All Publications


  • Health care utilization among Medicare beneficiaries with newly diagnosed back pain. North American Spine Society journal Barros Guinle, M. I., Johnstone, T., Ruiz Colón, G. D., Weng, Y., Nettnin, E. A., Ratliff, J. K. 2024; 20: 100565

    Abstract

    Low back pain (LBP) is the most common medical cause of disability among adults 65 or older. No previous study has characterized health care costs and treatment patterns of LBP among Medicare beneficiaries.This retrospective cohort study quantifies health care utilization costs among Medicare beneficiaries with newly diagnosed LBP, compares costs between patients managed operatively and nonoperatively, identifies costs associated with treatment guideline nonadherence, and characterizes opioid prescribing patterns. Patients were queried via ICD codes from a 20% random sample of Medicare claims records. Patients with concomitant or previous "red flag" diagnoses, neurological deficits, or diagnoses that could cause nondegenerative LBP were excluded. Total costs of care in the year of diagnosis were calculated and stratified by operative versus nonoperative management. To assess for guideline adherence, utilization and costs of different services were tabulated. Opioid prescription patterns were characterized by quantity, cost, duration, and medication type.About 1,269,896 patients were identified; 23,919 (1.8%) underwent surgery. These accounted for 7% of the cohort's total cost ($514 million total, $21,496 per person). Patients treated nonoperatively accounted for over $7 billion in costs ($5,880 per person; p<.001). Within the nonoperative cohort, 626,896 (50.3%) patients were nonadherent to current guidelines for conservative management of LBP. Guideline nonadherence increased total annual costs by $4,012 per person ($7,873 for nonadherent vs. $3,861 for adherent patients, p<.001). About 460,867 opioid prescriptions were filled for 303,796 unique patients (23.9%) within 30 days of LBP diagnosis. Within the nonsurgical cohort, patients nonadherent to imaging guidelines were more likely to have an opioid prescription within this window than adherent patients (26.5% vs. 21.2%; p<.001).Nonoperative management of LBP is associated with significantly lower costs per patient. Early imaging and opioid prescription are significant drivers of excess cost. Adherence to proposed treatment guidelines can save over $2.8 billion in total health care costs.

    View details for DOI 10.1016/j.xnsj.2024.100565

    View details for PubMedID 39670143

    View details for PubMedCentralID PMC11636345

  • THE ROLE OF MAP4K4 IN TUMOR CELL INVASION OBSERVED IN A 3D IN VITRO MODEL OF PEDIATRIC GLIOBLASTOMA Garcia, C., Nettnin, E., Arana, S., Nguyen, T., Guinle, M., Wilson, C., Petritsch, C. K., Bassik, M. C., Prolo, L. M. OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC. 2024
  • CDC42BPA::BRAF represents a novel fusion in desmoplastic infantile ganglioglioma/desmoplastic infantile astrocytoma. Neuro-oncology advances Barros Guinle, M. I., Nirschl, J. J., Xing, Y. L., Nettnin, E. A., Arana, S., Feng, Z. P., Nasajpour, E., Pronina, A., Garcia, C. A., Grant, G. A., Vogel, H., Yeom, K. W., Prolo, L. M., Petritsch, C. K. 2024; 6 (1): vdae050

    View details for DOI 10.1093/noajnl/vdae050

    View details for PubMedID 38741773

    View details for PubMedCentralID PMC11089409

  • Review: therapeutic approaches for circadian modulation of the glioma microenvironment. Frontiers in oncology Nettnin, E. A., Nguyen, T., Arana, S., Barros Guinle, M. I., Garcia, C. A., Gibson, E. M., Prolo, L. M. 2023; 13: 1295030

    Abstract

    High-grade gliomas are malignant brain tumors that are characteristically hard to treat because of their nature; they grow quickly and invasively through the brain tissue and develop chemoradiation resistance in adults. There is also a distinct lack of targeted treatment options in the pediatric population for this tumor type to date. Several approaches to overcome therapeutic resistance have been explored, including targeted therapy to growth pathways (ie. EGFR and VEGF inhibitors), epigenetic modulators, and immunotherapies such as Chimeric Antigen Receptor T-cell and vaccine therapies. One new promising approach relies on the timing of chemotherapy administration based on intrinsic circadian rhythms. Recent work in glioblastoma has demonstrated temporal variations in chemosensitivity and, thus, improved survival based on treatment time of day. This may be due to intrinsic rhythms of the glioma cells, permeability of the blood brain barrier to chemotherapy agents, the tumor immune microenvironment, or another unknown mechanism. We review the literature to discuss chronotherapeutic approaches to high-grade glioma treatment, circadian regulation of the immune system and tumor microenvironment in gliomas. We further discuss how these two areas may be combined to temporally regulate and/or improve the effectiveness of immunotherapies.

    View details for DOI 10.3389/fonc.2023.1295030

    View details for PubMedID 38173841

    View details for PubMedCentralID PMC10762863

  • CDC42BPA::BRAF REPRESENTS A NOVEL FUSION IN DESMOPLASTIC INFANTILE GLIOMA Guinle, M., Nettnin, E. A., Nasajpour, E., Nirschl, J., Garcia, C. A., Vogel, H., Yeom, K., Prolo, L., Petritsch, C. OXFORD UNIV PRESS INC. 2023