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Der Hautkrebs ist die weltweit am häufigsten auftretende Krebserkrankung. Ziel der Arbeit war es, die Unterschiede in der Organisation der Vorsorgeuntersuchungen, der Behandlung, der Rehabilitation von Patienten in Bezug auf Hautkrebs sowie der Ausbildung von Dermatologen und der Nutzung von medizinischen Kapazitäten in Deutschland (DE) und Russland (RU) festzustellen. Die Analyse erfolgte durch Vergleich der Hautkrebs-Daten inkl. der Screeningprogramme aufgrund von Statistiken des Zentrums für Krebsregister-(KR)-Daten des Robert Koch-Institutes, des KRs Schleswig-Holstein, des gesamtrussischen KRs, des KRs der Kreml-Kliniken, der Statistikämter beider Ländern, des Institutes für das Entgeltsystem im Krankenhaus und aus Publikationen sowie der Befragung von Epithetikern und Mund-Kiefer-Gesichtschirurgen. Sie zeigte, dass die Letalität bei Melanomen (MM) in RU um das 2,6-fache, bei nichtmelanozytären Hautkrebsen (NMSC), die 80 – 90 % aller Hautkrebserkrankungen ausmachen, um das 7,5-fache höher als in DE ist. Die Rezidivraten bei Basalzellkarzinomen (BCC), auf die ca. 80 % aller NMSC ausfallen, machen in RU 25 – 50 % aus, während NMSC in DE nahezu rezidivfrei behandelt werden. In Bezug auf invasive Hautkrebserkrankungen werden in RU Mediziner 6-fach und die Bettaufstellung in Krankenhäuser 9,4-fach weniger effektiver genutzt als in DE. Da in anderen GUS-Staaten ähnliche medizinische Standards wie in RU gelten und die Gesundheitsausgaben in Prozenten zum BIP und BIP pro Kopf niedriger sind, ist es zu erwarten, dass da in Bezug auf Hautkrebs die Situation noch schlechter als in RU ist. Während das Hautkrebs-Screening in DE allen gesetzlich Versicherten ab dem 35. Lebensjahr alle zwei Jahre zu jeder Zeit angeboten wird, kann die Bevölkerung in RU diese Untersuchungen nur im Rahmen des „Melanoma Day“ bekommen. Dabei wird jährlich nur 0,006 % der russischen Bevölkerung untersucht, was zum Verschleppen von Erkrankungen führt. Die in DE vor 30 Jahren ausgearbeiteten, in den Leitlinien empfohlenen, bei NMSC nahezu rezidivfreien, gewebeschonenden Methoden der mikroskopisch kontrollierten Chirurgie (MKC) mit einer lückenlosen histologischen Kontrolle der Schnittränder (3-D-Histologie) sind in RU unbekannt. Während in DE 96,6 - 98,5 % aller MM und 96 % aller NMSC chirurgisch in Lokalanästhesie (LA) behandelt werden, werden daher in RU nichtchirurgische Methoden bevorzugt. So machte deren Anteil in allen angewendeten Therapien bei BCC in Moskau im Jahre 2009 ca. 70 % aus. Die Hälfte von BCC wurde dabei mit Kurzreichweitenstrahlentherapie – häufig in Kombination mit anderen Methoden – behandelt. Die Bestrahlungsschäden werden in RU in Rahmen der gesetzlichen Krankenversicherung (GKV) nicht behandelt. Die chirurgischen Exzisionen von Hauttumoren erfolgen in RU häufig unter Vollnarkose, was besonders bei älteren Patienten, die den größten Anteil an Hautkrebs-Erkrankten ausmachen, schädlich sein kann. Mit 1.675 Euro im Durchschnitt kosten die chirurgische Entfernung eines BCC genauso viel wie in DE (1.624 bis 1.800 Euro). Da es in RU keine Standards zur Dokumentation gibt, wird bei den histologischen Untersuchungen im Gegensatz zu DE die vertikale Tumordicke häufig nicht ermittelt, was eine Prognose der Erkrankungen unmöglich macht. In DE werden jährlich ca. 35.500 plastische Operationen im Kopf-Hals-Bereich an Hautkrebs-Patienten in Krankenhäusern durchgeführt und individuell ca. 1.500 Silikon-Epithesen für den Kopfbereich mit einer Nutzungsdauer von ca. 2 Jahren hergestellt. Obwohl in RU pro 10.000 Einwohner 1,53 mal mehr Dermatologen und 1,4 mal mehr Chirurgen arbeiten (es fehlen Statistiken speziell zu Mund-Kiefer-Gesichtschirurgen), werden in RU – da russische Dermatologen in Chirurgie und plastischer Chirurgie nicht geschult werden – pro Jahr bloß ca. 3.000 rekonstruktive Operationen nach der Entfernung von Tumoren