AIMS Surgery in patients with infective endocarditis (IE) can be elective (upon completion of antibiotic treatment) or urgent (before antibiotic treatment has ended) when the clinical course is unfavourable. However, urgent surgery for left-sided endocarditis is associated with high mortality. The aims of this study were to describe the profile of patients with left-sided endocarditis who under...

INTRODUCTION Despite recommendations by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that all adults be offered non-targeted HIV screening in all care settings, screening in acute-care settings remains unacceptably low. We performed an observational study to evaluate an HIV screening pilot in an academic-community partnership health center urgent care clinic. METHODS We collected visit data via enco...

BACKGROUND Cardiac surgery in Jehovah's Witnesses poses unique challenges. We have developed a comprehensive multimodality program for these patients and have obtained excellent results. METHODS Ninety-one Jehovah's Witness patients underwent cardiac surgery between 2000 and 2010. Preoperative, intraoperative, and postoperative considerations in the conduct of bloodless surgery in the Jehovah...

Tracheotomy is a commonly performed surgical technique used for long-term mechanical ventilation, upper airway obstruction, need for pulmonary toilet, and as an adjunct to surgery where ventilation is anticipated. Urgent tracheotomy may be performed when difficulty is encountered during an elective tracheotomy, or when cricothyroidotomy is impossible or contraindicated due to distorted anatomy ...

BACKGROUND Patients often wait to have urgent or emergency surgery. The number of operating rooms (ORs) needed to minimize waiting time while optimizing resources can be determined using queuing theory and computer simulation. We developed a computer program using Monte Carlo simulation to determine the number of ORs needed to minimize patient wait times while optimizing resources. METHODS We...

CONTEXT The American College of Cardiology guidelines consider elective percutaneous coronary intervention (PCI) without on-site surgical backup (OSB) a Class-III indication. OBJECTIVE Our objective was to determine the safety of elective PCI without OSB. DESIGN The study is a prospective analysis of a cohort of patients who underwent elective PCI without OSB at our institution. All patient...

This paper reviews the issues associated with the reproductive system in the special population of female patients with end-stage renal disease on peritoneal dialysis (PD). We summarize current knowledge concerning cancer screening tests, elective and urgent gynecologic procedures, and the issues of menstruation, contraception, pregnancy, and delivery in these patients. Finally, we present the ...

BACKGROUND Performing transient or permanent ileostomy is one of the common procedures involved in colorectal surgery. Complication rates up to 40% have been reported in ileostomies. In this report, the effect of specific stoma care unit on ileostomy and its complications were investigated. METHODS A total of 141 patients, who were operated and underwent ileostomy, due to different causes, at...