Background: Music therapy, an innovative approach that has proven effectiveness in many medical conditions, seems beneficial also in managing surgical patients. The aim of this study is to evaluate its effects, under general anesthesia, on perioperative patient satisfaction, stress, pain, and awareness. Methods: This is a prospective, randomized, double-blind study conducted in the operating theatre of visceral surgery at Sahloul Teaching Hospital over a period of 4 months. Patients aged more than 18 undergoing a scheduled surgery under general anesthesia were included. Patients undergoing urgent surgery or presenting hearing or cognitive disorders were excluded. Before induction, patients wore headphones linked to an MP3 player. They were randomly allocated into 2 groups: Group M (with music during surgery) and group C (without music). Hemodynamic parameters, quality of arousal, pain experienced, patient’s satisfaction, and awareness incidence during anesthesia were recorded. Results: One hundred and forty patients were included and allocated into 2 groups that were comparable in demographic characteristics, surgical intervention type and anesthesia duration. Comparison of these two groups regarding the hemodynamic profile found more stability in group M for systolic arterial blood pressure. A calm recovery was more often noted in group M (77.1% versus 44%, p < 10–3). The average Visual Analog Scale (VAS) score was lower in the intervention group (33.8 ± 13.63 versus 45.1 ± 16.2; p < 10–3). The satisfaction rate was significantly higher among the experimental group (81.4% versus 51.4%; p < 10–3). The incidence of intraoperative awareness was higher in group C (8 cases versus 3 cases) but the difference was not statistically significant. Conclusion: Music therapy is a non-pharmacological, inexpensive, and non-invasive technique that can significantly enhance patient satisfaction and decrease patients’ embarrassing experiences related to perioperative stress, pain, and awareness.

BackgroundThe recurrence after curative surgery of the rectal adenocarcinoma is a serious complication, considered as a failure of the therapeutic strategy. The aim of this study was to identify the different prognostic factors affecting the recurrence of adenocarcinoma of the rectum.MethodsA retrospective analysis of patients operated for adenocarcinoma of the rectum between January 2000 and December 2015 was conducted. The study of the recurrence rate and prognostic factors was performed through the Kaplan Meier survival curve and the Cox regression analysis.ResultsDuring the study period, 188 patients underwent curative surgery for rectal adenocarcinoma, among which 53 had a recurrence. The recurrence rate was 44.6% at 5 years. The multivariate analysis identified four parameters independently associated with the risk of recurrence after curative surgery: a distal margin ≤ 2 cm (HR = 6.8, 95% CI 2.7–16.6, 6), extracapsular invasion of lymph node metastasis (HR = 4.4, 95% CI 1.3–14), tumor stenosis (HR = 4.3, 95% CI 1.2–15.2), and parietal invasion (pT3/T4 disease) (HR = 3, 95% CI 1.1–9.4).ConclusionThe determination of the prognostic factors affecting the recurrence of rectal adenocarcinoma after curative surgery allows us to define the high-risk patients for recurrence.Trial registrationClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT03899870. Registered on 2 February 2019, retrospectively registered.

Both ISS and NISS showed better predictive severity performance compared with RTS and SAPS II in trauma patients. The combination of anatomic scales with physiologic ones did not improve the prediction performance of each scale considered alone.

The operating theatre staff is exposed to various constraints such as excessive working hours, severe medical conditions and dreadful consequences in case of malpractice. These working conditions may lead to high and chronic levels of stress, which can interfere with medical staff well-being and patients quality of care. The aim of this study is toassess the impact of music therapy on stress levels and burnout risk on the operating room staff. This is a preexperimental study including the operating rooms staff of urology and maxillofacial surgery in the academic hospital of Sahloul Sousse (Tunisia) over a period of six weeks. The study consisted of three phases. The first was an initial assessment of stress level with a predefined survey. The second included three music therapy sessions per day over one month. The third was an immediate stress level reassessment following the intervention. Stress levels were evaluated using the Perceived Stress Scale version PSS-10 and the Maslach Burnout Inventory. The overall response rate was 73.9%.The average age of the study population was 37.8 ± 7.7 years with a female predominance (64.7%). After the music therapy program, Perceived Stress Scale average score decreased from 22 ± 8.9 to 16 ± 7.9 (p = 0.006). Concerning the burnout, only the average score of emotional exhaustion decreased significantly from 27 ± 10.8 to 19.2 ± 9.5 (p = 0.004). Music therapy is an innovative approach that seems to reduce operating theatre staff stress. It must be considered as a non pharmacological, simple, economic and non invasive preventive tool.

HighlightsThis serious post traumatic entity with high risk of pulmonary embolism is not well described and only few cases have been published.Bleeding risk due to the frequent association of anticoagulation and trauma is the main difficulty encountered by health care providers.Our manuscript tried to highlight diagnostic aspects, therapeutic options and outcome of post traumatic inferior vena cava thrombosis.