Definitive one-stage emergency large bowel surgery

During a 30-month period, 126 operations for emergency large bowel conditions were performed: 57 were for colonic carcinoma, 26 for acute diverticulitis, 14 for colonic ischaemia, 13 for complications of inflammatory bowel disease, and 16 for other conditions. Sixty-eight patients had peritonitis. One hundred and ten patients (87.3 per cent) underwent immediate resection. Of these, 83 (65.9 per cent of the overall group) had colonic resection with primary anastomosis but without a colostomy, 56 of which were left-sided colonic resections. Excluding 9 of the 68 patients with peritonitis, who had a total colectomy, 66 per cent also underwent resection, anastomosis and no colostomy. Total group mortality was 14.3 per cent: 12.7 per cent in the immediate resection group, 9.6 per cent in those with primary anastomosis and no colostomy, 5.2 per cent in the group with peritonitis undergoing resection and anastomosis, and 25 per cent in those having non-resectional surgery. Complications included an overall wound infection rate of 10.3 per cent and a clinical anastomotic leak rate of 7.2 per cent in those who had anastomosis without colostomy. Our results suggest that resection and primary anastomosis can be performed with acceptable morbidity and mortality in a high proportion of cases of emergency large bowel conditions, irrespective of underlying pathology, site of disease or the presence of peritonitis.     

Small bowel emergency surgery: literature's review

Emergency surgery of the small bowel represents a challenge for the surgeon, in the third millennium as well. There is a wide number of pathologies which involve the small bowel. The present review, by analyzing the recent and past literature, resumes the more commons. The aim of the present review is to provide the main indications to face the principal pathologies an emergency surgeon has to face with during his daily activity.     

The anastomotic stoma: a useful procedure in emergency bowel surgery

In emergency surgery of the bowel a primary anastomosis may be risky. Discontinuing colostomies have the disadvantage that a secondary laparotomy is necessary to restore continuity. If sufficient bowel loop mobilization is possible, we prefer to perform an anastomotic stoma. After resection of the diseased bowel segment, we bring the proximal and distal loop together and proceed to the anastomosis of the posterior wall. The anterior wall of the anastomosis remains open and is then fixed to the abdominal wall as a stoma. So far, we have used this method in 91 patients. In 73 cases this technique was performed during emergency operations. No patient died as a result of complications of the method; 21 patients, however, died as a consequence of their primary disease. Bowel continuity could be restored in 78 cases. The anastomotic stoma protects the posterior wall from elevated pressure and allows daily control of the anastomosis. In the case of extraperitoneal closure, a secondary laparotomy for reconstruction of the continuity is not necessary. The anastomotic stoma can be performed in most regions of the small and large bowel.

---

Anastomosenstoma: eine hilfreiche methode bei notfalleingriffen in der darmchirurgie

Zusammenfassung In der Notfallchirurgie erscheint eine primäre Darmanastomose oft als risikoreich. Diskontinuitätsresektionen haben den Nachteil einer 2. Laparotomie zur Wiederherstellung der Kontinuität. Wenn eine ausreichende Mobilisation der betroffenen Darmabschnitte möglich ist, bevorzugen wir die Anlage eines Anastomosenstomas. Nach Resektion des erkrankten Darmabschnitts werden die zu- und abführende Schlinge gemeinsam durch eine Bauchdeckentrepanation vor die Bauchdecke gelagert und die Hinterwände der Schlingen anastomosiert. Die vordere Darmwand bleibt unverschlossen und wird in mukokutaner Technik als Stoma eingenäht. Bisher haben wir diese Methode bei 91 Patienten angewandt, 73mal handelte es sich um Notfalleingriffe. Kein Patient starb an Komplikationen, die methodenbedingt waren, 21mal führte allerdings die Grunderkrankung zum Tod des Patienten. Die Darmkontinuität konnte in 78 Fällen wiederhergestellt werden. Das Anstomosenstoma schützt die Rückwand vor erhöhtem Druck und erlaubt die tägliche Kontrolle der Anastomose. Bei extraperitonealer Rückverlagerung des Stomas entfällt die erneute Laparotomie zur Kontinuitätswiederherstellung. Die Anlage des A nastomosenstomas ist in den meisten Dünn- und Dickdarmabschnitten möglich.

