General Surgery Patients Research Articles

A RETROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF ANESTHETIC APPROACHES IN PATIENTS AGED 85 AND ABOVE

OBJECTIVE: Due to the changes that occur with aging, the elderly need more medical support. These medical requirements include surgical operations. In our study, we aimed to examine, improve and compare our anesthetic approaches for people aged 85 and above with the current literature. MATERIAL AND METHODS: A total of 242 patients aged 85 years and above underwent surgery between 01.01.2020 and 01.01.2022 were included in this study. The data of the patients including gender, age, comorbidities, types of anesthesia administered during the surgery, duration of surgery, postoperative ward/intensive care unit (ICU) follow-up periods, intraoperative blood product usage and postoperative mortality were retrospectively analyzed in 3 groups according to the types of anesthesia administered: general, spinal and sedation anesthesia. RESULTS: Of the patients, 130 of the patients were female and 112 were male. The mean age was 87.95±2.57 years. 93.8% of patients had comorbidities. 65.3% of the patients were applied general anesthesia, 29.8% spinal anesthesia and 4.9% sedation anesthesia. While 30.6% of the patients were admitted to ICU after surgery, 69.4% of them were admitted to the ward. While 88% of the patients were discharged with recovery, 12% died in the first 1 month. While 86.2% general anesthesia and 13.8% spinal anesthesia were applied in patients with mortality, 62.4% general anesthesia, 5.6% sedation and 31.4% spinal anesthesia were applied in those without mortality (p=0.036). Mortality was mostly observed in general surgery patients, patients admitted to intensive care unit, and ASA III patients. Mortality was observed more in those who used blood products compared to those who did not (p<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: We think that spinal anesthesia should be preferred in appropriate elderly patients and more caution should be exercised in indications for blood product use and postoperative intensive care unit admission.

Enrolling High-Acuity Emergency General Surgery Patients in a Prospective Longitudinal Cohort Study.

Over three million patients are admitted to hospitals annually with high-acuity conditions mandating emergency abdominal or skin/soft-tissue operation. Patients with these high-acuity emergency general surgery (HA-EGS) diseases experience significant morbidity/mortality, yet the quality of life (QOL) impact on survivors is not well studied. Acuity, transfer patterns, and adverse social determinants of health (SDOH) documented in epidemiologic studies are cited reasons for inability to measure patient-reported outcomes (PROs) among HA-EGS survivors. We conducted a feasibility study to understand facilitators and barriers of conducting a prospective study of changes in QOL after surviving HA-EGS. From September 2019 to April 2021, we collected baseline (pre-admission) and 30/60-days post-surgery data on activities of daily living, depression, self-efficacy, resilience, pain, work limitations, social support, and substance use from patients who enrolled during index hospitalization. 100 patients were consented to participate in the study (71.9% enrollment rate). The retention rate was 65.9% for 30-day calls and 53.8% for 60-day calls. Median time to complete each time point remained under 25 minutes. Patients with a longer length of stay and nicotine users didn't complete their 30-day interview while those with systemic complications didn't complete their 60-day interview. These results set the foundation for future PRO studies.

760 Intravenous Maintenance Fluid Prescribing in Nil-by-Mouth Patients in General Surgery: A Closed-Loop Audit

760 Intravenous Maintenance Fluid Prescribing in Nil-by-Mouth Patients in General Surgery: A Closed-Loop Audit

1056 Audit of Compliance with Local Guidelines on Opioid and Laxative Co-Prescribing in General Surgery Patients at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham

1056 Audit of Compliance with Local Guidelines on Opioid and Laxative Co-Prescribing in General Surgery Patients at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham

1034 Adherence to VTE Assessment and Re-Assessment for General Surgery Inpatients

1034 Adherence to VTE Assessment and Re-Assessment for General Surgery Inpatients

329 An Audit into the Prescription of Maintenance IV Fluids for General Surgery Patients

329 An Audit into the Prescription of Maintenance IV Fluids for General Surgery Patients

A prospective study on risk assessment and prophylaxis of venous thromboembolism in general surgery patients.

