Introduction: COVID-19 pandemic placed unprecedented strain on hospital resources and manpower. This study assesses the impact of Malaysia’s nationwide lockdown on the incidence, types, severity, and outcomes of emergency general surgery (EGS) cases at a tertiary care hospital. Methods: This retrospective cohort study analysed the data of patients who underwent EGS procedures for the period 2017 and 2021. Results: During the pandemic period, there was a 48.3% reduction in EGS cases (n=889) compared to the pre-pandemic period (n=1720). Significant reductions were observed in surgeries for appendicitis, soft tissue infection, colorectal, urology, peptic ulcer, and vascular disorders in the COVID period. Conversely, procedures for biliary disorders and hernia complications increased by 7.4% and 5.5%, respectively. Length of hospital stay increased by 57.8% for patients with small bowel disorders, while ICU/HDU admissions rose by 43.5% for colorectal cases (P < 0.05). There was no significant difference in mortality rates between the two periods. Conclusions The overall reduction in EGS procedures during the COVID-19 period was consistent with global trends. Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic, the outcomes related to duration of stay, ICU/HDU utilisation, and mortality remained comparable to the pre-pandemic period. These findings highlight the adaptability of healthcare professionals in maintaining continuity and quality of emergency surgical care during a crisis.
Acute Care Surgery ; COVID-19 ; Pandemics

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES

Hepatobiliarypancreatic tuberculosis (HBPTB) is a less common form of tuberculosis that often presents as malignancy or lithiasis. Advances in diagnostics and minimally invasive procedures have led to the detection of more patients with milder forms of TB requiring surgical management. Due to the low incidence rates and lack of standardized approaches, additional studies are needed to improve patient outcomes. This study examined the risk factors, diagnostic methods, and treatments for HBPTB patients at the University of the Philippines – Philippine General Hospital (UP-PGH) from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2021.

METHODS

This retrospective descriptive study utilized our institutional database to identify patients who underwent a surgical procedure for HBPTB and their associated risk factors. Inclusion criteria required biopsy or microbiologic proof of tuberculous involvement of the biliary tract or nearby structures.

RESULTS

Among a total of 45 patients, the most common admitting diagnosis were HBP tuberculosis (37.8%) and malignancy (35.6%). 47.6% of patients had a previous or concurrent TB exposure. Sixty percent had subclinical malnutrition indicated by normal weight and low albumin. The liver (37.8%) and the bile ducts (33.3%) were the most common organs involved. The most common surgical procedures done were ultrasound-guided liver biopsy, biliary enteric anastomosis, percutaneous transhepatic biliary drainage (PTBD), and endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography with or without stenting (ERCP).

CONCLUSIONS

This study provides additional data for clinicians to tailor diagnostic and treatment plans accordingly. Striking a balance between surgical procedures and appropriate anti-tuberculous therapy (ATT) is essential for successful treatment. Local data can be useful to help identify tuberculosis patterns unique to Filipinos and highlight socio-economic factors contributing to this rare presentation of TB.

Human ; Tuberculosis, Extrapulmonary ; Biliary Tract Diseases ; General Surgery ; Acute Care Surgery ; Liver Diseases ; Pancreas

BACKGROUND: Acute renal failure is one of the leading causes of postoperative morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this study was to determine the risk factors that are associated with acute renal failure after colorectal surgery. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Five hundred seventy patients who operated colorectal surgery at the Yeungnam University Medical Center over three years from 2004 to 2006 were enrolled in this study. The effects of gender, age, ASA classification, concomitant disease, surgery type and duration, reoperation, urogenital manipulation, medication, hypotension, hypovolemia, transfusion, and postoperative ventilatory care on the occurrence of acute renal failure after colorectal surgery were studied. RESULTS: The major risk factors of acute renal failure after colorectal surgery were age of patients (P=0.003), ASA classification (P<0.001), concomitant disease (P<0.001), duration of the time surgery (P=0.034), reoperation (P=0.001), use of intraoperative diuretics (P=0.005), use of postoperative diuretics (P<0.001), intraoperative hypotension (P=0.018), intraoperative transfusion (P<0.001), postoperative transfusion (P<0.001), and postoperative ventilatory care (P=0.001). CONCLUSION: Multiple factors cause synergistic effects on the development of acute renal failure after colorectal surgery. Therefore, efforts to reduce the risk factors associated with acute renal failure are needed. In addition, intensive postoperative care should be provided to all patients.
Academic Medical Centers ; Acute Kidney Injury* ; Classification ; Colorectal Surgery* ; Diuretics ; Humans ; Hypotension ; Hypovolemia ; Mortality ; Postoperative Care ; Reoperation ; Risk Factors*

INTRODUCTIONLaparoscopic cholecystectomy for acute cholecystitis is associated with higher rate of conversion to laparotomy. The value of several factors that might influence the rate of conversion is analysed.