     

EEA stapler in large bowel surgery

Ninety-eight surgical procedures with one of the EEA staplers are reported. In 79 instances of large bowel anastomosis, 3 clinical anastomotic leaks and 7 radiological leaks occurred with spontaneous healing. The EEA stapler allows safe anastomosis even at a very low level; carcinologic criteria for bowel resection must, nevertheless, be absolutely respected to avoid local recurrences.

---

Résumé Quatre-vingt-dix opérations ont été pratiquées avec la pince agrafeuse E.E.A. Lors de 79 cas d'anastomose colique on a constaté 3 fuites anastomotiques cliniques patentes et 7 fuites décelées par l'exploration radiologique. La pince agrafeuse E.E.A. permet donc une anastomose de bonne qualité même à un niveau très bas; il est cependant nécessaire de respecter absolument les règles carcinologiques pour éviter une récidive locale.

     

Early aneurysm surgery: a 7 year clinical practice report

Summary One hundred and fifty patients with intracranial aneurysms, operated on consecutively in the early stage in our department, were re-evaluated retrospectively. Seven surgeons operated on 159 aneurysms in 150 patients. Seventy-nine percent of the patients were in grades I–III (scale of Hunt and Hess), 21% in grades IV–V. Seventyone percent had a severe haemorrhage (classification of Fisheret al.), 21% had an intracerebral haematoma.Intraoperative CSF drainage was an almost indispensable tool while postoperative external drainage did not prove to be helpful in preventing vasospasm and/or hydrocephalus. Induced hypotension was abandoned in favour of temporary clipping.Thirteen percent of the patients suffered a permanent or fatal immediate postoperative deterioration, while 11% developed delayed neurological deficits. Five percent were related to vasospasms alone, they were all transient. Five percent had vasospasm combined with other complications. One of them had permanent and the other one fatal deficits. One percent deteriorated due to embolism or occluded vessels.The results improved with the introduction of the calcium channel blocker nimodipine, induced hypertension and transcranial Doppler sonographic control of the vasospasm. Patients in good preoperative condition had a good early outcome in 69%. The result was fair in 21% and poor in 4%, while 6% of the patients died. In the poor condition group 22% of the patients made a good, 13% a fair, and 59% a poor recovery, 16% of whom died.We conclude that today the results of early surgery are becoming similar to those of delayed surgery and that the importance of vasospasm for an unfavourable outcome is insignificant in comparison with lesions produced by the haemorrhage and operation.     

Novel predictors of mortality in emergency bowel surgery: a single-centre cohort study

Pre-operative risk stratification is a key part of the care pathway for emergency bowel surgery, as it facilitates the identification of high-risk patients. Several novel risk scores have recently been published that are designed to identify patients who are frail or significantly unwell. They can also be calculated pre-operatively from routinely collected clinical data. This study aimed to investigate the ability of these scores to predict 30-day mortality after emergency bowel surgery. A single centre cohort study was performed using our local data from the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit database. Further data were extracted from electronic hospital records (n = 1508). The National Early Warning Score, Laboratory Decision Tree Early Warning Score and Hospital Frailty Risk Score were then calculated. The most abnormal National or Laboratory Decision Tree Early Warning Score in the 24 or 72 h before surgery was used in analysis. Individual scores were reasonable predictors of mortality (c-statistic 0.699–0.740) but all were poorly calibrated. A National Early Warning Score ≥ 4 was associated with a high overall mortality rate (> 10%). A logistic regression model was developed using age, National Early Warning Score, Laboratory Decision Tree Early Warning Score and Hospital Frailty Risk Score as predictor variables, and its performance compared with other established risk models. The model demonstrated good discrimination and calibration (c-statistic 0.827) but was marginally outperformed by the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit score (c-statistic 0.861). All other models compared performed less well (c-statistics 0.734–0.808). Pre-operative patient vital signs, blood tests and markers of frailty can be used to accurately predict the risk of 30-day mortality after emergency bowel surgery.     

