Challenges for surveillance for injury prevention

Injury surveillance has, and will continue to have, a critical role to play in reducing injury. If injury surveillance is going to realise its full potential in reducing injury, however, there are a number of challenges we need to address. These include: (1) agreeing on what is an injury, (2) focusing on important injuries, (3) improving surveillance of important injury events, and (4) improving surveillance of risk and protective factors.     

Indications for peritoneo-jugular shunt for ascites

In the past, refractory ascites was considered to be the only indication for insertion of an ascites valve with a peritoneo-jugular shunt. Such patients required a prolonged hospital stay prior to surgery and often succumbed to acute renal failure. In the present study, every patient entering with massive ascites was placed on a low-salt diet for 2 weeks. Eleven patients did not respond in a 2-week period and were placed on a regimen of continued medical therapy starting with aldactone. Although most of these patients lost weight, onehalf of them died within 6 months. Only 1 patient in the entire group survived more than a year.Sodium clearance is a simple measurement which differentiates hepatorenal syndrome from acute tubular necrosis. The absence of natriuresis on diuretic therapy is an indication that surgery is required. Sodium and water retention are no longer problems in postshunt patients.In the absence of contraindications, failure of a patient to lose weight on a salt-restricted diet would appear to be a useful guide for the shunt operation.

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Résumé L'ascite résistant aux thérapeutiques était jadis considérée comme la seule indication de mise en place d'un shunt péritonéo-jugulaire avec valve. Ces malades devaient être hospitalisés pendant longtemps avant l'opération et ils mouraient souvent d'insuffisance rénale aiguë. Dans la présente étude, chaque malade admis avec une ascite importante a été mis pendant deux semaines à un régime pauvre en sel. Onze malades qui n'avaient pas répondu à cet essai thérapeutique on été mis à un traitement médical, débutant par de l'aldactone. Tous ont perdu du poids. Mais la moitié sont morts en 6 mois et un seul a survécu plus d'un an. La perte de poids ne peut être considérée comme un bon critère de succès de la thérapeutique médicale. L'urée sanguine est un meilleur témoin.La clearance de sodium est une mesure simple qui différencie le syndrome hépatorénal de la nécrose tubulaire aiguë. L'absence de natriurèse sous diurétique constitue une indication opératoire. La rétention d'eau et de sel ne pose plus de problème après shunt péritonéo-jugulaire.La meilleure indication opératoire dans l'ascite importante est l'absence de perte pondérale sous régime pauvre en sel.

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Presented at the XXVIIth Congress of the Société Internationale de Chirurgie, Kyoto, Japan, September 3–8, 1977.     

Survey of arrangements for anaesthesia for interventional neuroradiology for aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage

The management of patients with subarachnoid haemorrhage following rupture of an intracranial aneurysm is changing. The recent introduction of endovascular occlusion of the aneurysm using detachable coils offers an alternative to craniotomy and clipping of the aneurysm for the prevention of recurrent aneurysmal haemorrhage. The aim of this survey was to evaluate the current provision of peri-operative care for patients with an aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. A survey was conducted of the 34 neuroscience centres which provide an adult neurosurgery service in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. Most centres reported an increasing role for coiling, and a decreasing role for clipping in the management of aneurysmal subarachnoid haemorrhage. The provision of peri-operative care for patients undergoing interventional neuroradiology procedures varied greatly between centres. Neurovascular services in the UK are being reorganised and adequate staff and facilities should be available for the peri-operative care of patients undergoing interventional neuroradiology procedures.     

Consensus-based method for risk adjustment for surgery for congenital heart disease.

OBJECTIVE: The aim was to develop a consensus-based method of risk adjustment for in-hospital mortality among children younger than 18 years after surgery for congenital heart disease (designated RACHS-1). METHODS: An 11-member national panel of pediatric cardiologists and cardiac surgeons used clinical judgment to place surgical procedures into six risk categories. Categories were refined after review of information from the Pediatric Cardiac Care Consortium and three statewide hospital discharge data sets. The effects of including additional clinical variables were explored by comparing areas under receiver-operator characteristic curves. RESULTS: Among 4602 surgical patients in the Pediatric Cardiac Care Consortium data set and 4493 in the hospital discharge data, 3767 (81.9%) and 3832 (85.3%), respectively, had a single cardiac procedure, and 98.5% and 89.2%, respectively, were able to be assigned to one of six risk categories defined by the panel. Mortality rates showed expected trends (P <.001). For the Pediatric Cardiac Care Consortium data, mortality rates were 0.4% in category 1, 3.8% in 2, 8.5% in 3, 19.4% in 4, and 47.7% in 6; rates were similar in the hospital discharge data. There were too few cases in category 5 to estimate mortality rates. In multivariable models, younger age, prematurity, and the presence of a major noncardiac structural anomaly added to the risk of in-hospital death predicted by risk category alone. Best performance was obtained when cases with multiple procedures were placed in the risk category of the most complex procedure. CONCLUSION: The RACHS-1 method should adjust for baseline risk differences and allow meaningful comparisons of in-hospital mortality for groups of children undergoing surgery for congenital heart disease.     

Patient preparation for operations for colonic cancer

On the grounds of surgical treatment of more than 800 patients with cancer of the colon a new system of the preoperative management was devised. The constant participation of therapist, urologist, endocrinologist and other specialist in this management proved to be expedient. Attention is drawn to the peculiarities of the preoperative management expecially in patients with intestinal ileus manifestations. The importance of psychological preparation of the patients is emphasized, mainly, in cases when colostomy is suggested.     

Vecuronium for rapid-sequence intubation for cesarean section

Because succinylcholine may occasionally be contraindicated for rapid-sequence induction in parturients, we studied the use of vecuronium in 21 patients having elective cesarean sections. Eleven patients (group 1) received 10 micrograms/kg vecuronium as a priming dose, followed 4-6 min later by 100 micrograms/kg. Ten patients (group 2) received 200 micrograms/kg vecuronium as a bolus. Onset, the time from the injection of vecuronium to maximal twitch suppression, and clinical duration, the time between vecuronium administration and return to 25% of the control twitch height, were recorded. Umbilical and maternal venous blood samples at delivery were analyzed for vecuronium concentrations. One-minute and 5-min Apgar scores and 1- and 24-h Neurologic and Adaptive Capacity Scores (NACS) were recorded. Individual tests of passive and active tone within the overall NACS profile were compared to evaluate further any residual vecuronium effects in the infants. Onset of neuromuscular blockade was 177 s in group 1 and 175 s in group 2. The corresponding clinical durations were 73 and 115 min. Maternal and umbilical venous vecuronium concentrations were 515 and 73 ng/mL in group 1 and 838 and 107 ng/mL in group 2. Seventy percent of neonates in group 1 had Apgar scores greater than 7 at 1 min, with 100% greater than 7 at 5 min. Corresponding values in group 2 infants were 50% and 80%. Fifty percent of group 1 infants had NACS of 35-40 at 1 h, and 70% at 24 h.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)