A total of 149 patients admitted for elective colorectal surgery were randomly allocated to receive preoperative mechanical bowel preparation (group 1) or no mechanical bowel preparation (group 2). All patients received antimicrobial prophylaxis with cephalothin and metronidazole. The overall incidence of wound infection was 17.4 per cent (24 per cent for group 1, 12 per cent for group 2) and that of dehiscence 7.4 per cent (10 per cent for group 1, 5 per cent for group 2). The incidence of wound infection was significantly higher in group 1 (P < 0.05) but that of anastomotic dehiscence did not differ significantly between groups. Mechanical bowel preparation is unnecessary and may be harmful in terms of preventing wound infection and anastomotic dehiscence in patients undergoing elective colorectal surgery.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate quality of life, using the SF-36, in patients with adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) who un-derwent surgery for deformity correction, comparing the results in the pre-and post-operative period. METHODS: We evaluated 29 patients, 24 female, mean age 14.5 years, all patients had measurement of Cobb angle greater than 50º, and responded to the SF-36 questionnaire preope-ratively and on average two years after surgery. RESULTS: There was improvement in all eight domains studied by the SF-36 after surgical treatment, with statistically significant improvement of the domains functional capacity physical aspects, pain and general state. Vitality and mental heal-th were those with the lowest percentage of improvement postoperatively. CONCLUSION: Surgical treatment of defor-mity in all AIS improved the functional aspects assessed by the SF-36, representing, in practice, better quality of life for these patients. Evidence Level II, Prospective Study.

ObjectiveTo correlate spinopelvic balance with the development of degenerative spondylolisthesis and disk herniation.MethodsThis was a descriptive retrospective study that evaluated 60 patients in this hospital, 30 patients with degenerative spondylolisthesis at the L4–L5 level and 30 with herniated disk at the L4–L5 level, all of whom underwent Surgical treatment.ResultsPatients with lumbar disk herniation at L4–L5 level had a mean tilt of 8.06, mean slope of 36.93, and mean PI of 45. In patients with degenerative spondylolisthesis at the L4–L5 level, a mean tilt of 22.1, mean slope of 38.3, and mean PI of 61.4 were observed.ConclusionThis article reinforces the finding that the high mean tilt and PI are related to the onset of degenerative spondylolisthesis, and also concluded that the same angles, when low, increase the risk for disk herniation.

OBJETIVO: Avaliar a angulação da lordose cervical nos pacientes portadores de Escoliose Idiopática do Adolescente (EIA) do tipo Lenke I, no período pré- e pós-operatório. MÉTODO: Estudo prospectivo e descritivo em que foram avaliados pacientes com EIA, sendo documentadas medidas antropométricas. Foram avaliadas as angulações das radiografias (posição ortostática) em perfil cervical de C3 a C7 no período pré- e pós-operatório, estabelecendo como normal a lordose cervical entre 10 e 30 graus. RESULTADOS: Participaram 26 pacientes com EIA, sendo a maioria do sexo feminino (73%), com média de idade de 14,3 anos. Observamos que no período pré-operatório 80,9% dos pacientes apresentavam angulação cervical não fisiológica, sendo que 42,3% dos pacientes apresentavam diminuição da lordose cervical (<10°) e 38,6%, inversão desta angulação (<0°). No pós-operatório, todos os pacientes apresentaram melhora da angulação cervical em relação aos níveis fisiológicos, sendo que 69,3% dos pacientes obtiveram a angulação normal desejada da coluna cervical e nenhum dos pacientes manteve inversão da lordose cervical. CONCLUSÕES: A correção cirúrgica da escoliose cursou com melhoria secundária da angulação da lordose cervical.

Objectiveto evaluate spinopelvic balance using the pelvic incidence, sacral slope and pelvic tilt among patients with lumbar disk hernias who underwent surgical treatment.Methodsthirty patients at the spinal services of Hospital Santa Casa de Misericórdia de Vitória and Hospital Vila Velha were evaluated by measuring their spinopelvic balance from the angles of pelvic tilt, sacral slope and pelvic incidence, with their respective means, on simple lateral-view lumbopelvic radiographs that needed to encompass the lumbar spine, sacrum and proximal third of the femur.Resultsthe spinopelvic balance measurements obtained from the mean angles of the population studied, for pelvic incidence, sacral slope and pelvic tilt, were 45°, 36.9° and 8.1°, respectively. The confidence interval for the mean pelvic incidence was from 41.9 to 48.1 (95% CI), thus including a reference value that characterized it as low, for an asymptomatic population, thus confirming that the sample was extracted from a population with this characteristic.Conclusionamong these patients with lumbar disk hernias who underwent surgical treatment, the average spinopelvic balance was found to have pelvic incidence lower than what has been reported in the literature for an asymptomatic population.