MATERIALS AND METHODSIn a retrospective analysis of a prospective database, the medical records of patients who underwent laparoscopic cholecystectomy from May 1998 to June 2004 were reviewed. Patients who had acute cholecystitis and had undergone interval laparoscopic cholecystectomy were included in this study.

RESULTSOut of 1000 laparoscopic cholecystectomies, 201 were operated on for acute cholecystitis. One hundred and forty-five patients (72.3%) underwent successful laparoscopic cholecystectomy and 56 patients (27.7%) needed conversion to open cholecystectomy. Patient's age (P = 0.031), total white cell count (P = 0.014), total bilirubin (P = 0.002), alkaline phosphatase (P = 0.003) and presence of common bile duct stone (P = 0.001) were found to be independently associated with conversion.

CONCLUSIONLaparoscopic cholecystectomy can be performed safely for acute cholecystitis. Predictors of conversion will be helpful when planning the laparoscopic approach and for counselling patients preoperatively.

Adult ; Cholecystectomy, Laparoscopic ; adverse effects ; utilization ; Cholecystitis, Acute ; epidemiology ; surgery ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Outcome Assessment (Health Care) ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Singapore

BACKGROUND: Distinguishing those patients with fulminant hepatic failure (FHF) and who require transplantation from those FHF patients who will survive with receiving only intensive medical care remains problematic, and this distinction is important because of the chronic shortage of donor livers. METHODS: To assess the applicability of two prognostic scoring systems, referred to as the London and Clichy criteria, we compared using both systems, at the time of admission, for 43 FHF patients (15 M/28 F; age: 3716 yrs). Acetaminophen (ACM) was the etiology for 16 patients, while the remaining 27 had other etiologies. All the patients received intensive care, and 18 (8 ACM/10 non-ACM) had investigational BAL support. RESULTS: For the ACM toxicity, neither the London nor the Clichy criteria exhibited acceptable sensitivity (71 vs 86%, respectively), specificity (78 vs 56%, respectively), a positive predictive value (71 vs 60%, respectively), a negative predictive value (78 vs 83%, respectively) or predictive accuracy (75 vs 69%, respectively) to predict patient survival without transplantation. In contrast, applying the London and Clichy criteria to the FHF patients with non-ACM etiologies showed a sensitivity of 96 vs 80%, respectively, a specificity of 100 vs 100%, respectively, a positive predictive value of 100 vs 100%,, respectively a negative predictive value of 67 vs 29%, respectively and a predictive accuracy of 96% vs 82%, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, the London criteria more accurately predicted the need for transplantation, and neither the London criteria nor the Clichy prognostic criteria accurately predicted the outcome of those patients who suffered with FHF due to ACM. BAL support may have contributed to the survival of the patients with ACM toxicity and who didn't undergo transplantation, and this survival exceeded the predictions of both prognostic systems. Additional multicenter studies should be conducted to refine these prognostic scoring systems, and this will help physicians rapidly identify those FHF patients who can survive without undergoing liver transplantation.
Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Child ; Female ; Humans ; Liver Failure, Acute/*diagnosis/mortality/surgery ; *Liver Transplantation ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Outcome Assessment (Health Care) ; Prognosis ; Risk Assessment ; Sensitivity and Specificity ; *Severity of Illness Index ; *Survival Analysis

PURPOSE: Acute aortic diseases, such as aortic dissection and aortic aneurysm, can be life-threatening vascular conditions. In this study, we compared outcomes before and after the implementation of a critical pathway (CP) for patients with acute aortic disease at the emergency department (ED). MATERIALS AND METHODS: This was a retrospective observational cohort study. The CP was composed of two phases: PRE-AORTA for early diagnosis and AORTA for prompt treatment. We compared patients who were diagnosed with acute aortic disease between pre-period (January 2010 to December 2011) and post-period (July 2012 to June 2014). RESULTS: Ninety-four and 104 patients were diagnosed with acute aortic disease in the pre- and post-periods, respectively. After the implementation of the CP, 38.7% of acute aortic disease cases were diagnosed via PRE-AORTA. The door-to-CT time was reduced more in PRE-AORTA-activated patients [71.0 (61.0, 115.0) min vs. 113.0 (56.0, 170.5) min; p=0.026]. During the post-period, more patients received emergency intervention than during the pre-period (22.3% vs. 36.5%; p=0.029). Time until emergency intervention was reduced in patients, who visited the ED directly, from 378.0 (302.0, 489.0) min in the pre-period to 200.0 (170.0, 299.0) min in the post-period (p=0.001). The number of patients who died in the ED declined from 11 to 4 from the pre-period to the post-period. Hospital mortality decreased from 26.6% to 14.4% in the post-period (p=0.033). CONCLUSION: After the implementation of a CP for patients with acute aortic disease, more patients received emergency intervention within a shorter time, resulting in improved hospital mortality.
Acute Disease ; Adult ; Aged ; Aneurysm, Dissecting/diagnosis/mortality/*surgery ; Aorta ; Aortic Aneurysm/diagnosis/mortality/*surgery ; Aortic Diseases/diagnosis/mortality/*surgery ; *Critical Pathways ; Emergency Service, Hospital/*organization & administration ; Female ; Hospital Mortality ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Outcome and Process Assessment (Health Care) ; Postoperative Complications/mortality ; Republic of Korea/epidemiology ; Retrospective Studies ; Time Factors ; Treatment Outcome ; Vascular Surgical Procedures/*methods