To evaluate the patients at risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE) based on Caprini VTE risk assessment scale and the effect of implementation of this scale on the use of thromboprophylaxis. A prospective study was conducted, including patients who underwent major elective surgical procedures. Demographic details were noted, and VTE prophylaxis offered if needed. According to the VTE risk assessment scale, patients were categorised into very low-, low-, moderate-, and high-risk categories. The data were analysed statistically. A total of 500 patients (women = 259; men = 241) were enrolled in this study. Of them, eight women and nine men developed VTE (P = 0.691). The maximum number of patients who developed VTE belonged to 61-70 years group (n = 7). According to VTE risk assessment, 61 patients were categorised as low-risk, 217 patients as moderate-risk, and 222 patients were categorised as high-risk. A significant (P < 0.0005) correlation was found between body mass index (BMI) and VTE development. In obese patients with BMI >25, 14 patients developed VTE. Out of total, 329 patients received prophylaxis for deep vein thrombosis. Of 284 patients who received pharmacologic prophylaxis, only three developed VTE (P = 0.002). Of 145 patients who received mechanical prophylaxis, 75 had high risk and none of them developed VTE. Four patients had mortality, and a significant (P = 0.022) correlation was found between mortality and VTE development. According to Caprini risk assessment scale, the prophylaxis for VTE was effective in patients undergoing major elective general surgery, resulting in significant lowering of morbidity and mortality.

Emergency general surgery in older adult patients: Factors associated with fragmented care

BackgroundCare fragmentation has been shown to lead to increased morbidity and mortality. We aimed to explore the factors related to care fragmentation after hospital discharge in geriatric emergency general surgery patients, as well as examine the association between care fragmentation and mortality. MethodsWe designed a retrospective study of the Nationwide Readmissions Database 2019. We included patients ≥65 years old admitted with an emergency general surgery diagnosis who were discharged alive from the index admission. The primary outcome was 90-day care fragmentation, defined as an unplanned readmission to a non-index hospital. Multivariable logistic regression was performed, adjusting for patient and hospital characteristics. ResultsA total of 447,027 older adult emergency general surgery patients were included; the main diagnostic category was colorectal (22.6%), and 78.2% of patients underwent non-operative management during the index hospitalization. By 90 days post-discharge, 189,622 (24.3%) patients had an unplanned readmission. Of those readmitted, 20.8% had care fragmentation. The median age of patients with care fragmentation was 76 years, and 53.2% were of female sex. Predictors of care fragmentation were living in rural counties (odds ratio 1.76, 95% confidence interval: 1.57–1.97), living in a low-income ZIP Code, discharge to intermediate care facility (odds ratio 1.28, 95% confidence interval: 1.22–1.33), initial non-operative management (odds ratio 1.17, 95% confidence interval: 1.12–1.23), leaving against medical advice (odds ratio 2.60, 95% confidence interval: 2.29–2.96), and discharge from private investor-owned hospitals (odds ratio 1.18, 95% confidence interval: 1.10–1.27). Care fragmentation was significantly associated with higher mortality. ConclusionThe burden of unplanned readmissions in older adult patients who survive an emergency general surgery admission is underestimated, and these patients frequently experience care fragmentation. Future directions should prioritize evaluating the impact of initiatives aimed at alleviating the incidence and complications of care fragmentation in geriatric emergency general surgery patients.

