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Gastric emptying after elective abdominal aortic aneurysm surgery: the case for early postoperative enteral feeding.
(2/1088)
OBJECTIVE: To assess gastric emptying with a view to early postoperative enteral nutrition after elective abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) surgery. METHODS: The paracetamol absorption test was used to assess gastric emptying in 13 consecutive patients at 6, 18 and 32 h following elective AAA surgery. All patients received postoperative analgesia with marcaine given via an epidural catheter during the first 48 postoperative hours. Normal emptying was defined as an area under the plasma paracetamol concentration curve at 60 min (AUC-60) of > 600 mg/min/l. RESULTS: The median time to normal gastric emptying was 18 +/- 7.7 h. One patient (7.6%) had normal emptying at 6 h, nine (69%) at 18 h and 12 (92%) at 32 h. The nasogastric tubes were removed at a median of 3.2 days after surgery, and enteral feeding was commenced on day 4. CONCLUSIONS: Gastric emptying was normal 18 h post-AAA surgery as assessed by the paracetamol absorption test. In view of the importance of maintaining an intact gastrointestinal mucosa, enteral nutrition may be commenced on the second postoperative day. (+info)
Comparison of NHS and private patients undergoing elective transurethral resection of the prostate for benign prostatic hypertrophy.
(3/1088)
OBJECTIVES: To compare the operative thresholds and clinical management of men undergoing elective transurethral resection of the prostate for benign prostatic hypertrophy in the NHS and privately. DESIGN: Cohort study of patients recruited by 25 surgeons during 1988. SETTING: Hospitals in Oxford and North West Thames regions. PATIENTS: Of 400 consecutive patients, 129 were excluded because of open surgery (nine), lack of surgeons' information (three), and emergency admission (117) and three failed to give information, leaving 268 patients, 214 NHS patients and 54 private patients. MAIN MEASURES: Sociodemographic factors, prevalence and severity of symptoms, comorbidity, general health (Nottingham health profile) obtained from patient questionnaire preoperatively and reasons for operating, and operative management obtained from surgeons perioperatively. RESULTS: NHS and private patients were similar in severity of symptoms and prevalence of urinary tract abnormalities. They differed in four respects: NHS patients' general health was poorer as a consequence of more comorbid conditions (49, 23% v 7, 13% in severe category); the condition had a greater detrimental effect on their lives (36, 17% v 2, 4% severely affected; p < 0.01); private patients received more personalised care more quickly and were investigated more before surgery, (29, 54% v 60, 20% receiving ultrasonography of the urinary tract); and NHS patients stayed in hospital longer (57, 27% v 3, 6% more than seven days; p < 0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Private patients' need for surgery, judged by symptom severity, was as great as that of NHS patients, and there was no evidence of different operative thresholds in the two sectors, but, judged by impact on lifestyle, NHS patients' need was greater. (+info)
Direct costs of coronary artery bypass grafting in patients aged 65 years or more and those under age 65.
(4/1088)
BACKGROUND: Over the past 20 years, there have been marked increases in rates of coronary artery bypass grafting (CABG) among older people in Canada. The objectives of this study were to accurately estimate the direct medical costs of CABG in older patients (age 65 years or more) and to compare CABG costs for this age group with those for patients less than 65 years of age. METHODS: Direct medical costs were estimated from a sample of 205 older and 202 younger patients with triple-vessel or left main coronary artery disease who underwent isolated CABG at The Toronto Hospital, a tertiary care university-affiliated hospital, between Apr. 1, 1991, and Mar. 31, 1992. Costs are expressed in 1992 Canadian dollars from a third-party payer perspective. RESULTS: The mean costs of CABG in older and younger patients respectively were $16,500 and $15,600 for elective, uncomplicated cases, $23,200 and $19,200 for nonelective, uncomplicated cases, $29,200 and $20,300 for elective, complicated cases, and $33,600 and $23,700 for nonelective, complicated cases. Age remained a significant determinant of costs after adjustment for severity of heart disease and for comorbidity. Between 59% and 91% of the cost difference between older and younger patients was accounted for by higher intensive care unit and ward costs. INTERPRETATION: CABG was more costly in older people, especially in complicated cases, even after an attempt to adjust for severity of disease and comorbidity. Future studies should attempt to identify modifiable factors that contribute to longer intensive care and ward stays for older patients. (+info)
Impact of new guidelines on physicians' ordering of preoperative tests.
(5/1088)
OBJECTIVE: To compare the number of preoperative tests ordered for elective ambulatory surgery patients during the 2 years before and the 2 years after the establishment of new hospital testing guidelines. MEASUREMENTS: The patterns of preoperative testing by surgeons and a medical consultant during the 2 years before and the 2 years after the establishment of new guidelines at one orthopedic hospital were reviewed. All tests ordered preoperatively were determined by review of medical records. Preoperative medical histories, physical examinations, and comorbidities were obtained according to a protocol by the medical consultant (author). Perioperative complications were determined by review of intraoperative and postoperative events, which also were recorded according to a protocol. MAIN RESULTS: A total of 640 patients were enrolled, 361 before and 279 after the new guidelines. The mean number of tests decreased from 8.0 before to 5.6 after the new guidelines ( p =.0001) and the percentage decrease for individual tests varied from 23% to 44%. Except for patients with more comorbidity and patients receiving general anesthesia, there were decreases across all patient groups. In multivariate analyses only time of surgery (before or after new guidelines), age, and type of surgery remained statistically significant ( p =.0001 for all comparisons). Despite decreases in surgeons' ordering of tests, the medical consultant did not order more tests after the new guidelines ( p =.60) The majority of patients had no untoward events intraoperatively and postoperatively throughout the study period, with only 6% overall requiring admission to the hospital after surgery, mainly for reasons not related to abnormal tests. Savings from charges totaled $34,000 for the patients in the study. CONCLUSIONS: Although there was variable compliance among physicians, new hospital guidelines were effective in reducing preoperative testing and did not result in increases in untoward perioperative events or in test ordering by the medical consultant. (+info)
Transfusion practices among patients who did and did not predonate autologous blood before elective cardiac surgery.
