-pay. Private insurance was used in 42.2% of non-White patients compared to 79.8% of NHW patients (p < 0.01). There were no major differences in presentation, treatment, or outcome between insurance groups. In multivariate modeling, non-White patients were more likely to present at an older age after controlling for sex and insurance status (p < 0.01). Non-White and male patients had a longer duration of symptoms before reaching diagnosis (p = 0.033 and 0.004, respectively).

CONCLUSIONS

Socioeconomic and demographic factors appear to influence the presentation and management of patients with CM-I and SM. Race is associated with age and timing of diagnosis as well as operating room time, estimated blood loss, and length of hospital stay. This exploration of socioeconomic and demographic barriers to care will be useful in understanding how to improve access to pediatric neurosurgical care for patients with CM-I and SM.

In Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics Volume 29: Issue 3 (Mar 2022)

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Obex position is associated with syringomyelia and use of posterior fossa decompression among patients with Chiari I malformation

Gabe Haller, Brooke Sadler, Timothy Kuensting, Nivan Lakshman, Jacob K. Greenberg, Jennifer M. Strahle, Tae Sung Park, Matthew B. Dobbs, Christina A. Gurnett, and David D. Limbrick Jr.

OBJECTIVE

Chiari I malformation (CM-I) has traditionally been defined by measuring the position of the cerebellar tonsils relative to the foramen magnum. The relationships of tonsillar position to clinical presentation, syringomyelia, scoliosis, and the use of posterior fossa decompression (PFD) surgery have been studied extensively and yielded inconsistent results. Obex position has been proposed as a useful adjunctive descriptor for CM-I and may be associated with clinical disease severity.

METHODS

A retrospective chart review was performed of 442 CM-I patients with MRI who presented for clinical evaluation between 2003 and 2018. Clinical and radiological variables were measured for all patients, including presence/location of headaches, Chiari Severity Index (CSI) grade, tonsil position, obex position, clival canal angle, pB-C2 distance, occipitalization of the atlas, basilar invagination, syringomyelia, syrinx diameter, scoliosis, and use of PFD. Radiological measurements were then used to predict clinical characteristics using regression and survival analyses, with performing PFD, the presence of a syrinx, and scoliosis as outcome variables.

RESULTS

Among the radiological measurements, tonsil position, obex position, and syringomyelia were each independently associated with use of PFD. Together, obex position, tonsil position, and syringomyelia (area under the curve [AUC] 89%) or obex position and tonsil position (AUC 85.4%) were more strongly associated with use of PFD than tonsil position alone (AUC 76%) (Pdiff = 3.4 × 10−6 and 6 × 10−4, respectively) but were only slightly more associated than obex position alone (AUC 82%) (Pdiff = 0.01 and 0.18, respectively). Additionally, obex position was significantly associated with occipital headaches, CSI grade, syringomyelia, and scoliosis, independent of tonsil position. Tonsil position was associated with each of these traits when analyzed alone but did not remain significantly associated with use of PFD when included in multivariate analyses with obex position.

CONCLUSIONS

Compared with tonsil position alone, obex position is more strongly associated with symptomatic CM-I, as measured by presence of a syrinx, scoliosis, or use of PFD surgery. These results support the role of obex position as a useful radiological measurement to inform the evaluation and potentially the management of CM-I.

In Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics Volume 26: Issue 1 (Jul 2020)

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Chiari malformation Type I surgery in pediatric patients. Part 1: validation of an ICD-9-CM code search algorithm

Travis R. Ladner, Jacob K. Greenberg, Nicole Guerrero, Margaret A. Olsen, Chevis N. Shannon, Chester K. Yarbrough, Jay F. Piccirillo, Richard C. E. Anderson, Neil A. Feldstein, John C. Wellons III, Matthew D. Smyth, Tae Sung Park, and David D. Limbrick Jr.

OBJECTIVE

Administrative billing data may facilitate large-scale assessments of treatment outcomes for pediatric Chiari malformation Type I (CM-I). Validated International Classification of Diseases, Ninth Revision, Clinical Modification (ICD-9-CM) code algorithms for identifying CM-I surgery are critical prerequisites for such studies but are currently only available for adults. The objective of this study was to validate two ICD-9-CM code algorithms using hospital billing data to identify pediatric patients undergoing CM-I decompression surgery.

METHODS

The authors retrospectively analyzed the validity of two ICD-9-CM code algorithms for identifying pediatric CM-I decompression surgery performed at 3 academic medical centers between 2001 and 2013. Algorithm 1 included any discharge diagnosis code of 348.4 (CM-I), as well as a procedure code of 01.24 (cranial decompression) or 03.09 (spinal decompression or laminectomy). Algorithm 2 restricted this group to the subset of patients with a primary discharge diagnosis of 348.4. The positive predictive value (PPV) and sensitivity of each algorithm were calculated.

RESULTS

Among 625 first-time admissions identified by Algorithm 1, the overall PPV for CM-I decompression was 92%. Among the 581 admissions identified by Algorithm 2, the PPV was 97%. The PPV for Algorithm 1 was lower in one center (84%) compared with the other centers (93%–94%), whereas the PPV of Algorithm 2 remained high (96%–98%) across all subgroups. The sensitivity of Algorithms 1 (91%) and 2 (89%) was very good and remained so across subgroups (82%–97%).