Association between Complications and Death within 30 days after General Surgery

Objective: To determine the epidemiology of post-operative complications among general surgery patients, inform their relationships with 30-day mortality, and determine the attributable fraction of death of each postoperative complication. Background: The contemporary causes of post-operative mortality among general surgery patients are not well characterized. Methods: VISION is a prospective cohort study of adult non-cardiac surgery patients across 28 centres in 14 countries, who were followed for 30 days after surgery. For the subset of general surgery patients, a cox proportional hazards model was used to determine associations between various surgical complications and post-operative mortality. The analyses were adjusted for preoperative and surgical variables. Results were reported in adjusted hazard ratios (HR) with 95% confidence intervals (CI). Results: Among 7950 patients included in the study, 240 (3.0%) patients died within 30 days of surgery. Five post-operative complications (myocardial injury after non-cardiac surgery [MINS], major bleeding, sepsis, stroke, and acute kidney injury resulting in dialysis) were independently associated with death. Complications associated with the largest attributable fraction (AF) of post-operative mortality (i.e., percentage of deaths in the cohort that can be attributed to each complication, if causality were established) were major bleeding (n=1454, 18.3%, HR 2.49 95%CI 1.87-3.33, P&lt;0.001, AF 21.2%), sepsis (n=783, 9.9%, HR 6.52, 95%CI 4.72-9.01, P&lt;0.001, AF 15.6%), and MINS (n=980, 12.3%, HR 2.00, 95%CI 1.50-2.67, P&lt;0.001, AF 14.4%). Conclusion: The complications most associated with 30-day mortality following general surgery are major bleeding, sepsis, and MINS. These findings may guide the development of mitigating strategies, including prophylaxis for perioperative bleeding.

Economic impact of outpatient follow-up using telemedicine vs in-person visits for patients in general surgery: A secondary analysis of a randomized clinical trial

IntroductionInnovation in internet connectivity and the Covid 19 pandemic have caused a dramatic change in the management of patients in the medical field, boosting the use of telemedicine. A comparison of clinical outcomes and satisfaction between conventional face-to-face and telemedicine follow-up in general surgery, an economic evaluation is mandatory.The aim of the present study was to compare the differences in economic costs between these two outpatient approaches in a designed randomized controlled trial (RCT). MethodsA RCT was conducted enrolling 200 patients to compare conventional in-person vs. digital health follow-up using telemedicine in the outpatient clinics in patients of General Surgery Department after their planned discharge. After a demonstration that no differences were found in clinical outcomes and patient satisfaction, we analyzed the medical costs, including staff wages, initial investment, patent’s transportation and impact on social costs. ResultsAfter an initial investment of 7527.53€, the costs for the Medical institution of in-person conventional follow-up were higher (8180.4€) than those using telemedicine (4630.06€). In relation to social costs, loss of productivity was also increased in the conventional follow-up. ConclusionThe use of digital Health telemedicine is a cost-effective approach compared to conventional face-to-face follow-up in patients of General Surgery after hospital discharge.

Lost in transition: Impact of interhospital transfer on outcomes after emergency general surgery in the older adult population

BackgroundEmergency general surgery performed among patients over 65 years of age represents a particularly high-risk population. Although interhospital transfer has been linked to higher mortality in emergency general surgery patients, its impact on outcomes in the geriatric population remains uncertain. We aimed to establish the effect of interhospital transfer on postoperative outcomes in geriatric emergency general surgery patients. MethodsEmergency general surgery patients 65 years and older were identified with American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program 2013 to 2019. Patients were categorized based on admission source as either directly admitted or transferred from an outside hospital inpatient unit or emergency department. The primary outcomes evaluated were in-hospital mortality, 30-day mortality, and overall morbidity. Propensity score matching was used to control for confounders, including age, race, comorbidities, and preoperative conditions. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis and the log-rank test were used to compare 30-day survival in the matched cohort. ResultsAmong the 88,424 patients identified, 13,872 (15.7%) were transfer patients. The median age was 74, and 53% were of female sex. Transfer patients had higher rates of comorbidities and preoperative conditions, including a higher prevalence of preoperative sepsis (21.8% vs 19.3%, P < .001) and ventilator dependence (6.4% vs 2.6%, P < .001). After propensity score-matched analysis, transferred patients exhibited higher rates of in-hospital mortality, 30-day mortality, and overall morbidity. Transfer patients were also less likely to be discharged home and more likely to be discharged to an acute care facility. Kaplan-Meier survival analysis confirmed a poorer 30-day survival in transferred patients. ConclusionInterhospital transfer independently contributed to overall mortality and morbidity amongst geriatric emergency general surgery patients. Further investigation into improved coordination between hospitals, tailored care plans, and comprehensive risk assessments are needed to help mitigate the observed differences in outcomes.

