The way that bad news is disclosed to a cancer patient has a crucial impact on physician-patient cooperation and trust. Consensus-based guidelines provide widely accepted tools for disclosing unfavorable information. In oncology, the most popular one is called the SPIKES protocol. A 17-question survey was administered to a group of 226 patients with cancer (mean age 59.6 years) in order to determine a level of SPIKES implementation during first cancer disclosure. In our assessment, the patients felt that the highest compliance with the SPIKES protocol was with Setting up (70.6%), Knowledge (72.8%), and Emotions (75.3%). The lowest was with the Perception (27.7%), Invitation (30.4%), and Strategy & Summary (56.9%) parts. There could be improvement with each aspect of the protocol, but especially in Perception, Invitation, and Strategy & Summary. The latter is really important and must be done better. Older patients felt the doctors' language was more comprehensible (r = 0.17; p = 0.011). Patients' satisfaction of their knowledge about the disease and follow-up, regarded as an endpoint, was insufficient. Privacy was important in improving results (p < 0.01). In practice, the SPIKES protocol is implemented in a satisfactory standard, but it can be improved in each area, especially in Perception, Invitation, and Summary. It is suggested that more training should be done in undergraduate and graduate medical education and the effectiveness of the disclosure continue to be evaluated and improved.

Objective: To assess the type and frequency of early postoperative complications in patients after open surgical infrarenal aneurysms repair and determination of their risk factors.

Background: Upper gastrointestinal bleeding is a common clinical problem and one of the main reasons for emergency hospitalization. It is associated with an overall mortality rate of 2% to 13%, despite advances in medical therapy. First-choice management is conservative treatment with endoscopic hemostasis. Aim of the study: The aim of the study was to examine the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding with a focus on the course of hospitalization based on the etiology Material and methods: A retrospective study was conducted in the Department of Surgery at the 4th Military Teaching Hospital in the years 2011–2016, comprising a total of 200 hospitalizations. 150 (75%) of the study group were men, and the mean age was 63.6±15.8 years. Results: Patients most frequently presented with melena (n=105; 53.1%) and hematemesis (n=79; 40%) or coffee ground vomiting (n=57; 28.7%). . 138 (69%) of hemorrhages were managed with endoscopic hemostasis, and in 43 (21.5%) of cases conservative treatment was adequate. In 12 (6%) of cases, laparotomy was the first-choice therapy and in 7 (3.5%) cases, surgery was performed after an attempt at endoscopic treatment had failed. The sources of bleeding were: gastric ulcer – 58 (29%), duodenal ulcer – 48 (24%), esophageal varices – 31 (15.5%), gastric tumor – 15 (7.5%), Mallory-Weiss syndrome – 10 (5%), and Dieulafoy’s lesion – 3 (1.5%). 16 (8%) of the hospitalizations were fatal. Conclusions: Upper gastrointestinal bleeding still has a high mortality rate (8%). It more frequently affects men and the elderly. Gastric and duodenal ulcers are the most common etiologies of bleeding. Esophageal varices and neoplasms are also a significant source of bleeding. Despite the progress in the pharmacological treatment of peptic ulcers, the complications resulting from gastrointestinal bleeding continue to be a serious clinical problem.