im Gesichtsbereich durchgeführt. Die Tatsache, dass die Labore für Epithesenversorgung pro Jahr ca. 400 Epithesen herstellen, spricht auch dafür, dass in RU die überwältigende Mehrheit von Patienten mit Hautkrebs im Gesichtsbereich keine Möglichkeit hat, von der wirksamsten Behandlungsart (der Exzision des bösartigen Tumors) zu profitieren. Wegen der Unzugänglichkeit der qualitativen medizinischen Versorgung, u. a. der Rehabilitation, für gesetzlich Versicherten in RU wenden sich nicht alle Erkrankten an Ärzte, so dass die Erkrankungen nicht vollständig registriert und behandelt werden. So sind die altersstandardisierten Hautkrebs-Inzidenzraten in den russischen Regierungskliniken, wo ca. 70.000 Staatsbeamte medizinisch bestens versorgt werden, um das 3,8-Fache höher als in gesamt Moskau. Durch Umstellung auf die einfachen und günstigen Tübinger Methoden der MKC mit 3-D-Histologie ließe sich die Patientenzahl in RU jährlich um 16.500 – 33.000 senken. Selbst bei voller Erfassung der Bevölkerung durch Hautkrebs-Screening und voller Detektion von Erkrankungen gäbe es in RU ausreichende Kapazitäten für die medizinische Versorgung der Bevölkerung nach neuesten Standards. Durch die Einführung des Hautkrebs-Screenings in Rahmen der GKV und der einfachen Standards (MKC mit 3D-Histologie unter LA) wäre die Bekämpfung des Hautkrebses in den GUS-Staaten erheblich effektiver. Dafür sind die Anpassung der Ausbildungsprogramme für Ärzte und Pathologen an die deutschen Lernpläne und die Einrichtung von Laboren zur Herstellung von Epithesen im GUS-Raum erforderlich.
Arm Ability Training (AAT) has been specifically designed to promote manual dexterity recovery for stroke patients who have mild to moderate arm paresis. The motor control problems that these patients suffer from relate to a lack of efficiency in terms of the sensorimotor integration needed for dexterity. Various sensorimotor arm and hand abilities such as speed of selective movements, the capacity to make precise goal-directed arm movements, coordinated visually guided movements, steadiness, and finger dexterity all contribute to our “dexterity” in daily life. All these abilities are deficient in stroke patients who have mild to moderate paresis causing focal disability. The AAT explicitly and repetitively trains all these sensorimotor abilities at the individual's performance limit with eight different tasks; it further implements various task difficulty levels and integrates augmented feedback in the form of intermittent knowledge of results. The evidence from two randomized controlled trials indicates the clinical effectiveness of the AAT with regard to the promotion of “dexterity” recovery and the reduction of focal disability in stroke patients with mild to moderate arm paresis. In addition, the effects have been shown to be superior to time-equivalent “best conventional therapy.” Further, studies in healthy subjects showed that the AAT induced substantial sensorimotor learning. The observed learning dynamics indicate that different underlying sensorimotor arm and hand abilities are trained. Capacities strengthened by the training can, in part, be used by both arms. Non-invasive brain stimulation experiments and functional magnetic resonance imaging data documented that at an early stage in the training cortical sensorimotor network areas are involved in learning induced by the AAT, yet differentially for the tasks trained. With prolonged training over 2 to 3 weeks, subcortical structures seem to take over. While behavioral similarities in training responses have been observed in healthy volunteers and patients, training-induced functional re-organization in survivors of a subcortical stroke uniquely involved the ipsilesional premotor cortex as an adaptive recruitment of this secondary motor area. Thus, training-induced plasticity in healthy and brain-damaged subjects are not necessarily the same.
