Arch Surg Chicago
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Multicenter Study
Risk factors for the development of abdominal abscess following operation for perforated appendicitis in children: a multicenter case-control study.
The morbidity following treatment for perforated appendicitis in children is significant, with intra-abdominal abscess being one of the more serious complications. This can lead to prolonged hospitalizations and antibiotic administration, multiple computed tomographic scans, and invasive procedures. The purpose of our study was to determine risk factors for developing an intra-abdominal abscess following treatment for perforated appendicitis. ⋯ Clinical factors commonly thought to be predictive of abscess formation following perforated appendicitis were not reliable predictors of this outcome. Our results suggest that if children are afebrile and eating on postoperative day 3 they can be discharged with a low rate of abscess development.
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The improved survival after esophageal cancer surgery in Sweden during recent years may be attributable to the increased centralization of such surgery. ⋯ This study revealed no effect of hospital volume on long-term survival after esophageal cancer surgery. Tumor biology apparently has a greater effect on the chances of long-term survival than hospital volume.
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Infections and sepsis are major complications in secondary peritonitis and still represent a diagnostic challenge. We hypothesized that the laboratory marker procalcitonin would provide an early and reliable assessment of septic complications. ⋯ Procalcitonin monitoring is a fast and reliable approach to assessing septic MODS and overall prognosis in secondary peritonitis. This single-test marker improves stratification of patients who will develop clinically relevant complications.
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Multicenter Study
Association between venous thromboembolism and perioperative allogeneic transfusion.
Perioperative allogeneic blood product transfusion would be associated with venous thromboembolic complications in surgical patients. ⋯ In this large observational study of patients undergoing colorectal cancer resection, perioperative allogeneic blood transfusion was associated with an increased risk of VTE in women but not in men. Given the substantial morbidity and mortality associated with VTE and the implication that this finding has for postoperative management in women, this association must be confirmed in independent studies.
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Multicenter Study
Surgical site infection following bowel surgery: a retrospective analysis of 1446 patients.
We sought to determine whether the administration of preoperative antibiotics, intraoperative transfusion of blood products, and intraoperative hypothermia has any impact on the incidence of postoperative surgical site infections (SSIs) in a heterogeneous patient population undergoing bowel surgery. ⋯ This study validates perioperative transfusion as an independent risk factor for SSI. The lack of effectiveness of perioperative antibiotic prophylaxis is surprising because it is discordant with the previous literature, and this finding needs further evaluation.