Small bowel tumours in emergency surgery: specificity of clinical presentation

BACKGROUND: Despite advances in diagnostic modalities, small bowel tumours are notoriously difficult to diagnose and are often advanced at the time of definitive treatment. These malignancies can cause insidious abdominal pain and weight loss, or create surgical emergencies including haemorrhage, obstruction or perforation. The aim of the present study was to describe the clinical presentation, diagnostic work-up, surgical therapy and short-term outcome of 34 patients with primary and secondary small bowel tumours submitted for surgical procedures in an emergency setting and to look for a correlation between clinical presentation and the type of tumours. METHODS: From 1995 to 2005, 34 consecutive surgical cases of small bowel tumours were treated at the Department of Emergency Surgery of St Orsola-Malpighi University Hospital, Bologna, Italy. Clinical and radiological charts of these patients were reviewed retrospectively from the department database. RESULTS: All patients presented as surgical emergencies: intestinal obstruction was the most common clinical presentation (15 cases), followed by perforation (11 cases) and gastrointestinal bleeding (eight cases). Lymphoma was the most frequent histologic type (nine patients), followed by stromal tumours (eight patients), carcinoids (seven patients), adenocarcinoma (seven patients) and metastasis (three patients). Of the nine patients with lymphoma, eight were perforated, all patients with stromal tumours had bleeding, and all carcinoids patients had bowel obstruction. There were two patients with melanoma metastasis, both had bowel intussusception. Resection of the neoplasm was carried out in 32 patients and two patients were deemed unresectable and received a palliative procedure. CONCLUSIONS: The present study shows that there is a correlation between small bowel tumours and clinical emergency presentation: gastrointestinal stromal tumours (GIST) mostly bleed; carcinoids make an obstruction; lymphomas cause a perforation; and melanoma metastasis causes intussusception.     

Sepsis and asepsis in large bowel cancer surgery

A patient undergoing surgery for carcinoma of the large bowel has 2 hurdles to negotiate before claiming a cure. The first is postoperative complications and the second, recurrence of the tumor. Recurrence of the tumor will occur almost always within the first 5 years. Postoperative complications are mainly related to infection. Infection on its own is rarely responsible for the death of the patient, but by damaging the vascular endothelium may predispose to arterial or venous thrombosis. More commonly, sublethal sepsis is the cause of considerable morbidity whether within the abdominal wound or the intraperitoneal cavity. One or more of 3 basically different methods are employed to control infection in large bowel surgery: (1) reduction in the number of microorganisms in the large bowel; (2) reduction in the number of microorganisms contaminating the wound, whether within or without the peritoneal cavity; and (3) destruction of microorganisms contaminating the wound. The authors have relied on reducing the number of microorganisms contaminating the wound by strict attention to wound protection and aseptic surgery, and the destruction of microorganisms that actually reach the wound. To this end, excellent results with antibiotics have been obtained by combining meticulous aseptic surgery with the use of cefazolin and metronidazole administered a short time prior to surgery.     