Objective: The instrument THERapy-related InterACTion (THER-I-ACT) was developed to document therapeutic interactions comprehensively in the human therapist–patient setting. Here, we investigate whether the instrument can also reliably be used to characterise therapeutic interactions when a digital system with a humanoid robot as a therapeutic assistant is used.
Methods: Participants and therapy: Seventeen stroke survivors receiving arm rehabilitation (i.e., arm basis training (ABT) for moderate-to-severe arm paresis [n = 9] or arm ability training (AAT) for mild arm paresis [n = 8]) using the digital therapy system E-BRAiN over a course of nine sessions. Analysis of the therapeutic interaction: A total of 34 therapy sessions were videotaped. All therapeutic interactions provided by the humanoid robot during the first and the last (9th) session of daily training were documented both in terms of their frequency and time used for that type of interaction using THER-I-ACT. Any additional therapeutic interaction spontaneously given by the supervising staff or a human helper providing physical assistance (ABT only) was also documented. All ratings were performed by two trained independent raters.
Statistical analyses: Intraclass correlation coefficients (ICCs) were calculated for the frequency of occurrence and time used for each category of interaction observed.
Results: Therapeutic interactions could comprehensively be documented and were observed across the dimensions provision of information, feedback, and bond-related interactions. ICCs for therapeutic interaction category assessments from 34 therapy sessions by two independent raters were high (ICC ≥0.90) for almost all categories of the therapeutic interaction observed, both for the occurrence frequency and time used for categories of therapeutic interactions, and both for the therapeutic interaction performed by the robot and, even though much less frequently observed, additional spontaneous therapeutic interactions by the supervisory staff and a helper being present. The ICC was similarly high for an overall subjective rating of the concentration and engagement of patients (0.87).
Conclusion: Therapeutic interactions can comprehensively and reliably be documented by trained raters using the instrument THER-I-ACT not only in the traditional patient–therapist setting, as previously shown, but also in a digital therapy setting with a humanoid robot as the therapeutic agent and for more complex therapeutic settings with more than one therapeutic agent being present.
One of the great challenges the world faces in terms of health care is the increasing number of
people living with neuro-disabilities that affect their ability to participate in societal activities.
Various neurological conditions such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, or Parkinson’s disease, to name
just a few, change cognitive, sensory, or motor capacities, alter the emotional well-being of those
affected, and lead to disability in their everyday lives.
Over the last few decades, aging populations and reduced mortality in many regions of the world
have increased the number of people living with neuro-disabilities considerably, an effect that is
still ongoing (1): for 2017, the worldwide prevalence of stroke (thousands) has been estimated to
be as high as 104178.7 (95% confidence interval, 95% CI 98454.0–110125.0), and years lived with
disabilities (YLD) (counts in thousands) caused by stroke were reported to amount to 18695.4
(95% CI 13,574–23686.9). The stroke-related increase in YLD (percentage change in counts)
was 40% (95% CI 38.4–41.4) from 1990 to 2007 and another 43.6% (39.6–47.8) during only 10
years from 2007 to 2017. The numbers are similarly impressive for other neurological disorders
(i.e., dementias, Parkinson’s disease, epilepsy, multiple sclerosis, motor neuron disease, headache
disorders, and others). Taken together, their worldwide prevalence (in thousands) in 2017 was
3121435.3 (95% CI 2951124.5–3316268.0), while YLD (thousands) in 2017 were 3121435.3 (95%
CI 2951124.5–3316268.0), with an increase in YLD by 35.1% (95% CI 31.9–38.1) from 1990 to 2007
and by a further 17.8% (95% CI 15.8–20.2) from 2007 to 2017.
