Evidence before this study: Acute appendicitis is the most common general surgical emergency in children. Its diagnosis remains challenging and children presenting with acute right iliac fossa (RIF) pain may be admitted for clinical observation or undergo normal appendicectomy (removal of a histologically normal appendix). A search for external validation studies of risk prediction models for acute appendicitis in children was performed on MEDLINE and Web of Science on 12 January 2017 using the search terms ["appendicitis" OR "appendectomy" OR "appendicectomy"] AND ["score" OR "model" OR "nomogram" OR "scoring"]. Studies validating prediction models aimed at differentiating acute appendicitis from all other causes of RIF pain were included. No date restrictions were applied. Validation studies were most commonly performed for the Alvarado, Appendicitis Inflammatory Response Score (AIRS), and Paediatric Appendicitis Score (PAS) models. Most validation studies were based on retrospective, single centre, or small cohorts, and findings regarding model performance were inconsistent. There was no high quality evidence to guide selection of the optimum model and threshold cutoff for identification of low-risk children in the UK and Ireland. Added value of this study: Most children admitted to hospital with RIF pain do not undergo surgery. When children do undergo appendicectomy, removal of a normal appendix (normal appendicectomy) is common, occurring in around 1 in 6 children. The Shera score is able to identify a large low-risk group of children who present with acute RIF pain but do not have acute appendicitis (specificity 44%). This low-risk group has an overall 1 in 30 risk of acute appendicitis and a 1 in 270 risk of perforated appendicitis. The Shera score is unable to achieve a sufficiently high positive predictive value to select a high-risk group who should proceed directly to surgery. Current diagnostic performance of ultrasound is also too poor to select children for surgery. Implications of all the available evidence: Routine pre-operative risk scoring could inform shared decision making by doctors, children, and parents by supporting safe selection of lowrisk patients for ambulatory management, reducing unnecessary admissions and normal appendicectomy. Hospitals should ensure seven-day-a-week availability of ultrasound for medium and high-risk patients. Ultrasound should be performed by operators trained to assess for acute appendicitis in children. For children in whom diagnostic uncertainty remains following ultrasound, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) or low-dose computed tomography (CT) are second-line investigations.
INTRODUCTIONThyroidectomies are one of the most common elective surgical procedures worldwide.1 Unlike other surgical interventions, where the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting is less than 30%, after thyroidectomy the incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV) is 70% to 80% when no prophylactic antiemetic therapy is given.2-5 PONV is not only uncomfortable for the patient but repeated or vigorous vomiting can lead to postoperative bleeding with subsequent airway obstruction and potential reparative surgery. 6 The importance of avoiding PONV events was substantiated by the work of Apfel et al who found in preoperative interviews that patients were more afraid of PONV than postoperative pain. 7The exact mechanism of thyroidectomy-related nausea and vomiting is not clearly understood. It is assumed that significant edema and inflammation around the neck tissues may persistently evoke parasympathetic impulses through the vagus, recurrent laryngeal, and ABSTRACT Background: On thyroidectomy, incidence of postoperative nausea and vomiting, severe pain with local inflammation and voice impairment was very common. These effects can be manipulated by the use of steroids. Hence the present study, was conducted with the objective to evaluate the effects of a single preoperative dose of dexamethasone on thyroidectomy in terms of postoperative nausea and vomiting (PONV), pain and voice improvement. Methods: The present study was conducted between October 2010 and March 2011 at the Department of General Surgery, Government Medical College, Kottayam, Kerala, India. A total of 72 patients were included in the study after meeting requirements of inclusion criteria. They were divided into two groups. 37 were under Group C and received normal saline and remaining 35 served as Group D and received 8 mg/2 mL of dexamethasone preoperatively. Post-operative incidences of nausea and vomiting, pain scores, and the improvement of vocal function were compared in both groups. Results: Out of 72 patients, most of the patients participated were under the age group of 40-50 years (30.6%). Of them 9 were males and 63 were females. The incidence and severity of PONV and pain was significantly reduced in Group D compared to Group C with P values of 0.001 and 0.056 respectively. Significant protection of dexamethasone towards vocal function was not observed in the study (p =0.245). Conclusions: From the results obtained in the study, it was concluded that preoperative single dose administration of dexamethasone seemed to be safe in healthy patients undergoing thyroidectomy.
Urinary retention is commonly diagnosed based on history and examination along with bedside bladder scan. However, in patients where clinical examination is unreliable (patients with obesity, anasarca, and ascites) and diagnosis is uncertain, the bladder scan findings should be interpreted with caution and definitive imaging is mandatory before further intervention is instituted.
Introduction Controlling bleeding without disturbing the anatomy and function of the structures in the prostate bed remains a significant challenge during radical prostatectomy (RP). Materials and methods Five grams of powdered microporous polysaccharide haemospheres (MPH) was applied to the prostate bed at the end of robot-assisted RP in 422 consecutive patients. Continence was defined as no pads and potency as the ability to have penetrative sex with or without PDE5 inhibitors in previously potent, non-diabetic men aged <70 years following bilateral intra- or inter-fascial neurovascular bundle (NVB) preservation. Results In total, 95.3% of patients had nerve preservation and the mean operating time and blood loss were 142 minutes and 200ml, respectively. There were no intraoperative complications, and the postoperative transfusion rate was 0.2%. The mean hospital stay was 1.7 nights, and duration of catheterisation was 12 days. Final pathology demonstrated a mean prostate weight of 40.0g and 14.5% replacement by cancer, most commonly Gleason 7. The positive surgical margin rate for pT2 tumours was 10.0%. Biochemical recurrence was 2.1% at a mean follow-up of 18.0 months. Continence and potency rates at 4 weeks and 1 year after surgery were 76.4% and 97.7% and 27.8% and 78.1%, respectively. The trifecta and pentafecta rates 1 year after surgery were 53.1% and 45.8%. Discussion and conclusion Powdered MPH applied to the prostate bed at the end of robot-assisted RP appears to be a safe, easily applied and useful adjunct to conventional haemostasis. The suggestion that it might also improve the functional outcomes of RP merits further investigation in the context of a randomised trial.
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