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BACKGROUND: Preoperative autologous blood donation is commonly used to reduce exposure to allogeneic transfusions among patients undergoing elective cardiac surgery. However, this technique is associated with an overall increase in transfusions (allogeneic or autologous). The authors assessed the impact of transfusion decision-making on the effectiveness of preoperative autologous donation in reducing the frequency of allogeneic transfusions, and its impact on the increased transfusion rate associated with preoperative autologous donation in cardiac surgery. METHODS: This retrospective analysis compared transfusion practices among 176 patients who predonated autologous blood before elective cardiac surgery and 176 matched cardiac surgery patients who did not predonate blood. The impact of decision-making on transfusion exposure was determined using multivariate analyses to account for major perioperative interventions and complications. Odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated for exposure to allogeneic blood transfusion or any transfusion, before and after exclusion of transfusions not conforming with selected transfusion criteria. RESULTS: Exposure to allogeneic transfusion was more likely among patients who did not predonate blood than among those who did predonate blood (OR 14.0, 95% CI 5.8-33.8). This finding was still true after exclusion of transfusions not meeting the transfusion criteria (OR 19.3, 95% CI 6.7-55.7). The autologous blood donors were more likely than the nondonors to receive any transfusion (OR 10.8, 95% CI 5.7-20.3). However, this association was substantially attenuated after exclusion of transfusions not meeting the transfusion criteria (OR 1.9, 95% CI 1.1-3.2). INTERPRETATION: Patients who predonated blood before elective cardiac surgery were at lower risk of receiving allogeneic transfusions than the nondonors. This was not because of a deliberate withholding of allogeneic transfusions from autologous donors. However, more liberal transfusion criteria for autologous blood were largely responsible for the increased transfusion rate among the autologous donors. (+info)
Reducing the risk of major elective surgery: randomised controlled trial of preoperative optimisation of oxygen delivery.
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OBJECTIVES: To determine whether preoperative optimisation of oxygen delivery improves outcome after major elective surgery, and to determine whether the inotropes, adrenaline and dopexamine, used to enhance oxygen delivery influence outcome. DESIGN: Randomised controlled trial with double blinding between inotrope groups. SETTING: York District Hospital, England. SUBJECTS: 138 patients undergoing major elective surgery who were at risk of developing postoperative complications either because of the surgery or the presence of coexistent medical conditions. INTERVENTIONS: Patients were randomised into three groups. Two groups received invasive haemodynamic monitoring, fluid, and either adrenaline or dopexamine to increase oxygen delivery. Inotropic support was continued during surgery and for at least 12 hours afterwards. The third group (control) received routine perioperative care. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Hospital mortality and morbidity. RESULTS: Overall, 3/92 (3%) preoptimised patients died compared with 8/46 controls (17%) (P=0.007). There were no differences in mortality between the treatment groups, but 14/46 (30%) patients in the dopexamine group developed complications compared with 24/46 (52%) patients in the adrenaline group (difference 22%, 95% confidence interval 2% to 41%) and 28 patients (61%) in the control group (31%, 11% to 50%). The use of dopexamine was associated with a decreased length of stay in hospital. CONCLUSION: Routine preoperative optimisation of patients undergoing major elective surgery would be a significant and cost effective improvement in perioperative care. (+info)
Survival of donor leukocyte subpopulations in immunocompetent transfusion recipients: frequent long-term microchimerism in severe trauma patients.
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We recently reported detection of a transient increase in circulating donor leukocytes (WBCs) in immunocompetent recipients 3 to 5 days posttransfusion (tx) (Blood 85:1207, 1995). We have now characterized survival kinetics of specific donor WBC subsets in additional tx populations. Eight female elective surgery patients (pts) were sampled pre-tx and on days 1, 3, 5, 7, and 14 post-tx. Ten female trauma pts transfused with a total of 4 to 18 U of relatively fresh red blood cells were sampled up to 1.5 years post-tx. WBC subsets from frozen whole blood were isolated using CD4, CD8 (T cell), CD15 (myeloid), and CD19 (B cell) antibody-coated magnetic beads. Donor WBCs were counted by quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) of male-specific sex determining region (SRY) sequences. PCR HLA typing and mixed leukocyte reaction (MLR) between recipient and donor WBCs were performed on two of the trauma tx recipients who had long-term chimerism of donor cells post-tx. In 6 of 8 female surgery pts, circulating CD4(+) male donor cells peaked at day 3 or 5 (0.01 to 1 cell/microL), followed by clearance by day 14. In 7 of 10 female trauma pts, we observed multilineage persistence of male donor WBCs (CD4, CD8, CD15, CD19) for 6 months to 1.5 years post-tx at concentrations of 10 to 100 cells/microL. In 2 trauma recipients studied, MLR showed no, or very low, response to WBC of the single donor implicated as the source of microchimerism by HLA typing. Establishment of long-term multilineage chimerism in trauma recipients is probably caused by engraftment of donor stem cells and mutual tolerance between recipient and donor leukocytes. A better understanding of factors determining clearance versus chimerism of transfused leukocytes is critical to prevention of alloimmunization and transfusion-induced graft-versus-host disease, and, potentially, to induction of tolerance for transplantation. (+info)