CONCLUSIONS

An ICD-9-CM algorithm requiring a primary diagnosis of CM-I has excellent PPV and very good sensitivity for identifying CM-I decompression surgery in pediatric patients. These results establish a basis for utilizing administrative billing data to assess pediatric CM-I treatment outcomes.

In Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics Volume 17 (2016): Issue 5 (May 2016)

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Chiari malformation Type I surgery in pediatric patients. Part 2: complications and the influence of comorbid disease in California, Florida, and New York

Jacob K. Greenberg, Margaret A. Olsen, Chester K. Yarbrough, Travis R. Ladner, Chevis N. Shannon, Jay F. Piccirillo, Richard C. E. Anderson, John C. Wellons III, Matthew D. Smyth, Tae Sung Park, and David D. Limbrick Jr.

OBJECTIVE

Chiari malformation Type I (CM-I) is a common and often debilitating pediatric neurological disease. However, efforts to guide preoperative counseling and improve outcomes research are impeded by reliance on small, single-center studies. Consequently, the objective of this study was to investigate CM-I surgical outcomes using population-level administrative billing data.

METHODS

The authors used Healthcare Cost and Utilization Project State Inpatient Databases (SID) to study pediatric patients undergoing surgical decompression for CM-I from 2004 to 2010 in California, Florida, and New York. They assessed the prevalence and influence of preoperative complex chronic conditions (CCC) among included patients. Outcomes included medical and surgical complications within 90 days of treatment. Multivariate logistic regression was used to identify risk factors for surgical complications.

RESULTS

A total of 936 pediatric CM-I surgeries were identified for the study period. Overall, 29.2% of patients were diagnosed with syringomyelia and 13.7% were diagnosed with scoliosis. Aside from syringomyelia and scoliosis, 30.3% of patients had at least 1 CCC, most commonly neuromuscular (15.2%) or congenital or genetic (8.4%) disease. Medical complications were uncommon, occurring in 2.6% of patients. By comparison, surgical complications were diagnosed in 12.7% of patients and typically included shunt-related complications (4.0%), meningitis (3.7%), and other neurosurgery-specific complications (7.4%). Major complications (e.g., stroke or myocardial infarction) occurred in 1.4% of patients. Among children with CCCs, only comorbid hydrocephalus was associated with a significantly increased risk of surgical complications (OR 4.5, 95% CI 2.5–8.1).

CONCLUSIONS

Approximately 1 in 8 pediatric CM-I patients experienced a surgical complication, whereas medical complications were rare. Although CCCs were common in pediatric CM-I patients, only hydrocephalus was independently associated with increased risk of surgical events. These results may inform patient counseling and guide future research efforts.

In Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics Volume 17 (2016): Issue 5 (May 2016)

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External validation of the Chicago Chiari Outcome Scale

Clinical article

Chester K. Yarbrough, Jacob K. Greenberg, Matthew D. Smyth, Jeffrey R. Leonard, Tae Sung Park, and David D. Limbrick Jr.

Object

Historically, assessment of clinical outcomes following surgical management of Chiari malformation Type I (CM-I) has been challenging due to the lack of a validated instrument for widespread use. The Chicago Chiari Outcome Scale (CCOS) is a novel system intended to provide a less subjective evaluation of outcomes for patients with CM-I. The goal of this study was to externally validate the performance of the CCOS.

Methods

Patients undergoing surgery for CM-I between 2001 and 2012 were reviewed (n = 292). Inclusion criteria for this study were as follows: 1) patients receiving primary posterior fossa decompression; 2) at least 5.5 months of postoperative clinical follow-up; and 3) patients ≤ 18 years of age at the time of surgery. Outcomes were evaluated using the CCOS, along with a “gestalt” impression of whether patients experienced significant improvement after surgery. A subgroup of 118 consecutive patients undergoing operations between 2008 and 2010 was selected for analysis of interrater reliability (n = 73 meeting inclusion/exclusion criteria). In this subgroup, gestalt and CCOS scores were independently determined by 2 reviewers, and interrater reliability was assessed using the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) and kappa (κ) statistic.

Results

The median CCOS score was 14, and 67% of patients had improved gestalt scores after surgery. Overall, the CCOS was effective at identifying patients with improved outcome after surgery (area under curve = 0.951). The interrater reliability of the CCOS (ICC = 0.71) was high, although the reliability of the component scores ranged from poor to good (ICC 0.23–0.89). The functionality subscore demonstrated a low ICC and did not add to the predictive ability of the logistic regression model (likelihood ratio = 1.8, p = 0.18). When analyzing gestalt outcome, there was moderate agreement between raters (κ = 0.56).

Conclusions

In this external validation study, the CCOS was effective at identifying patients with improved outcomes and proved more reliable than the authors' gestalt impression of outcome. However, certain component subscores (functionality and nonpain symptoms) were found to be less reliable, and may benefit from further definition in score assignment. In particular, the functionality subscore does not add to the predictive ability of the CCOS, and may be unnecessary. Overall, the authors found the CCOS to be an improvement over the previously used assessment of outcome at their institution.

In Journal of Neurosurgery: Pediatrics Volume 13 (2014): Issue 6 (Jun 2014)