Safety of bowel resection for colorectal surgical emergency in the elderly

OBJECTIVE: Colorectal emergency requiring radical surgery is becoming increasingly frequent in the elderly and problems remain as regards the best management policy. Our long-time experience is presented in this study. PATIENTS AND METHODS: In the last 23 years, 105 elderly patients, aged > or = 65 years, with colorectal disease underwent an emergency operation in our Surgical Department. Forty-five patients (mean age 72 years) had benign disease and 60 patients (mean age 76.5 years) colorectal carcinoma. RESULTS: The carcinoma was located in the left colon (68%), right colon (18%) and rectum (14%). Mostly, patients with malignant cancer presented with obstructive ileus, and patients with benign tumours with perforation and peritonitis, with a predominance of diverticulitis. A resection operation either with primary anastomosis or Hartmann's procedure was performed in 75% of cases; in the rest, only palliation was resorted to. Forty-three percent of the patients with colorectal cancer emergency were > or = 80 years of age. The mean morbidity was 25% and mortality 17%, which make up to 33% and 26.6% for benign disease, and 20% and 10% for malignant cancer, respectively. The mortality rate was higher in patients with perforation than those with obstruction. CONCLUSION: Advanced age is not a contraindication to radical surgery in case of colorectal emergency in the elderly. In the majority, a resection operation is feasible. In high-risk patients, colostomy is a life-saving alternative.     

Metronidazole prophylaxis for elective large bowel surgery in children: a prospective trial.

In a controlled trial in children aged 2 days to 16 years undergoing large bowel surgery a group of 15 patients had preoperative mechanical bowel preparation and oral neomycin while a second group of 15 patients was similarly prepared but also had preoperative and postoperative metronidazole medication. Five of the 9 postoperative infections in the first group involved Bacteroides spp. but no anaerobe was found in the 3 wound infections in the metronidazole group.     

Anterior resection for adenocarcinoma of the distal large bowel

Among 400 patients with adenocarcinoma of the distal large bowel, anterior resection resulted in more anastomotic leaks, postoperative urinary retention and diarrhea when used for lesions of the mid-rectum than when used for lesions of the proximal rectum or sigmoid colon. However, the operative mortality, long-term morbidity and 2 year survival were similar among patients with lesions at all three locations.     

Management of anastomotic leakage after nondiverted large bowel resection

Background: The purpose of this study was to determine the natural history of anastomotic leakage after elective colorectal resection and supraperitoneal anastomosis without temporary stoma.

Study Design: Medical records from 1990 to 1997 were studied; 655 consecutive patients underwent colonic or rectal resection (without stoma). Patients were divided into two groups: those with clinical anastomotic leakage confirmed by laparotomy (group 1) and those without anastomotic leakage (group 2). Postoperative clinical and biologic findings were compared between the two groups.

Results: Anastomotic leakage occurred in 39 of 655 patients (6%). Clinically suspected anastomotic leakage was only confirmed by contrast radiography in 13 of 24 patients (54%), and by CT in 8 of 9 patients (89%). Significantly more patients in group 1 than group 2 had the following: fever (>™38°C) on day 2 (p < 0.001); absence of bowel action on day 4 (p < 0.001); diarrhea before day 7 (p < 0.001); collection of more than 400 mL of fluid through abdominal drains from day 0 to day 3 (p < 0.01); renal failure on day 3 (p < 0.02); and leukocytosis after day 7 (p < 0.02). Among the 39 patients in group 1, 28 (71%) had at least one of these clinical or biologic manifestations before day 5, but the mean delay for reoperation was only 8 days. The combination of signs observed before day 5 was associated with an increased risk of anastomotic leakage, from 18% with two signs to 67% with three signs.

Overall mortality rate was 2% (13 of 655) and was significantly higher in group 1 than group 2: 5 of 39 (13%) versus 8 of 616 (1%, p < 0.001). In patients with anastomotic leakage, death occurred in 5 of 23 patients (22%) reoperated on after day 5, versus 0 of 11 patients (0%) reoperated on before day 5 (NS). Univariate analysis showed that three clinical characteristics were associated with a significantly high risk of mortality after reoperation for anastomotic leakage: age greater than 65 years (p < 0.01), American Anesthesiologist Association score greater than 3 (p < 0.05), and blood transfusions during the first operation (p < 0.02).

Conclusions: In our study, some postoperative clinical and biologic signs were associated with a higher risk of anastomotic leakage. The knowledge of these findings might help in the early diagnosis and management of patients with anastomotic leakage after large bowel resection.