Although several urinary biomarkers have been validated as early diagnostic markers of acute kidney injury (AKI), their usefulness as outcome predictors is not well established. This study aimed to determine the diagnostic and prognostic abilities of urinary liver-type fatty acid-binding protein (L-FABP) in heterogeneous critically ill patients. We prospectively collected data on patients admitted to medical and surgical intensive care units (ICUs) from July 2010 to June 2011. Urine neutrophil gelatinase-associated lipocalin (NGAL) and L-FABP at the time of ICU admission were quantitated. Of the 145 patients, 54 (37.2%) had AKI defined by the Acute Kidney Injury Network (AKIN) criteria. AKI patients showed significantly higher level of urinary NGAL and L-FABP and also higher mortality than non-AKI patients. The diagnostic performances, assessed by the area under the ROC curve, were 0.773 for NGAL and 0.780 for L-FABP, demonstrating their usefulness in diagnosing AKI. In multivariate Cox analysis, urinary L-FABP was an independent predictor for 90-day mortality. Urinary L-FABP seems to be promising both for the diagnosis of AKI and for the prediction of prognosis in heterogeneous ICU patients. It needs to be further validated for clinical utility.
Acute Kidney Injury/*diagnosis/mortality/surgery ; Acute-Phase Proteins/urine ; Adult ; Aged ; Area Under Curve ; Biological Markers/urine ; Critical Illness ; Fatty Acid-Binding Proteins/*urine ; Female ; Humans ; Intensive Care Units ; Kaplan-Meier Estimate ; Lipocalins/urine ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Prognosis ; Proportional Hazards Models ; Prospective Studies ; Proto-Oncogene Proteins/urine ; ROC Curve

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to investigate the clinical features and outcome in newborns undergoing cardiac surgery. METHODS: Eighty two neonates underwent heart surgery for congenital heart defect at Kyungpook National University Hospital between March 2000 and February 2006. Patient characteristics (sex, age, diagnosis), pre-operative conditions, operation type, postoperative complications and mortality were reviewed retrospectively. RESULTS: In 82 patients, 41 (50%) were male. The mean age and weight at operation were 12 days and 3.2 kg, respectively. The common cardiac anomalies were complete transposition of the great arteries (TGA), Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF), pulmonary atresia with intact ventricular septum, and single ventricle variants. Fifty seven operations were performed with cardiopulmonary bypass and corrective surgery was done on 54 patients. Arterial switch operation and modified Blalock-Taussig shunt were most frequently performed as corrective and palliative operations, respectively. The early hospital mortality rate was 7%; the late mortality was 3.9%. Complications were acute renal insufficiency, delayed sternal closure, wound infection, arrhythmia, and brain hemorrhage. CONCLUSION: During the last 6 years, the outcomes of cardiac surgery for congenital heart defects in neonates improved by progress in perioperative, anaesthetic, surgical, and postoperative care.
Acute Kidney Injury ; Arrhythmias, Cardiac ; Arteries ; Blalock-Taussig Procedure ; Cardiopulmonary Bypass ; Cardiovascular Surgical Procedures ; Gyeongsangbuk-do ; Heart Defects, Congenital ; Hospital Mortality ; Humans ; Infant, Newborn ; Intracranial Hemorrhages ; Male ; Mortality ; Postoperative Care ; Postoperative Complications ; Pulmonary Atresia ; Retrospective Studies ; Tetralogy of Fallot ; Thoracic Surgery* ; Ventricular Septum ; Wound Infection

OBJECTIVETo investigate the new biomarkers of acute kidney injury, as well as to confirm the values of response gene to complement 32 (RGC-32) for early diagnosis of acute kidney injury by comparing the values of serum creatinine (Scr) and cystatin C (CysC) in children who had undergone cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB).

