Tag Archive for: Jacobs

doctor checking pregnant woman's belly

Novel approach to detect fetal growth restriction

doctor checking pregnant woman's belly

Morphometric and textural analyses of magnetic resonance imaging can point out subtle architectural deviations associated with fetal growth restriction during the second half of pregnancy, a first-time finding that has the promise to lead to earlier intervention.

Morphometric and textural analyses of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can point out subtle architectural deviations that are associated with fetal growth restriction (FGR) during the second half of pregnancy. The first-time finding hints at the potential to spot otherwise hidden placental woes earlier and intervene in a more timely fashion, a research team led by Children’s National Hospital faculty reports in Pediatric Research.

“We found reduced placental size, as expected, but also determined that the textural metrics are accelerated in FGR when factoring in gestational age, suggesting premature placental aging in FGR,” says Nickie Andescavage, M.D., a neonatologist at Children’s National and the study’s lead author. “While morphometric and textural features can discriminate placental differences between FGR cases with and without Doppler abnormalities, the pattern of affected features differs between these sub-groups. Of note, placental insufficiency with abnormal Doppler findings have significant differences in the signal-intensity metrics, perhaps related to differences of water content within the placenta.”

The placenta, an organ shared by the pregnant woman and the developing fetus, delivers oxygen and nutrients to the developing fetus and ferries away waste products. Placental insufficiency is characterized by a placenta that develops poorly or is damaged, impairing blood flow, and can result in still birth or death shortly after birth. Surviving infants may be born preterm or suffer early brain injury; later in life, they may experience cardiovascular, metabolic or neuropsychiatric problems.

Because there are no available tools to help clinicians identify small but critical changes in placental architecture during pregnancy, placental insufficiency often is found after some damage is already done. Typically, it is discovered when FGR is diagnosed, when a fetus weighs less than 9 of 10 fetuses of the same gestational age.

“There is a growing appreciation for the prenatal origin of some neuropsychiatric disorders that manifest years to decades later. Those nine months of gestation very much define the breath of who we later become as adults,” says Catherine Limperopoulos, Ph.D., director of MRI Research of the Developing Brain at Children’s National and the study’s senior author. “By identifying better biomarkers of fetal distress at an earlier stage in pregnancy and refining our imaging toolkit to detect them, we set the stage to be able to intervene earlier and improve children’s overall outcomes.”

The research team studied 32 healthy pregnancies and compared them with 34 pregnancies complicated by FGR. These women underwent up to two MRIs between 20 weeks to 40 weeks gestation. They also had abdominal circumference, fetal head circumference and fetal femur length measured as well as fetal weight estimated.

In pregnancies complicated by FGR, placentas were smaller, thinner and shorter than uncomplicated pregnancies and had decreased placental volume. Ten of 13 textural and morphometric features that differed between the two groups were associated with absolute birth weight.

“Interestingly, when FGR is diagnosed in the second trimester, placental volume, elongation and thickness are significantly reduced compared with healthy pregnancies, whereas the late-onset of FGR only affects placental volume,” Limperopoulos adds. “We believe with early-onset FGR there is a more significant reduction in the developing placental units that is detected by gross measures of size and shape. By the third trimester, the overall shape of the placenta seems to have been well defined so that primarily volume is affected in late-onset FGR.”

In addition to Dr. Andescavage and Limperopoulos, study co-authors include Sonia Dahdouh, Sayali Yewale, Dorothy Bulas, M.D., chief of the Division of Diagnostic Imaging and Radiology, and Biostatistician, Marni Jacobs, Ph.D., MPH, all of Children’s National; Sara Iqbal, of MedStar Washington Hospital Center; and Ahmet Baschat, of Johns Hopkins Center for Fetal Therapy.

Financial support for research described in this post was provided by the National Institutes of Health under award number 1U54HD090257, R01-HL116585, UL1TR000075 and KL2TR000076, and the Clinical-Translational Science Institute-Children’s National.

Shireen Atabaki

Innovative care using health IT lands Children’s National a 2017 HIMSS Enterprise Davies Award

Shireen Atabaki

A new diagnostic tool led by Shireen Atabaki, M.D., M.P.H., helps prescribers determine if CT scans are necessary for children with head injuries through a checklist protocol.