Vertical Mesh-Mediated Fascial Traction and Negative Pressure Wound Therapy: A Case Series of Nine Patients in General and Vascular Surgery.

Two patients in a vascular surgery unit and seven patients in an abdominal surgery unit with an OA were treated with VMMFT in combination with NPWT between September 2019 and June 2023. A DFC was achieved in seven of nine cases. The mean duration of OA was 9.6 ± 3.8 days, and fascial dehiscence at the beginning of OA was 14.2 ± 4.0 cm on average. Time to DFC after VMMFT was established was 6.2 ± 3.5 days (mean). No method-related complications occurred. The standardized combination of VMMFT and NPWT gave positive results in achieving DFC in our heterogenic patient group. Following a strict treatment pathway as shown here seems to improve OA outcome. It represents a promising further development of mesh-mediated fascial traction for OA treatment.

Predicting Mortality Prior to Interhospital Hospital for "Unseen" General Surgery Patients: Development, Validation and Feasibility Trial of a Mortality Risk Calculator.

Develop and validate a mortality risk calculator that could be utilized at the time of transfer, leveraging routinely collected variables that could be obtained by trained non-clinical transfer personnel. There are no objective tools to predict mortality at the time of inter-hospital transfer for Emergency General Surgery (EGS) patients that are "unseen" by the accepting system. Patients transferred to general or colorectal surgery services from January 2016 through August 2022 were retrospectively identified and randomly divided into training and validation cohorts (3:1 ratio). The primary outcome was admission-related mortality, defined as death during the index admission or within 30 days post-discharge. Multiple predictive models were developed and validated. Among 4,664 transferred patients, 280 (6.0%) experienced mortality. Predictive models were generated utilizing 19 routinely collected variables; the penalized regression model was selected over other models due to excellent performance using only 12 variables. The model performance on the validating set resulted in an area under the receiver operating characteristic curve, sensitivity, specificity, and balanced accuracy of 0.851, 0.90, 0.67, and 0.79, respectively. After bias correction, Brier score was 0.04, indicating a strong association between the assigned risk and the observed frequency of mortality. A risk calculator using twelve variables has excellent predictive ability for mortality at the time of interhospital transfer among "unseen" EGS patients. Quantifying a patient's mortality risk at the time of transfer could improve patient triage, bed and resource allocation, and standardize care.

Prospective derivation and validation of a NECROtizing Soft tissue InfectionS (NECROSIS) score: An EAST multicenter trial.

Although several risk indices have been developed to aid in the diagnosis of NSTIs, these instruments suffer from varying levels of reproducibility and failure to incorporate key clinical variables in model development. The objective of this study was to derive and validate a clinical risk index score - NECROSIS - for identifying NSTIs in emergency general surgery (EGS) patients being evaluated for severe skin and soft tissue infections. We performed a prospective study across 16 sites in the US of adult EGS patients with suspected NSTIs over a 30-month period. Variables analyzed included demographics, admission vitals and labs, physical exam, radiographic, and operative findings. The main outcome measure was the presence of NSTI diagnosed clinically at the time of surgery. Multivariate analysis was performed to identify independent predictors for the presence of NSTI using the Hosmer-Lemeshow test and the Akaike information criteria. Of 362 patients, 297 (82%) were diagnosed with a NSTI. Overall mortality was 12.3%. Multivariate analysis identified 3 independent predictors for NSTI: systolic blood pressure ≤ 120 mmHg, violaceous skin, and WBC ≥15 (x103/uL). Multivariate modelling demonstrated Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness of fit (p = 0.9) with a c-statistic for the prediction curve of 0.75. Test characteristics of the NECROSIS score were similar between the derivation and validation cohorts. NECROSIS is a simple and potentially useful clinical index score for identifying at-risk EGS patients with NSTIs. Future validation studies are warranted. Diagnostic Tests or Criteria, Level III.