These numbers not only demonstrate the huge global burden of disease and prevailing
neuro-disabilities, but they indicate a considerable increase in the number of people living with
neuro-disabilities with an accelerating dynamic over time (for stroke).
Objective: To develop an instrument for the observation of therapeutic communication interactions during rehabilitation sessions and test its inter-rater reliability.
Methods: The new instrument THER-I-ACT (THERapy–related Inter-ACTion) has been designed to assess both the frequency and timing of therapeutic interactions in the thematic fields information provision, feedback, other motivational interaction, and bonding. For this inter-rater reliability study, a sample of stroke survivors received arm rehabilitation as either arm ability training, arm basis training, or mirror therapy, or neglect training as individually indicated. Therapy sessions were video-recorded (one for each participant) and therapeutic interactions rated by two independent raters using THER-I-ACT.
Results: With regard to the instrument's comprehensiveness to document therapeutic interactions with pre-defined categories the data from 29 sessions suggested almost complete coverage. Inter-rater reliability was very high both for individual categories of therapeutic interaction (frequency and time used for interaction) (intraclass correlation coefficient, ICC 0.91–1.00) and summary scores for the thematic fields of interaction (again for frequency and time used for interaction) (ICC 0.98–1.00).
The inter-rater reliability for rating engagement and being focussed for both the therapist and patient was substantial (ICC 0.71 and 0.86).
Conclusions: The observational study documented that by use of the newly designed THER-I-ACT various types of therapy-related communication interactions performed by therapists can be assessed with a very high inter-rater reliability. In addition, the thematic fields and categories of therapeutic interaction as defined by the instrument comprehensively covered the type of interaction that occurred in the therapeutic sessions observed.
Background
While meta-analyses confirm treatment for chronic post-stroke aphasia is effective, a lack of comparative evidence for different interventions limits prescription accuracy. We investigated whether Constraint-Induced Aphasia Therapy Plus (CIAT-plus) and/or Multimodality Aphasia Therapy (M-MAT) provided greater therapeutic benefit compared with usual community care and were differentially effective according to baseline aphasia severity.
Methods
We conducted a three-arm, multicentre, parallel group, open-label, blinded endpoint, phase III, randomised-controlled trial. We stratified eligible participants by baseline aphasia on the Western Aphasia Battery-Revised Aphasia Quotient (WAB-R-AQ). Groups of three participants were randomly assigned (1:1:1) to 30 hours of CIAT-Plus or M-MAT or to usual care (UC). Primary outcome was change in aphasia severity (WAB-R-AQ) from baseline to therapy completion analysed in the intention-to-treat population. Secondary outcomes included word retrieval, connected speech, functional communication, multimodal communication, quality of life and costs.
Results
We analysed 201 participants (70 in CIAT-Plus, 70 in M-MAT and 61 in UC). Aphasia severity was not significantly different between groups at postintervention: 1.05 points (95% CI −0.78 to 2.88; p=0.36) UC group vs CIAT-Plus; 1.06 points (95% CI −0.78 to 2.89; p=0.36) UC group vs M-MAT; 0.004 points (95% CI −1.76 to 1.77; p=1.00) CIAT-Plus vs M-MAT. Word retrieval, functional communication and communication-related quality of life were significantly improved following CIAT-Plus and M-MAT. Word retrieval benefits were maintained at 12-week follow-up.
Conclusions
CIAT-Plus and M-MAT were effective for word retrieval, functional communication, and quality of life, while UC was not. Future studies should explore predictive characteristics of responders and impacts of maintenance doses.
Trial registration number ACTRN 2615000618550.
