Compared to younger patients admitted to an acute care surgery service, patients over 80 years old have a higher risk of complications, are more likely to require ICU admission, and stay longer in the hospital.

No abstract

This paper evaluates a new technique that can lead to excision of pilonidal sinus with less healing time and low recurrence rate. A prospective randomized double-blind controlled study on 142 patients with pilonidal sinus conducted during the period from September 2008 to March 2012. The patients were prospectively randomized to be operated with one of four surgical techniques, excision and primary closure, or excision after using hydrogen peroxide (H 2 0 2 ) and primary closure, or excision without closure, or excision after injection of H 2 0 2 without closure. The main outcome measures were the healing time and the recurrence rate. Out of 142 patients, 118 patients were males (83%), and 24 were females (17%). The mean age was 24.5 years. The recurrence rate in patients treated with excision after injection of H 2 0 2 without closure was the lowest (1.8%) with Pvalue , 0.005, and the mean duration of healing was 30.7 days with P-value , 0.005. We recommend using excision after injection of H 2 0 2 without closure in management of PNS. Injection of H 2 0 2 into the pilonidal tracts can give a precise delineation of the affected tracts, which can be excised with minimal amount of surrounding normal tissues and hence lead to a quicker recovery and low recurrence rate.

Introduction: Many poly-trauma patients sustain chest wall injuries. Flail chest is considered one of the uncommon injuries that may happen in traumatized patients and may increase morbidity and mortality in polytrauma patients. Pulmonary contusion, mechanical ventilation, pneumonia, sepsis and poor pain control are expected to be common complications in patients sustaining chest wall injuries. We hypothesize that the use of epidural analgesia can lead to improved clinical outcomes in this group of patients.

Operative classification of ventral abdominal hernias: new and practical classification. Yasser Selim. From the Ministry of Health.Background: Ventral hernias of the abdomen are defined as a noninguinal, nonhiatal defect in the fascia of the abdominal wall. Unfortunately, there is not currently a universal classification system for ventral hernias. One of the more accepted classification systems is that of the European Hernia Society (EHS). Its limitation is that it does not include individual patient risk factors and wound classification. The aim of this work was to find out the basic principles of hernia etiology and pathogenesis, clarify the factors that are important in treatment of ventral hernias, and categorize hernia patients according to those factors. Methods: This retrospective study included 238 patients who presented to our surgery department between 2010 and 2020. A full description of ventral hernias was made, including their type according to the EHS. In addition, abdominal wall components were assessed, including strength of rectus muscles, lateral abdominal muscles, and abdominal fascia, namely the linea alba. Patients with spontaneous hernias were grouped according to the size of the defect and the condition of the rectus abdominis muscles, the fascia and other abdominal muscles. Results: Patients were put into 6 clinical categories: type 1A, type 1B, type 2, type 3, type 4, and type 5. The grouping of patients was done according to the factors we believed affect the choice of surgical procedure and the prognosis of repair. Patients with types 1 and 2 have normal abdominal muscles, whereas those with types 3 and 4 have weak muscles and weak stretched fascia (linea alba). Type 5 includes incisional hernias. Conclusion: The primary purpose of any classification should be to improve the possibility of comparing different studies and their results. By describing hernias in a standardized way, different patient populations can be compared. Numerous classifications for groin and ventral hernias have been proposed over the past 5-6 decades. For primary abdominal wall hernias, there was agreement with EHS classification on the use of localization and size as classification variables.