The language of palliative surgery: A scoping review

BackgroundDespite an identified need for palliative surgery to have a clear definition and well-defined therapeutic goals, comprehensive assessment of utilization of the term palliative has not been performed in the surgical literature. The objective of this scoping review is to characterize use of the word palliative in reference to surgery performed for adult general surgery patients. MethodsFour electronic databases were searched for peer-reviewed articles published from January 2000 to April 2023. Two independent reviewers extracted data and conducted a qualitative thematic synthesis of included studies. Representative analytic themes were generated and agreed upon by all authors. Results6906 studies were identified and 222 met inclusion criteria. 96.4% of studies were performed in oncology patient populations. Thematic synthesis revealed two domains: the language of palliative surgery and the evaluation of palliative surgery, each with associated themes. There was wide variability in the use and meaning of the term palliative. Many researchers reported survival as the sole outcome measure and very few studies utilized a validated instrument to quantify post-operative outcomes related to palliation. There was often a misalignment between the patient population, study objectives, study design, and conclusions drawn. ConclusionsDisparate definitions of palliative surgery and poor study design compromise the validity of studies investigating palliative-intent surgery. Patient-reported and patient-centered outcomes are not routinely measured and lead to unwarranted conclusions. Consistent and accurate use of medical terminology, in addition to proper study design, is required to inform surgeons who counsel patients and families regarding the potential benefits of palliative-intent surgical interventions.

Comparison of Hemodynamic Effect of Propofol and Ketofol during Induction of Anaesthesia in General Surgery Patients

Objective: To determine the comparison of homodynamic effect of propofol and ketofol duringinduction in general surgery patients.Study design: Randomized control trialSetting: Department of Anesthesia, Surgical ICU and Pain management, Civil Hospital Karachi.Duration: Seven months from June 2019 to January 2020.Methods: Patients scheduled for elective general surgery procedures, aged 20 to 60 years, bothmale and female patients were included. Patients were randomly allocated into two groups.Group A received a combination of ketofol while Group B received propofol as the inductionagent. After recording of the base line values of mean arterial pressure patient was induced usingpropofol or ketofol. Mean arterial pressure readings were noted at 30 seconds after druginjection, as well as at 1 minute, 5 minutes, and 10 minutes after intubation, to capture theimmediate hemodynamic effects of the drugs and to observe any potential changes over timefollowing intubation.Results: The average age of the patients was 37.38±13.78 years. Out of 64 patients, 30(46.9%)were male and 34(53.1%) were female. Homodynamic effect was significantly high in thosepatients who received ketofol than those who received propofol (100% vs. 59.4% p=0.0005).The findings observed also with significant differences in hemodynamic effects between the twogroups, even after controlling for age, gender, and ASA classification (p-&amp;lt;0.05).Conclusion: Combination of Ketofol with ketofol was observed to be the betterhemodynamically as compared to Propofol. Additionally, the use of ketofol reduces the cost ofinduction and decreasing the economic burden on the patient.

Sustained success of a Caprini postoperative venous thromboembolism prevention protocol over one decade

BackgroundThe objective of this study was to review the long-term efficacy of a post-operative venous thromboembolism (VTE) prevention program at our institution. MethodsWe performed a review of the American College of Surgeons National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (ACS NSQIP) data at our hospital from January 2008–December 2022. The primary outcome was risk-adjusted VTE events. ResultsIn 2009, a postoperative general surgery patient was three times more likely to have a postoperative VTE event than predicted (O/E ratio 3.02, 95% CI 1.99–4.40). After implementing a mandatory VTE risk assessment model and a risk-commensurate prophylaxis protocol in the electronic medical record in 2011, the odds ratio of a patient developing a postoperative VTE declined to 0.70 by 2014 (95% CI 0.40–1.23). This success persisted through 2022. ConclusionsSince the implementation of a standardized postoperative VTE prevention program in 2011, our institution has sustained a desirably low likelihood of VTE events in general surgery patients.

