Background: Surgical mortality data are collected routinely in high-income countries, yet virtually no low-or middle-income countries have outcome surveillance in place. The aim was prospectively to collect worldwide mortality data following emergency abdominal surgery, comparing findings across countries with a low, middle or high Human Development Index (HDI).Methods: This was a prospective, multicentre, cohort study. Self-selected hospitals performing emergency surgery submitted prespecified data for consecutive patients from at least one 2-week interval during July to December 2014. Postoperative mortality was analysed by hierarchical multivariable logistic regression.

Internal herniation of the small bowel through a defect in the falciform ligament and subsequent small bowel obstruction is exceedingly rare with the majority of previous cases being attributed to congenital abnormalities. As laparoscopic techniques approach the forefront of modern surgery, an iatrogenic source for a falciform ligament defect has emerged over the last decade. In this case, a 50-year-old patient presented with signs of acute small bowel obstruction 10 days after a laparoscopic cholecystectomy. On diagnostic laparoscopy, part of the jejunum was found to have herniated through an opening in the falciform ligament. This was likely to have been caused by trauma during the cholecystectomy. Following relief of the obstruction, the defect was closed with polyglactin sutures.