METHODSixty-seven patients who had accepted CPB were recruited from the cardiac surgery intensive care unit, Children's Hospital Affiliated to Shanghai Jiao Tong University from March to June 2013 and assigned to acute kidney injury group (group AKI) or non-acute kidney injury group (group non-AKI), on the basis of the definition by the pediatric RIFLE (pRIFLE) criteria. Also 30 healthy control children were recruited. Serum samples were taken regularly from each patient after CPB at 30 min, 2 h, 4 h, 24 h, 48 h and 72 h for RGC-32. Serum samples were tested by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) which was employed to determine the levels of serum RGC-32. Scr and CysC were analyzed by HITACHI 7180 automatic biochemical analyzer. All the data were analyzed by receiver operator characteristic curve (ROC) and area under curve (AUC).

RESULTThe incidence of AKI was 34% (23/67), including 15 cases with risk stage AKI, 4 cases with injury stage AKI, 3 cases with failure stage AKI, 1 cases with loss stage AKI. Three out of four subjects with Failure stage AKI and the one case with Loss stage all accepted renal replacement therapy. CPB group had a higher level of serum RGC-32 than that of pre-operation after CPB 30 minute [(2.88 ± 0.68) µg/L vs. (1.39 ± 0.31) µg/L, P < 0.05]. At the same time, comparing with the non-AKI group, the levels of serum RGC-32 were higher than that of controls 30 min, 2 h, 4 h, 24 h and 48 h after CPB (t = 2.560, 2.180, 2.818, 2.226, 3.017; P < 0.05). The values for the AUC were determined for RGC-32 as 0.770, 0.707, 0.768, 0.728,0.723 and 0.770 after CPB 30 min, 2 h, 4 h, 24 h, 48 h and 72 h. The values for sensitivity of serum RGC-32 30 min, 2 h and 4 h after CPB was 0.914, 0.824, 0.824 and the values for specificity of serum RGC-32 was 0.619, 0.667, 0.810, respectively. But the values for sensitivity of CysC was 0.625, 0.813, 0.813, and specificity 0.571, 0.619, 0.571, respectively. The values for sensitivity of Scr was 0.625, 0.625, 0.813 and specificity was 0.571, 0.571, 0.524, respectively.

CONCLUSIONThe sensitivity of serum RGC-32 for detecting AKI was much higher than that of Scr and serum CysC in children who had accepted CPB, and that RGC-32 may be a new biomarker for early detection of AKI. However, the conclusion needs to be further elucidated.

Acute Kidney Injury ; blood ; diagnosis ; etiology ; Area Under Curve ; Biomarkers ; blood ; Cardiopulmonary Bypass ; adverse effects ; Case-Control Studies ; Cell Cycle Proteins ; blood ; Creatinine ; blood ; Cystatin C ; blood ; Female ; Heart Defects, Congenital ; surgery ; Humans ; Infant ; Intensive Care Units, Pediatric ; Male ; Muscle Proteins ; blood ; Nerve Tissue Proteins ; blood ; Postoperative Complications ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Prospective Studies ; ROC Curve ; Sensitivity and Specificity

OBJECTIVEThe study aimed to review the treatment and prognosis of acute obstruction of colorectal cancers and to compare different treatment strategies of those cancers, and to evaluate the risk factors affecting perioperative complications.

METHODSClinical data of 184 patients with acute obstruction of colorectal cancer undergone operation were analyzed retrospectively.

RESULTSA total of 184 patients with acute obstruction of colorectal cancer was collected in this study, including 58 patients with proximal and 126 patients of distal colorectal cancers. Perioperative death occurred in 2/58 patients (3.4%) with distal colorectal cancer and 6/126 cases (4.8%) of distal colorectal cancer (P > 0.05). The overall perioperative complications in the two groups were not significantly different (P = 0.794). Among the 58 patients with proximal colorectal cancer, one patient underwent colostomy, but among the 126 patients with distal colorectal cancer, 41 patients underwent colostomy, showing a significant difference between the two groups (P = 0.002). ASA scores (grade 3 - 4), elderly age (≥ 70 years) and colon perforation peritonitis were independent prognostic factors associated with perioperative mortality and morbidity. Patients in the self-expandable metallic stent (SEMS) group had a significantly shorter hospital stay (25.4 ± 8.3) d than that in the emergency surgery group (32.8 ± 16.4) d, (P = 0.039).

CONCLUSIONSEndoscopic stent implantation provides an acceptable modality of palliation for acute proximal large bowel obstruction caused by malignancies. In acute colorectal cancer obstruction, SEMS can provide a minimally invasive management compared with surgical intervention.

Acute Disease ; Adult ; Age Factors ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Colorectal Neoplasms ; complications ; diagnosis ; surgery ; Colostomy ; Endoscopy ; Female ; Humans ; Intestinal Obstruction ; etiology ; therapy ; Intestinal Perforation ; etiology ; Intraoperative Complications ; Length of Stay ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Palliative Care ; methods ; Peritonitis ; etiology ; Prognosis ; Retrospective Studies ; Risk Factors ; Stents ; Young Adult