The aim of this study was to compare three sensorimotor training forms in patients with chronic low back pain to determine their effects on the reduction of pain-related impairment and changes in posturography. Over two weeks, during the multimodal pain therapy (MMPT) period, six sessions of sensorimotor physiotherapy or training in the Galileo® or Posturomed® (n = 25 per group) were performed. A significant reduction in pain-related impairment after the intervention phase was shown across all groups (time effect: p < 0.001; ηp2 = 0.415). There was no change in postural stability (time effect: p = 0.666; ηp2 = 0.003), but there was a significant improvement in the peripheral vestibular system (time effect: p = 0.014; ηp2 = 0.081). An interaction effect was calculated for the forefoot-hindfoot ratio (p = 0.014; ηp2 = 0.111). Only the Posturomed® group showed an improvement in anterior-posterior weight distribution (heel load: 47% vs. 49%). These findings suggest that these forms of sensorimotor training in the context of MMPT are suitable for reducing pain-related impairment. Posturography demonstrated stimulation of a subsystem, but no improvement in postural stability.
Background: Intensive speech-language therapy (SLT) can promote recovery from chronic post-stroke aphasia, a major consequence of stroke. However, effect sizes of intensive SLT are moderate, potentially reflecting a physiological limit of training-induced progress. Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is an easy-to-use, well-tolerated and low-cost approach that may enhance effectiveness of intensive SLT. In a recent phase-II randomized controlled trial, 26 individuals with chronic post-stroke aphasia received intensive SLT combined with anodal-tDCS of the left primary motor cortex (M1), resulting in improved naming and proxy-rated communication ability, with medium-to-large effect sizes.
Aims: The proposed protocol seeks to establish the incremental benefit from anodal-tDCS of M1 in a phase-III randomized controlled trial with adequate power, ecologically valid outcomes, and evidence-based SLT.
Methods: The planned study is a prospective randomized placebo-controlled (using sham-tDCS), parallel-group, double-blind, multi-center, phase-III superiority trial. A sample of 130 individuals with aphasia at least 6 months post-stroke will be recruited in more than 18 in- and outpatient rehabilitation centers.
Outcomes: The primary outcome focuses on communication ability in chronic post-stroke aphasia, as revealed by changes on the Amsterdam-Nijmegen Everyday Language Test (A-scale; primary endpoint: 6-month follow-up; secondary endpoints: immediately after treatment, and 12-month follow-up). Secondary outcomes include measures assessing linguistic-executive skills, attention, memory, emotional well-being, quality of life, health economic costs, and adverse events (endpoints: 6-month follow-up, immediately after treatment, and 12-month follow-up).
Discussion: Positive results will increase the quality of life for persons with aphasia and their families while reducing societal costs. After trial completion, a workshop with relevant stakeholders will ensure transfer into best-practice guidelines and successful integration within clinical routine.
Clinical Trial Registration: www.ClinicalTrials.gov, identifier: NCT03930121.
Post-COVID-19 syndrome (PCS) has been described as ‘the pandemic after the pandemic’ with more than 65 million people worldwide being affected. The enormous range of symptoms makes both diagnosis complex and treatment difficult. In a post-COVID rehabilitation outpatient clinic, 184 patients, mostly non-hospitalized, received a comprehensive, interdisciplinary diagnostic assessment with fixed follow-up appointments. At baseline, three in four patients reported more than 10 symptoms, the most frequent symptoms were fatigue (84.9%), decreased physical capacity (83.0%), tiredness (81.1%), poor concentration (73.6%), sleeping problems (66.7%) and shortness of breath (67.3%). Abnormalities were found in the mean values of scores for fatigue (FAS = 34.3), cognition (MoCA = 25.5), psychological alterations (anxiety, depression, post-traumatic stress disorder), limitation of lung function (CAT) and severity scores for PCS (PCFS, MCRS). Clinical abnormalities were found in elevated values of heart rate, breathing rate at rest, blood pressure and NT-proBNP levels. As the frequency of the described symptoms decreases only slowly but most often significantly over the course, it is important to monitor the patients over a longer period of time. Many of them suffer from an immense symptom burden, often without pre-existing clinical correlates. Our results show a clear association with objectifiable assessments and tests as well as pronounced symptoms.