Increased Morbidity and Mortality of Emergency Laparotomy in Elderly Patients

Background

There is an increasing incidence of elderly patients requiring emergency laparotomy. Our study compares the outcomes of elderly patients undergoing emergency laparotomy against the outcomes of non-elderly patients.

Methodology

Patients who underwent emergency laparotomy between 2015 and 2017 from the National University Hospital, Singapore, were included. Apart from demographic data, indication of surgery and surgical procedure performed were collected. Prospectively collected nutritional scores were evaluated. Outcome measures included duration of surgery, length of ICU and total hospital stay, post-operative complications, and mortality indices. We performed multivariate Cox regression analysis to determine the contribution of various risk factors towards overall survival following emergency laparotomy.

Results

A total of 170 emergency laparotomies were performed. Compared to non-elderly patients, elderly patients had a significantly longer mean stay in hospital (31.5 vs. 18.6 days, p = 0.006) and mean stay in ICU (13.1 vs. 5.3 days, p = 0.003). More elderly patients suffered from post-laparotomy complications compared with non-elderly patients (65.8% vs. 37.4%, p < 0.001). 30-day mortality (31.5% vs. 8.8%, p = 0.019) and 1-year mortality (27.9% vs. 14.3%, p = 0.023) were higher in elderly patients compared with non-elderly patients. Interestingly, there was no statistically significant difference between elderly and non-elderly groups in both the global 3-MinNS as well as the global SGA nutritional scores. ASA status (HR 2.61, 95% CI 1.05–6.45, p = 0.038) was an independent risk factor for decreased survival following emergency laparotomy. Notably, while age ≥ 65 demonstrated a significant correlation with survival on univariate analysis (HR 1.03 (1.01–1.05), p = 0.003), this effect was lost following multivariate regression (HR 1.01 (0.453–2.23), p = 0.989).

Conclusion

Elderly patients suffer worse morbidity and mortality following emergency laparotomy. This is likely contributed by comorbidities resulting in higher ASA status.

     

Evaluation of mandibular block using a standardized method.

The purpose of this prospective randomized study was to investigate the manifestations and efficiency of mandibular block (MB) using a standardized method. In this study, 123 patients requiring MB were randomly assigned to receive MB using a repeated measures design. Mandibular block was administered in each patient by using 2.1 mL of 2% lidocaine with 1:100 000 epinephrine for the inferior alveolar nerve, lingual nerve, and/or buccal nerve. Clinical parameters including the electric pulp test and test for soft tissue sensation using a sharp dental explorer were assessed on both the operated side and contralateral side before and 5, 10, and 15 minutes after injection, and at the end of surgical procedure. Results of the test of the contralateral tooth served as the control group. No response to the electric pulp test at a maximum output (80 readings) was used as the criterion for pulpal anesthesia. Results obtained with electric pulp test and sharp explorer test were not significantly different during various intervals on the contralateral side, indicating the reliability of this standardized method for assessing MB. The MB technique achieved a high rate of subjective numbness (100%) according to the perception of the patients of overall numbness and lip numbness. Overall anesthetic success rates of pulpal anesthesia were 5.7% for the central incisor, 38.2% for the canine, 55.3% for the first premolar, and 90.2% for the first molar. No significant difference was found in the efficiency of anesthesia related to sex or age of the patients. A slower onset of pulpal anesthesia after MB was found for the anterior teeth than for the posterior teeth. This study suggests that the use of a standardized method might produce a clearer and more comprehensive evaluation of the efficiency and manifestations of MB.     

On verification of hyperthermia treatment planning for cervical carcinoma patients.

PURPOSE: The aim of this study was to verify hyperthermia treatment planning calculations by means of measurements performed during hyperthermia treatments. The calculated specific absorption rate (SAR(calc)) was compared with clinically measured SAR values, during 11 treatments in seven cervical carcinoma patients. METHODS: Hyperthermia treatments were performed using the 70 MHz AMC-4 waveguide system. Temperatures were measured using multisensor thermocouple probes. One invasive thermometry catheter in the cervical tumour and two non-invasive catheters in the vagina were used. For optimal tissue contact and fixation of the catheters, a gynaecological tampon was inserted, moisturized with distilled water (4 treatments), or saline (6 treatments) for better thermal contact. During one treatment no tampon was used. At the start of treatment the temperature rise (DeltaT(meas)) after a short power pulse was measured, which is proportional to SAR(meas). The SAR(calc) along the catheter tracks was extracted from the calculated SAR distribution and compared with the DeltaT(meas)-profiles. RESULTS: The correlation between DeltaT(meas) and SAR(calc) was on average R = 0.56 +/- 0.28, but appeared highly dependent on the wetness of the tampon (preferably with saline) and the tissue contact of the catheters. Correlations were strong (R approximately 0.85-0.93) when thermal contact was good, but much weaker (R approximately 0.14-0.48) for cases with poor thermal contact. CONCLUSION: Good correlations between measurements and calculations were found when tissue contact of the catheters was good. The main difficulties for accurate verification were of clinical nature, arising from improper use of the gynaecological tampon. Poor thermal contact between thermocouples and tissue caused measurement artefacts that were difficult to correlate with calculations.     

