Elective surgery system strengthening: development, measurement, and validation of the surgical preparedness index across 1632 hospitals in 119 countries

© 2022 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Ltd. This is an Open Access article under the CC BY 4.0 licenseBackground: The 2015 Lancet Commission on global surgery identified surgery and anaesthesia as indispensable parts of holistic health-care systems. However, COVID-19 exposed the fragility of planned surgical services around the world, which have also been neglected in pandemic recovery planning. This study aimed to develop and validate a novel index to support local elective surgical system strengthening and address growing backlogs. Methods: First, we performed an international consultation through a four-stage consensus process to develop a multidomain index for hospital-level assess…

SARS-CoV-2 infection and venous thromboembolism after surgery: an international prospective cohort study

SARS-CoV-2 has been associated with an increased rate of venous thromboembolism in critically ill patients. Since surgical patients are already at higher risk of venous thromboembolism than general populations, this study aimed to determine if patients with peri-operative or prior SARS-CoV-2 were at further increased risk of venous thromboembolism. We conducted a planned sub-study and analysis from an international, multicentre, prospective cohort study of elective and emergency patients undergoing surgery during October 2020. Patients from all surgical specialties were included. The primary outcome measure was venous thromboembolism (pulmonary embolism or deep vein thrombosis) within 30 da…

Isolated Endometriosis on the Rectus Abdominis Muscle in Women without a History of Abdominal Surgery: a Rare and Intriguing Finding

We report 2 rare cases of endometriosis on the rectus abdominal muscle diagnosed incidentally during an operation for inguinal hernia repair in women with no surgical history. Two women sought medical attention for a mass found in the pubic abdominal wall. Only 1 woman reported occasional pain. At physical examination in both women, an ovoid swelling in the right pubic area was felt. One woman experienced pain on palpation, and one reported slight discomfort. Ultrasonography demonstrated a heterogeneous hypoechogenic formation with indistinct edges; diagnosis was difficult. Routine clinical and instrumental (pelvic ultrasonography) gynecologic examination in both patients performed shortly …

Laparoscopic treatment of diaphragmatic endometriosis causing chronic shoulder and arm pain

Second trimester uterine arteries pulsatility index is a function of placental pathology and provides insights on stillbirth aetiology: A multicenter matched case-control study

Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships between maternal vascular malperfusions (MVM) and second trimester uterine arteries pulsatility index (UtA-PI) in cases of stillbirth (SB), compared to live-birth (LB) matched controls. Methods: This was a multicentre, observational, matched case-control study performed at five referral maternity centres over a 4-year period including SB and LB control pregnancies at high-risk for preeclampsia (PE) and/or fetal growth restriction (FGR), matched and stratified for UtA-PI MoM quartiles values of the SB cases. Logistic regression was used to assess the rates of each MVM finding, within each increasing MoM quartile subcate…

Bladder endometriosis: laparoscopic treatment and follow-up

Objectives: This study aims to show the treatment outcome in women affected by isolated bladder endometriosis who underwent laparoscopic surgery in our units. Only women with deep nodules located in the bladder were selected, thus excluding women with deep lesions located in other sites. Study design: Between March 2005 and 2007, women with deep vesical endometriosis, referring to the Departments of Obstetrics and Gynaecology of University Hospitals "G. Martino" of Messina, "Paolo Giaccone" of Palermo and "San Paolo" of Milano, were respectively recruited. A preoperative assessment of the pathology was performed. Women who were concomitantly diagnosed deep nodules of the rectovaginal septum…

Laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy in the treatment of vaginal vault prolapse: 8 years experience

Abstract Objective The aim of this study was to evaluate the long-term results of a laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy for the treatment of vaginal vault prolapse. Study design Between January 1999 and January 2007, 165 laparoscopic sacrocolpopexy procedures, using a polypropylene mesh, were performed on women affected by vaginal vault prolapse. Intraoperative complications included: 5 bladder injuries and 3 sigmoid perforations. Postoperative complications included: 10 cases of fever, 5 cases of lumbosciatica, 15 cases of detrusor overactivity, 2 cases of vaginal haematoma, and 5 cases of minimal dispareunia. At 1, 6 and 12 months after surgery, a clinical evaluation was carried out for all patie…