Illiteracy is a major drawback with the administration of the IPSS form, with 74.3% of patients unable to read English. Attempts should be made to draft the forms in the main language(s) spoken or read in a particular locality so as to gain maximally from the benefits of the IPSS. Relevant bodies should improve on the education of the populace.

Background:Trauma leads to considerable morbidity and mortality. The aim of this study is to elucidate the pattern and characteristics of trauma at Benue State University Teaching Hospital (BSUTH), Makurdi, Nigeria.Materials and Methods:Case records of all patients who presented to the Accident and Emergency (A and E) Department with trauma between January and December 2013 were analyzed for demographic data, types of injuries sustained, causes and circumstances of injuries, as well as outcome of treatment were extracted from the case files and entered onto a computerized questionnaire. Data were analyzed using the software Statistical Package for Social Sciences for Windows version 15.0 (SPSS Inc; Chicago, Illinois).Results:A total of 250 traumatized patients were studied consisting of 203 (81.2%) males and 47 (18.8%) females with a modal age group of 21–30 years. Unintentional injuries were the most predominant form of trauma (n = 209, 83.6%) with road traffic accidents being the leading cause (n = 180, 72.0%). Open wounds (n = 95, 28.2%) were the most common form of injury sustained and the extremities (n = 148, 43.5%), the most frequently injured body region. Most patients (n = 133, 53.2%) were treated and discharged home without permanent disabilities, while death occurred in 15.2%.Conclusion:Trauma in Makurdi is a predominantly young adult male occurrence with road traffic accidents being the leading etiological factor. Reducing road traffic accidents will likely reduce mortality and morbidity due to trauma.

Objective: The numerous economic and social benefits associated with the practice of day care surgery could be eroded by frequent cancellations. We therefore determined the reasons for such cancellations in a tertiary care centre in Nigeria. Patients and Methods:This was a prospective study of all consecutive urologic day cases seen at Jos University Teaching hospital, Nigeria from January 2003 to December 2004. Results: A total of 270 patients were seen during the study period with ages from 2 weeks to 100 years (median 55 years) and male to female ratio of 14:1. The procedures carried out were mainly urethroscopy /urethrocystoscopy in 103 (38.2%) patients, visual internal urethrotomy in 48 (17.8%) and trucut prostatic biopsy in 33 (12.2%) patients. Sixteen (5.9%), 16(5.9%), 9(3.3%) and 8(3.0%) patients had examination under anaesthesia / bladder biopsy for suspected bladder carcinoma, urethral dilatation, testicular biopsy and total orchidectomy for carcinoma of the prostate respectively. There was a cancellation rate of 15.6% (n=42) mainly due to the inability of the patients to come (24 patients, 57.1%), inadequate materials in the theatre (9 patients, 21.4%), power failure (4 patients, 9.5%), strike action (3 patients, 7.1%) and financial difficulties (2 patients, 4.8%). Conclusion:We are still faced with a high cancellation rate of urologic day cases and these are mainly due to avoidable reasons. Patient as well as physician education and provision of adequate materials and infrastructural development are recommended to reduce these; so as to gain maximally from urologic day surgery practice.

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Background: Urological surgery entails operating on the urinary system. Like every other surgery, they require anesthesia for the elimination of surgical pain. The organ to be operated as well as surgical approach determines the choice of anaesthesia used. This may be in the form of regional (including neuroaxial anesthesia) or general or even local anesthesia. This study was conducted to ascertain the anesthetic techniques employed for urological surgeries in the Benue State University Hospital (BSUTH), Makurdi, Nigeria. Methodology: This was a three-year retrospective study carried out in BSUTH, Makurdi, Nigeria. A total of 125 case files of eligible patients were retrieved from the records department following approval of an application. Relevant information was extracted from the patients’ folders and transferred into a prepared proforma. The data collected were analyzed using SPSS version 25 using simple statistics. Results: The age group with the highest number is that between 61 and 70 years, recording 40 (32.0%). The mean age was 54.0±20.4 Males were a clear majority with 119 cases accounting for 95.2% while only 6 cases (4.8%) involved females. The male to female ratio was 19.8:1. Most of the patients belonged to ASA II which recorded 70 (56.0%). Of the total of 125 diagnoses made, cancer of the prostate (CaP) was the highest with 63 (50.4%). The most common surgical procedure was prostate biopsy which was undertaken 58 times accounting for 46.4% of the procedures. Caudal block was employed most with 59 (47.2%). This was followed by Local infiltration with 30 (24.0%). Eighty-eight patients had surgery on day case basis while 37 patients underwent surgery as in-patients representing 70.4% and 29.6% of the study group respectively. Conclusion: Urological procedures are mostly infra-umbilical and are thus quite amenable to either regional or local anesthesia. This study has shown that caudal epidural block is the anesthetic technique of choice in urological surgery in this centre. Local anesthesia and sub-arachnoid block are next in that order. GA is not often employed. LA and regional techniques involve fewer disturbances to the respiratory system, and these were the anaesthetic methods mostly employed as established in this study.