Mutations in SOX2 cause anophthalmia-esophageal-genital (AEG) syndrome

Table 1     

A human colon adenocarcinoma xenograft--radiation response, cellular composition, and tumor disaggregation

The human colon adenocarcinoma cell line WiDr was xenografted and the tumor characterized. When athymic mice (NCR-nu) were inoculated with 10(6) cells, tumors appeared after 7-14 days with a 93-100% take rate and grew with an initial volume-doubling time of around 6 days. For optimizing the tumor disaggregation method, a comparison was made of two dissociation procedures and of different dissociation times. An enzyme cocktail (collagenase, DNase, pronase) resulted in total viable cell yields of 1-3 X 10(7) cells/g tumor tissue. Cell yield decreased with increasing tumor weight. Disaggregation with trypsin gave lower cell yields; and so, although the plating efficiencies (PEs) were higher, the enzyme cocktail was chosen for tumor disaggregation. On the basis of morphologic identification, cell suspensions prepared from WiDr tumors, by use of the enzyme cocktail for 2 hours, contained 49% malignant cells as well as a significant fraction of nonneoplastic cells. The major nonneoplastic host cell component was macrophage (33%); lymphocytes (13%) and granulocytes (5%) also were present. Host cells could be separated from neoplastic cells by centrifugal elutriation. By mixing various proportions of host and tumor cells, it was subsequently shown that the presence of host cells did not influence the malignant cell PE unless the cell suspensions contained greater than 90% host cells. Single-cell suspensions prepared from WiDr tumors, with use of the enzyme cocktail for 2 hours, were irradiated and then plated for survival (D0 = 1.5 Gy; n = 5) (D0, the 37% dose slope). A comparison was made of the sensitivity to radiation, after the different dissociation methods. The radiation sensitivities after 1.5-hour trypsinization and 2- and 6-hour enzyme cocktail administrations were similar, but after 0.5 hour of trypsin, the cells were more sensitive to radiation.     

原发女性生殖道恶性黑色素瘤21例临床分析

目的探讨原发性女性生殖道恶性黑色素瘤的临床特点、治疗及预后。方法回顾分析本院1986年1月至2006年3月收治的原发性女性生殖道恶性黑色素瘤患者21例。其中外阴8例、阴道10例、阴道及宫颈1例、外阴及阴道1例、盆腔1例。结果患者中位年龄50(21~71)岁。临床表现主要为阴道流血、流液及发现外阴或阴道肿物。本资料阴道恶性黑色素瘤发病率高于外阴恶性黑色素瘤。按照国际妇产科联盟(FIGO)分期,期别和预后呈负相关。治疗以手术为主,手术方式由根治性切除逐渐衍变为扩大局部切除。随访:21例患者中随访率为67%(14/21),随访时间6~96个月,死亡7例,随访期间的死亡率为50%。结论女性生殖道恶性黑色素瘤发病率低,预后差。肿瘤厚度和淋巴结转移是其主要的危险因素。应采用手术基础上的综合治疗,治疗方案个体化。     

Dexfenfluramine in the treatment of severe obesity: a placebo-controlled investigation of the effects on weight loss, cardiovascular risk factors, food intake and eating behaviour.

Dexenfluramine, an effective and safe serotoninergic drug with anorectic and possible food-selection-tuning properties, was investigated in a placebo-controlled study of 1 year's duration in severe and refractory obesity. The aim of the study was to assess weight loss, and changes in cardiovascular risk factors, food intake and eating behaviour. Dexfenfluramine- and placebo-treated patients achieved a similar weight loss (greater than 10% of initial weight, by 39.5 and 30.0%, greater than 20% of initial overweight by 42.1% and 32.5% and greater than 10 kg by 41.4 and 33.3%, respectively, of the initial cohorts). Furthermore, the decreases in weight (10.7 vs. 8.0 kg), in body mass index (3.9 vs. 2.9 kg m2) and in waist/hip ratio (0.04 vs. 0.02) were not significantly different. After discontinuation of the drug, the increase in weight (2.8 vs. 1.0 kg) was significantly higher in the dexfenfluramine-treated group. Except for a borderline better effect on glucose of dexfenfluramine, both groups showed similar beneficial changes in food intake and cardiovascular risk factors. Eating behaviour in response to emotional and external stimuli was comparable in the two groups, but placebo-treated patients had to restrain their eating more in order to achieve the same weight loss. Notwithstanding the fact that weight losses and an associated amelioration of health-risk factors were of similar magnitude in dexfenfluramine- and placebo-treated patients, dexfenfluramine might have a useful role in promoting a less stressed adherence to prolonged restriction of energy intake in the severe and refractory obese subject.     

Effects of methyl isocyanate on rat muscle cells in culture.

Since the Bhopal disaster, in which the causal agent was methyl isocyanate (MIC), exposed people have complained of various disorders including neuromuscular dysfunction. In an attempt to gain some information about the response of muscle tissue to MIC its effects were investigated in cells in culture isolated from muscle of 2 day old rats. After treatment with a range of MIC concentrations (0.025-0.5 microliter/5 ml culture) the total number of nuclei of the two main cell types (fibroblasts and myoblasts) and the number of nuclei in muscle fibres (myotubes) were recorded. At lower doses which had little effect on the total number of nuclei, the formation of muscle fibres--that is, fusion of muscle cells--was prevented as the proportion of nuclei in myotubes was decreased. At higher doses both cell types were killed. This would suggest either an effect on muscle differentiation or a selective toxicity towards myoblasts. The observations were supported by light and electron microscopy.