Grant Number:	1R37CA272473-01 Interpret this number
Primary Investigator:	Brito Campana, Juan
Organization:	Mayo Clinic Rochester
Project Title:	DE-Implementation of Inappropriate Thyroid Ultrasound
Fiscal Year:	2022

PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Inappropriate use of thyroid ultrasound (iTUS) is an important driver of thyroid cancer overdiagnosis and overtreatment, which involves high-risk procedures and long-term therapeutics that cause medical, psychosocial, and financial hardships for patients. Cumulative annual cost of well-differentiated thyroid cancer care in the U.S. has been estimated to exceed $1.5 billion and is projected to reach $3.5 billion by 2030, and the potential cost after 5 years of thyroid cancer diagnosis is $50,000 per patient. Thyroid cancer is one of the fastest-growing cancers in the U.S, but mortality remains very low. Approximately 25% of new cases are attributable to the identification of small thyroid cancers that are unlikely to cause harm if they were left undiagnosed and untreated. The biggest driver of small thyroid cancer diagnosis is iTUS use in asymptomatic people, a practice discouraged by clinical guidelines. The pervasiveness of iTUS despite recommendations against it suggests the need for active strategies to eliminate it. The process of eliminating practices that are not evidence-based is known as de-implementation. To date, no studies have provided a replicable and useful way for health systems to identify their iTUS practices, and there has been no systematic evaluation of multilevel factors driving it, such that we lack key information about targeted, acceptable, and feasible de- implementation strategies. Without them, overuse will persist. To fill this gap, we will leverage a multidisciplinary team with vast experience in computer phenotyping expertise, machine learning, and mixed method research. We will also use two unique databases: the Rochester Epidemiology Project, a medical record-linkage system that captures health care information from the entire population of 27 counties in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and the Patient-Centered Clinical Research Network (PCORnet) that shares a common data model to organize data into a standard structure. There are three aims. Aim 1: Using the REP and two PCORnet sites, to develop a replicable computer phenotype to identify patients receiving iTUS. Aim 2: Using 4 PCORnet sities, to identify patient, clinician, and practice factors associated with iTUS in a representative sample of healthcare practices. Aim 3: Using mixed methods, to understand factors and identify potential strategies for iTUS de-implementation acceptable to the patient, clinician, and health system stakeholders. This proposal is responsive to the objectives of NOT-CA-20-021 to explore de-implementation of ineffective or low-value clinical practices along the cancer care continuum. At the end of this study, we will have developed and validated a computer phenotype to identify iTUS across diverse settings, as well as a list of acceptable strategies likely to decrease iTUS. These findings will be broadly disseminable and will pave the way for studies—deployed in diverse health systems and targeting patients, clincians, and organizations—that test the effectiveness of the de-implementation strategies identified here.




Use of Natural Language Processing to Extract and Classify Papillary Thyroid Cancer Features From Surgical Pathology Reports.
Authors: Loor-Torres R. , Wu Y. , Esteban Cabezas null , Borras-Osorio M. , Toro-Tobon D. , Duran M. , Al Zahidy M. , Mateo Chavez M. , Soto Jacome C. , Fan J.W. , et al. .
Source: Endocrine Practice : Official Journal Of The American College Of Endocrinology And The American Association Of Clinical Endocrinologists, 2024 Nov; 30(11), p. 1051-1058.
EPub date: 2024-08-26 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 39197747
Related Citations

A Systematic Review of Natural Language Processing Methods and Applications in Thyroidology.
Authors: Loor-Torres R. , Duran M. , Toro-Tobon D. , Chavez M.M. , Ponce O. , Jacome C.S. , Torres D.S. , Perneth S.A. , Montori V. , Golembiewski E. , et al. .
Source: Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Digital Health, 2024 Jun; 2(2), p. 270-279.
EPub date: 2024-05-21 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 38938930
Related Citations

Thyroid Ultrasound Appropriateness Identification Through Natural Language Processing of Electronic Health Records.
Authors: Jacome C.S. , Torres D.S. , Fan J.W. , Loor-Torres R. , Duran M. , Zahidy M.A. , Cabezas E. , Borras-Osorio M. , Toro-Tobon D. , Wu Y. , et al. .
Source: Mayo Clinic Proceedings. Digital Health, 2024 Mar; 2(1), p. 67-74.
EPub date: 2024-02-01 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 38501072
Related Citations

Defining inappropriate thyroid biopsy?-Proposed definition based on clinical evidence and stakeholder engagement.
Authors: Nguyen T.A. , Brito J.P. , Singh Ospina N. .
Source: Endocrine, 2024-02-26 00:00:00.0; , .
EPub date: 2024-02-26 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 38407695
Related Citations

Physical Examination of the Thyroid: Accuracy in Detecting Thyroid Nodules and Frequency of Additional Findings.
Authors: Jacome C.S. , Garcia A. , Golembiewski E. , Loor-Torres R. , Duran M. , Segura D. , Toro-Tobon D. , Fan J.W. , Singh Ospina N. , Brito J.P. .
Source: Endocrine Practice : Official Journal Of The American College Of Endocrinology And The American Association Of Clinical Endocrinologists, 2024 Jan; 30(1), p. 31-35.
EPub date: 2023-10-05 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 37805101
Related Citations

Drivers of Thyroid Ultrasound Use: A Retrospective Observational Study.
Authors: Soto Jacome C. , Segura Torres D. , Fan J.W. , Garcia-Bautista A. , Golembiewski E. , Duran M. , Loor-Torres R. , Toro-Tobon D. , Singh Ospina N. , Brito J.P. .
Source: Endocrine Practice : Official Journal Of The American College Of Endocrinology And The American Association Of Clinical Endocrinologists, 2023 Dec; 29(12), p. 948-954.
EPub date: 2023-09-16 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 37722595
Related Citations

Overuse of thyroid ultrasound.
Authors: Acosta G.J. , Singh Ospina N. , Brito J.P. .
Source: Current Opinion In Endocrinology, Diabetes, And Obesity, 2023-10-01 00:00:00.0; 30(5), p. 225-230.
EPub date: 2023-06-08 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 37288725
Related Citations

Artificial Intelligence in Thyroidology: A Narrative Review of the Current Applications, Associated Challenges, and Future Directions.
Authors: Toro-Tobon D. , Loor-Torres R. , Duran M. , Fan J.W. , Singh Ospina N. , Wu Y. , Brito J.P. .
Source: Thyroid : Official Journal Of The American Thyroid Association, 2023 Aug; 33(8), p. 903-917.
EPub date: 2023-06-26 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 37279303
Related Citations

Novel assessment of epigenetic imprinting biomarkers for the diagnosis of thyroid nodules.
Authors: Singh Ospina N. , Brito J.P. .
Source: Nature Reviews. Clinical Oncology, 2023 Mar; 20(3), p. 139-140.
PMID: 36646815
Related Citations

Appropriate Use of Telehealth Visits in Endocrinology: Policy Perspective of the Endocrine Society.
Authors: Vimalananda V.G. , Brito J.P. , Eiland L.A. , Lal R.A. , Maraka S. , McDonnell M.E. , Narla R.R. , Roth M.Y. , Crossen S.S. .
Source: The Journal Of Clinical Endocrinology And Metabolism, 2022-10-04 00:00:00.0; , .
EPub date: 2022-10-04 00:00:00.0.
PMID: 36194041
Related Citations