Small bowel obstruction (SBO) accounts for 12–16% of emergency surgical admissions and 20% of emergency surgical procedures. Even with the advent of laparoscopic surgery, intra‐abdominal adhesions remain a significant cause of SBO, accounting for 65% of cases. History and physical examination are essential to identify signs of bowel ischemia as this indicates a need for urgent surgical exploration. Another critical aspect of evaluation includes establishing the underlying cause for obstruction and distinguishing between adhesive and non‐adhesive etiologies as adhesive SBO (ASBO) can be managed non‐operatively in 70–90% of patients. A patient with a history of abdominopelvic surgery along with one or more cardinal features of obstruction should be suspected to have ASBO until proven otherwise. Triad of severe pain, pain out of proportion to the clinical findings, and presence of an abdominal scar suggest possible closed‐loop obstruction. Computed tomography has higher sensitivity and specificity compared to plain films and is recommended by the Bologna guidelines. Correcting fluid and electrolyte imbalance is an initial crucial step to mitigate severe hypovolemia. Patients should proceed with surgery if symptoms of bowel compromise are present, or if symptoms do not resolve or have worsened. Surgery is indicated in patients with ischemia, strangulation, perforation, peritonitis, or failure of non‐operative treatment. With advances in minimal access technology and increasing experience, laparoscopic adhesiolysis is recommended. Mechanical adhesion barriers are an effective measure to prevent adhesion formation.
BackgroundEarly mobilisation reduces postoperative complications such as pneumonia, deep vein thrombosis and hospital length of stay. Many authors have reported poor compliance with early mobilisation within Enhanced Recovery After Surgery initiatives.ObjectivesThe primary objective was to increase postoperative day (POD) 2 mobilisation rate from 23% to 75% in patients undergoing elective major hepatopancreatobiliary (HPB) surgery within 6 months.MethodsWe report a multidisciplinary team clinical practice improvement project (CPIP) to improve postoperative mobilisation of patients undergoing elective major HPB surgery. We identified the common barriers to mobilisation and analysed using the fishbone or cause-and-effect diagram and Pareto chart. A series of Plan–Do–Study–Act cycles followed this. We tracked the rate of early mobilisation and mean distance walked. In the post hoc analysis, we examined the potential cost savings based on reduced hospital length of stay.ResultsMobilisation rate on POD 2 following elective major HPB surgery improved from 23% to 78.9%, and this sustained at 6 months after the CPIP. Wound pain was the most common reason for failure to ambulate on POD 2. Hospital length of stay reduced from a median of 8 days to 6 days with an estimated cost saving of S$2228 per hospital stay.ConclusionMultidisciplinary quality improvement intervention effort resulted in an improved POD 2 mobilisation rate for patients who underwent elective major HPB surgery. This observed outcome was sustained at 6 months after completion of the CPIP with potential cost savings.
BackgroundThe obesity epidemic continues to increase around the world with its attendant complications of metabolic syndrome and increased risk of malignancies (1), including pancreatic malignancy (2,3). The Roux-en-Y gastric bypass (RYGB) effectively treats obesity and its associated morbidities including metabolic syndrome (4). RYGB creates a gastric pouch with alimentary limb, as well as a biliopancreatic (BP) limb that joins the alimentary limb to form a common channel. Thus, it has both restrictive and mal-absorptive components. Patients with a mass in the head of pancreas are recommended pancreaticoduodenectomy (PD) for suspected malignancy (5). As bariatric surgery is increasingly adopted in recent years (6), more reports of PD following RYGB are published. Post-surgical adhesions and altered anatomy following RYGB poses not only a diagnostic challenge by making endoscopy difficult, but also unique challenge of reconstruction following PD. There are many different techniques of reconstruction proposed. Here we describe a patient where the remnant BP limb was used for a venting anterior gastrojejunostomy. The pancreaticojejunostomy and hepaticojejunostomy was created with a new loop of jejunum and a new distal jejunojejunostomy was performed. MethodsA 59-year-old male presented with painless obstructive jaundice of one week's duration. He had a history of RYGB
Background Helicobacter pylori (HP) infection is endemic and causes peptic ulcer disease and gastric cancer. There is a lack of data related to awareness of the general public about HP and associated health risks. The objective of this study was to investigate the awareness and public perceptions about HP and the attitudes towards screening. Methods This cross‐sectional study included a structured 19‐item questionnaire targeting members of the general public at a restructured acute hospital in Singapore. Results Out of 504 participants, 152 (30.2%) were aware of HP. Higher education was associated with HP awareness (p < 0.001, OR 7.4, 95% CI 1.6–32.6). A third, 175 (34.7%) of the respondents identified the stomach as the primary site of infection. 131 (26.0%) respondents identified the fecal‐oral route as a mode of transmission. 178 (35.3%) respondents were aware of available screening modalities, with around half of them willing to be screened with blood (n = 256, 50.8%) or breath tests (n = 265, 52.6%). 430 (85.3%) participants were keen to learn more about HP, and this was associated with age (p < 0.05, OR 3.9, 95% CI 2.1–7.1). Conclusion Awareness about HP infection is low, and acceptance of screening tests is high. Educational efforts are needed to improve awareness.
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