General Surgery Resuscitation Preference Documentation: A Quality Improvement Initiative.

Documentation of resuscitation preferences is crucial for patients undergoing surgery. Unfortunately, this remains an area for improvement at many institutions. We conducted a quality improvement initiative to enhance documentation percentages by integrating perioperative resuscitation checks into the surgical workflow. Specifically, we aimed to increase the percentage of general surgery patients with documented resuscitation statuses from 82% to 90% within a 1-year period. Three key change ideas were developed. First, surgical consent forms were modified to include the patient's resuscitation status. Second, the resuscitation status was added to the routinely used perioperative surgical checklist. Finally, patient resources on resuscitation processes and options were updated with support from patient partners. An audit survey was distributed mid-way through the interventions to evaluate process measures. The initiatives were successful in reaching our study aim of 90% documentation rate for all general surgery patients. The audit revealed a high uptake of the new consent forms, moderate use of the surgical checklist, and only a few patients for whom additional resuscitation details were added to their clinical note. We successfully increased the documentation percentage of resuscitation statuses within our large tertiary care center by incorporating checks into routine forms to prompt the conversation with patients early.

Demystifying the association of center-level operative trauma volume and outcomes of emergency general surgery

BackgroundRecent studies have demonstrated a positive volume-outcome relationship in emergency general surgery. Some have advocated for the sub-specialization of emergency general surgery independent from trauma. We hypothesized inferior clinical outcomes of emergency general surgery with increasing center-level operative trauma volume, potentially attributable to overall hospital quality. MethodsAdults (≥18 years) undergoing complex emergency general surgery operations (large and small bowel resection, repair of perforated peptic ulcer, lysis of adhesions, laparotomy) were identified in the 2016 to 2020 Nationwide Readmissions Database. Multivariable risk-adjusted models were developed to evaluate the association of treatment at a high-volume trauma center (reference: low-volume trauma center) with clinical and financial outcomes after emergency general surgery. To evaluate hospital quality, mortality among adult hospitalizations for acute myocardial infarction was assessed by hospital trauma volume. ResultsOf an estimated 785,793 patients undergoing a complex emergency general surgery operation, 223,116 (28.4%) were treated at a high-volume trauma center. Treatment at a high-volume trauma center was linked to 1.19 odds of in-hospital mortality (95% confidence interval 1.12–1.27). Although emergency general surgery volume was associated with decreasing predicted risk of mortality, increasing trauma volume was linked to an incremental rise in the odds of mortality after emergency general surgery. Secondary analysis revealed increased mortality for admissions for acute myocardial infarction with greater trauma volume. ConclusionWe note increased mortality for emergency general surgery and acute myocardial infarction in patients receiving treatment at high-volume trauma centers, signifying underlying structural factors to broadly affect quality. Thus, decoupling trauma and emergency general surgery services may not meaningfully improve outcomes for emergency general surgery patients. Our findings have implications for the evolving specialty of emergency general surgery, especially for the safety and continued growth of the acute care surgery model.

The Effect of Obesity on Surgical Outcomes in General Surgery Patients: A Systematic Review of 1,680,694 patients

The study examined the impact of obesity on general surgery patients, analyzing eleven studies with 1,680,694 patients. Results showed that obesity increases postoperative wound infection risk, blood loss, and recovery times. However, prospective studies found no increase in surgical complications or hospitalization expenses. Obesity may protect against venous thromboembolism and death, but post-operative complications in obese patients undergoing general surgical procedures remain controversial due to metabolic, pharmacologic, and systemic illnesses. Obesity increases surgical duration and SSIs, potentially increasing immediate complications.