Background Closure of an abdominal stoma, a common elective operation, is associated with frequent complications; one of the commonest and impactful is incisional hernia formation. We aimed to investigate whether biological mesh (collagen tissue matrix) can safely reduce the incidence of incisional hernias at the stoma closure site. Methods In this randomised controlled trial (ROCSS) done in 37 hospitals across three European countries (35 UK, one Denmark, one Netherlands), patients aged 18 years or older undergoing elective ileostomy or colostomy closure were randomly assigned using a computer-based algorithm in a 1:1 ratio to either biological mesh reinforcement or closure with sutures alone (control). Training in the novel technique was standardised across hospitals. Patients and outcome assessors were masked to treatment allocation. The primary outcome measure was occurrence of clinically detectable hernia 2 years after randomisation (intention to treat). A sample size of 790 patients was required to identify a 40% reduction (25% to 15%), with 90% power (15% drop-out rate). This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02238964.
Readmission rate following elective LC is low with the majority occurring within the first 6 weeks and only a quarter of these related are directly to biliary pathology. In the absence of routine IOC, around 1% of patients present with retained stones within 2 years of LC. A small fraction of patients continue to suffer from NSAP and should be warned prior to the surgery.
Chronic pain is frequent and debilitating. Documentation of chronic pain as a possible outcome at the time of consent should be mandatory as patient recall is poor.
Objective: Recurrent acute diverticulitis carries a major burden to any form of health care. Patients present repeatedly to medical centers with a multitude of symptoms and may require different modalities of treatment with significant morbidities and impact on quality of life. Methods: We therefore wanted to identify factors that would imply the need and time of surgery versus conservative management. The literature was thoroughly searched for major studies tackling this topic. Furthermore, studies reporting on decision making based on quality of life were included. Risks of developing recurrent diverticulitis and the potential need of surgery were identified. Relevant surgical details that would decrease recurrence were also denoted. Results: Surgery has been the mainstay of treatment for quite some time. However, the paradigms of treatment have changed over the last few years, especially when long-term population studies confirmed that not all patients require surgical treatment with its associated risk of morbidity. Conclusion: Treatment now has to be patient-tailored with special attention to the subgroup of high-risk patients. These patients must be adequately selected, identifying the impact of the disease on the quality of life and weighing in the risks of the surgical intervention.
The use of Gastrografin may have a therapeutic effect on resolving adhesive small bowel obstruction.
Adhesive Small Bowel obstruction (ASBO) accounts for the majority of patients with small bowel obstruction. Most patients are managed conservatively; frequent admissions create a considerable burden. We sought to examine the adherence to the Bologna guidelines for the management of ASBO in a high volume tertiary center and whether or not Gastrografin had a therapeutic effect.
A comparison was made between an initial retrospective audit looking at ASBO and a prospective re-audit after applying standards derived from the Bologna guidelines. During re-audit it was found that more patients underwent conservative management and fewer patients had surgery as first line management. In the re-audit, those who had to undergo surgery within/after a period of 72h of conservative management were also fewer. Whether they were managed surgically primarily or after a period of conservative management, the average length of stay was also shorter. In comparison to the preliminary audit, there appeared to be no change in the way that medical history and physical examination was documented during the re-audit. However, there was a marked difference in the use of appropriate blood tests and CT scans.
Changes were made successfully following the initial audit results and have been implemented, thus closing the audit loop. This study shows that the use of Gastrografin has decreased the need for surgical intervention in a group of patients with small bowel obstruction.
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