Opportunities to improve the lives of children are increasingly found at the intersection of health and technology, a sweet spot for enhancing care in today’s connected world. A team of experts at Children’s National Health System launched several initiatives using health information technology to improve care delivery, earning the institution the prestigious 2017 HIMSS Enterprise Davies Award. Recognizing outstanding achievements of organizations that have utilized health IT to significantly improve patient outcomes while also achieving a return on investment, Children’s National received the award based on three case studies in particular:

  • Decreasing use of CAT scans by 44 percent – A new diagnostic tool led by Shireen Atabaki, M.D., M.P.H., emergency medicine specialist, incorporated into the electronic health record helps prescribers determine if CT scans are necessary for children with head injuries through a checklist protocol. The new tool reduced the rate of CT scan utilization by 44 percent – decreasing unnecessary radiation exposure for children and resulting in first-year cost savings of more than $875,000.
  • Innovative unit-based quality boards – These electronic boards provide health care teams and families with real-time quality and safety information. By having patient information readily available in one location, the boards improved medication reconciliation by 13 percent, decreased the time to patient consent by 49 percent, and reduced duration of urinary catheters by 11 percent.
  • Improved clinician documentation – To improve outcomes and reduce costs,

Children’s National transitioned from dictation/transcription-driven notes to electronic/voice recognition notes in ambulatory specialty clinics. This allowed for the immediate availability of notes to all care providers and a significant reduction in transcription costs.

These initiatives demonstrate the life-changing quality and safety efforts under way at Children’s National that put patient safety first. Brian Jacobs, M.D., vice president, chief medical information officer and chief information officer, accepted the award on behalf of Children’s National at the HIMSS Awards gala at the Wynn in Las Vegas in March.

Millenial Panel at Population Strategies for Childrens Health Summit

Population health and value based care discussed at the Population Strategies for Children’s Health Summit

With sponsorship from Cerner Corporation, Children’s National held the first Population Strategies for Children’s Health (PSCH) event on February 19 – 20, 2018 at The Westin City Center in Washington, D.C. Speakers and attendees gathered from around the country to discuss pediatric population health and the transition to value based care.

PSCH opened with an insightful presentation from Ellen-Marie Whelan Ph.D., CRNP, FAAN, chief population health officer at the CMS Center for Medicaid and CHIP Services. Her presentation, “Medicaid Transformation to Value Based Care,” explored an incentivized health care delivery system reform that will result in better care, smarter spending and healthier people.

Sean Gleeson, M.D., M.B.A., president of Partners for Kids at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, spoke about the mechanics of Partners for Kids and the population health strategies they choose to implement. These strategies require an entire enterprise to be engaged and they must be an intentional component of each healthcare organization. Dr. Gleeson put it simply that population health turns healthcare “right side up” by tying financial incentives to positive value outcomes versus upside down when health organizations make more money when kids are sicker.

A presentation from William Feaster, M.D., M.B.A., chief medical information officer at CHOC Children’s Hospital, and Brian Jacobs, M.D., vice president, chief medical information officer and chief information officer at Children’s National Health System, delved into implementing condition-specific pediatric registries. They highlighted that it’s necessary to integrate registries and workflows into the daily work of clinicians and make them actionable to encourage engagement.

Another highlight of the conference was the millennial panel “The Current and Future State of Health Care from a Consumer’s Perspective.” The panel consisted of Janice Bitetti, a physician and mother of a 10-year-old with Type 1 diabetes; Jonathan Morris, a 15-year-old Type 1 Diabetes patient at Children’s National; and moderator Emily Webber, M.D., FAAP, chief medical information officer at Riley Children’s Hospital. Panel participants shared their take on the current state of Type 1 diabetes care, and the way millennials interact with healthcare. Both Jonathan and Janice agreed that the intensive nature of Type 1 diabetes care puts many families who don’t have the time, resources and initiative that they do in a very difficult place.

Other speakers throughout the two day event explored topics including population health strategies to reduce child health disparities, the role of telehealth in population health, care coordination and coaching to health, and technology in population health.

Millenial Panel at Population Strategies for Childrens Health Summit

Brian Jacobs, M.D. introduces the Millennial Panel at the Population Strategies for Children’s Health Summit.