Emergency cholecystectomy is less costly and more effective than delayed cholecystectomy. This approach is likely to be beneficial to patients in terms of improved health outcomes and to the healthcare provider owing to the reduced costs.

Patients with similar characteristics presenting to different hospitals with acute gallbladder pathology do not receive comparable care.

INTRODUCTION Anecdotally, surgeons claim splenic flexure mobilisation is more difficult in male patients. There have been no scientific studies to confirm or disprove this hypothesis. The implications in colorectal surgery could be profound. The aim of this study was to assess quantitatively whether there is an anatomical difference in the position of the splenic flexure between men and women using computed tomography (CT). METHODS Portal venous phase CT performed for preoperative assessment of colorectal malignancy was analysed using the hospital picture archiving and communication system. The splenic flexure was compared between men and women using two variables: anatomical height corresponding to the adjacent vertebral level (converted to ordinal values between 1 and 17) and distance from the midline. RESULTS In total, 100 CT images were analysed. Sex distribution was even. The mean ages of the male and female patients were 68.1 years and 66.7 years respectively (p=0.630). The mean vertebral level for men was 8.88, equating to the inferior half of the T11 vertebral body (range: 1-17 [superior half of T9 to inferior half of L2]), and 11.36 for women, equating to the inferior half of the T12 vertebral body (range: 4-16 [superior half of T10 to superior half of L2]). This difference was statistically significant (p=0.0001) and is equivalent to one whole vertebra. The mean distance from the midline was 160.8mm (range: 124-203mm) for men and 138.2mm (range: 107-185mm) for women (p<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS The splenic flexure is both higher and further from the midline in men than in women. This provides one theory as to why mobilising the splenic flexure may be more difficult in male patients.

INTRODUCTION Current guidelines do not recommend antibiotic prophylaxis in elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy. Despite this, there is wide variation in antibiotic prophylaxis during cholecystectomy in population-based studies. The aim of this survey was to establish the current rationale for antibiotic prophylaxis in elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy. METHODS A short questionnaire was designed and disseminated across collaborators for a population-based study investigating outcomes following cholecystectomy and via the Association of Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeons, Researchgate and Surginet membership. RESULTS Responses were received from 234 people; 50.9% had no written policy for the use of prophylactic antibiotics in elective cholecystectomy; 5.6% never used antibiotics, while 30.8% always did and 63.7% selectively used antibiotics. Contamination with bile, stones and pus were scenarios in which antibiotics were most commonly used in selective practices to reduce infective complications. Interestingly, 87% of respondents would be happy to participate in a trial investigating the effectiveness of antibiotics in elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy where contamination has occurred. CONCLUSIONS The disparity between current practice and guidelines appears to arise because of a lack of evidence to show that antibiotics reduce surgical site infection following elective laparoscopic cholecystectomy where contamination has occurred. This question needs to addressed before practice will change.

Anatomical siting of the splenic flexure using computed tomography L Meecham, A Brookes, CAW Macano, T Stone, M Cheetham Shrewsbury and Telford NHS Trust, UK ABSTRACT INTRODUCTION Often, left-sided colorectal surgery requires splenic flexure mobilisation (SFM) to allow a tension-free anastomosis to be carried out. This step is difficult and not without risk. We investigated a system of anatomical siting of the splenic flexure using computed tomography (CT). METHODS The Shrewsbury Splenic Flexure Siting (SSFS) system involves siting of the splenic flexure using the vertebral level (VL) as a reference point. We asked three surgical registrars (SRs) to analyse 20 CT scans of patients undergoing colonic resection to ascertain the anatomical site of the splenic flexure using the SSFS system. The distance from the centre of the vertebral body to the lateral edge (CVBL) of the splenic flexure was measured, as was the distance from the centre of the vertebral body to the inner abdominal wall (CVBI) along the same line, on axial images. RESULTS VL assessment demonstrated substantial inter-observer agreement with a kappa (k) value of 0.742 (95% confidence interval (CI), 0.463-0.890). CVBL and CVBI demonstrated very strong inter-observer agreement (CVBL: k = 0.905 (95% CI, 0.785-0.961); CVBI: 0.951 (0.890-0.979) (p<0.001). Overall, there was strong correlation between assessments by all three SRs across the three variables measured. CONCLUSIONS The SSFS system is an accurate method to site the splenic flexure anatomically using CT. We can use the SSFS system to develop a validated scoring system to help colorectal surgeons assess the difficulty of SFM.