BACKGROUND Intestinal obstruction is one of the most common surgical emergencies. The aim of this study was to identify important management information from the evaluation of patients with intestinal obstruction who had undergone previous laparotomy for non-malignancy. METHODS Data from 176 patients with previous laparotomy for non-malignancy, and who were operated on for intestinal obstruct...

Background: Poorly controlled pain after abdominal surgery is associated with patient suffering and prolonged hospital stay. The increasing use of Transverse abdominis plan block (TAP), as a form of pain relief after abdominal surgery warrants evaluation of its effectiveness as an adjunctive technique to routine care and, when compared with other analgesic techniques. This observational study e...

STUDY OBJECTIVES To assess the effects of an Acute Pain Service (APS) inception on postoperative pain management in a general teaching hospital using pain indicators as performance measures. DESIGN Open, prospective, nonrandomized, observational study. SETTING Postanesthesia Care Unit, surgical wards of University Hospital Center of Charleroi. PATIENTS 1304 patients in the pre-APS incepti...

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES To estimate the effect of surgeon volume on key perioperative outcomes after all modes of hysterectomy. METHODS We performed a review of 1914 hysterectomies performed at a large, academic tertiary-care hospital. Women who underwent abdominal, laparoscopic, vaginal, or robotic hysterectomy for benign non-obstetric indications in 2006, 2009, and 2010 were included. R...

BACKGROUND Benefits and limitations of supplementation with 80% fraction of inspired oxygen for preventing surgical site infections have not yet been clearly defined. Some studies have reported benefits in colorectal surgery, whereas trials in abdominal and gynecologic surgery have reported either no effect or a deleterious effect. METHODS Controlled, randomized, assessor-blind multicenter tr...

Background: Postoperative hypoxemia is common complication in early postoperative period. Upper abdominal surgery significantly impairs the respiratory mechanics for ventilation resulting in hypoxemia. Aim and Objectives: To observe the incidence, severity and duration of early postoperative hypoxemia in adults undergoing elective upper and lower abdominal surgeries. Material and Methods: This ...

Objectives: The Hospital Readmissions Reduction Program reduces payments to hospitals with excess readmissions for three common medical conditions and recently extended its readmission program to surgical patients. We sought to investigate readmission intensity as measured by readmission cost for high-risk surgeries and examine predictors of higher readmission costs. Methods: We used data from ...