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 Objective: To determine the frequency of adherence of laparoscopic appendectomy operative notes with the Royal College of Surgeons (RCS) guidelines at the tertiary care centre.  Study Design: A clinical audit report. PLACE AND DURATION OF STUDY: The Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi between January and June 2018. METHODOLOGY: Operative notes of laparoscopic appendectomy, written by residents of general surgery from trainee levels R1 to R5 during the study period, were included in the study. Each component from RCS guidelines, was assessed. The response to every question in proforma was marked either as Y=Yes or N=No. Overall score of more than 70% was chosen arbitrarily as a qualifying standard for an adequate operative note. Data were analysed by using SPSS (version 21). A p-value of <0.05 was considered significant. RESULTS: A total of 74 operative notes relating to laparoscopic appendectomy were reviewed during the study period. Most of these, i.e. 46% notes, were written by year one residents; 47.1% operative notes showed adequacy of practice in concordance with RCS guidelines. The most lacking component in operative notes was mentioning of the operative time, port sites, intraoperative complications and details of specimen removed. Stratified analysis of operative notes did not reveal any association between age, gender and level of training of residents to affect the adequacy of operative note documentation.    Conclusion: Only a quarter of the studied documentation fulfilled the criteria for adequacy of practice. Residents need to be educated and familiarised with these guidelines to improve documentation of operative procedures. Strategies need to be formulated and tested to improve the performance.           Key Words: Operative notes, Good medical practice, Acute appendicitis, Laparoscopic appendectomy, RCS guidelines.

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BACKGROUND: The main purpose of this study was to review the trends in management of patients presenting with acute necrotizing pancreatitis (ANP) over the last seven years and its effect on morbidity and mortality. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on all patients presenting with the diagnosis of acute necrotizing pancreatitis to the Aga Khan University Hospital in between the year 2008-2015. The study population was broadly categorized in to two groups based on the way these were managed. The first group consisted of patient who underwent surgery for acute necrotizing pancreatitis while the second group was composed of those patients with necrotizing pancreatitis who were conservatively managed. Patient outcomes were assessed in terms of hospital stay, complication rates and in-hospital mortality. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20. Comparison of outcomes between two groups was done using chi-square test, Fischer exact test or t-test wherever applicable. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: A total of n = 110 patients were included in the study with 68% (n = 75) males and 32% (n = 35) females. Nasojejunal route was found to be the most commonly utilized route of feeding in these patients consisting of around 49% (n = 54) patients with forty percent (n = 44) tolerating direct oral diet. The outcomes in both these groups in terms of hospital stay, complication rate, and in hospital mortality were not found to be statistically significant. The conservative group however was significant in terms of cost-effectiveness which was shown by a p value of (0.035). The management of this clinically important disease over the years showed an increased trend towards conservative approach in our institute. CONCLUSION: Our study further substantiates the recent global trend of conservative approach towards managing patients with acute necrotizing pancreatitis as reflected in the recent available literature. Therefore surgeons of the developing world need to evolve and adapt to these new measures for better outcomes in patient management.

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OBJECTIVE: The safety and role of emergency (EA) versus interval appendicectomy (IA) for appendicular abscess and phlegmon remains debatable with no optimal strategy identified. The aim of this systematic review and meta-analysis is to evaluate outcomes of managing appendicular abscesses and phlegmon with emergency or interval appendicectomy. METHODS: We conducted a systematic search of electronic databases using key terms including 'appendicular abscess', 'appendicular phlegmon' and 'interval appendicectomy'. Randomised controlled trials and observational studies comparing the two management approaches were included. Operative time, post-operation complication, unplanned bowel resection, rate of surgical site infection, post-operative length of stay and overall mortality rate were evaluated. RESULTS: We identified six studies (2 RCTs and 4 observational studies) with a total of 9264 patients of whom (n = 1352) underwent IA, and (n 7912) underwent EA. The EA group was associated with statistically significant unplanned bowel resection (OR 0.55, 95% CI [0.33-0.90], P = 0.02) and longer total operating time (MD - 14.11, 95% CI [- 18.26-- 9.96] P = 0.00001). However, the following parameters were compared for both EA and IA groups; there were no significant statistical differences: surgical site infection (OR 0.49, 95% CI [0.17-1.38], P = 0.18), post-operative intra-abdominal collection (RD - 0.01, 95% CI [- 0.04-0.01], P = 0.29), total length of hospital stay (MD 1.83, 95% CI [- 0.19-3.85], P = 0.08), post-operative length of hospital stay (MD - 0.27, 95% CI [- 3.66-3.13], P = 0.88) and mortality rate (MD - 0.27, 95% CI [- 3.66-3.13], P = 0.66). CONCLUSION: Emergency operation for appendicular abscess and phlegmon may lead to a higher rate of reported morbidity when compared with interval appendicectomy. Although emergency appendicectomy performed for appendicular abscess and phlegmon is a feasible and safe operative approach, it is associated with significantly increased operative time and unplanned bowel resection (ileocolic and right hemicolectomies) compared to interval appendicectomy.

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Introduction: Value in health care has been defined as health outcomes achieved per dollar spent. The concept of value is a shift from the traditional volume-based health delivery system. The implementation of value-based health care has generally been at an institutional level. The objective of our study was to calculate and compare the value of health care delivered by nine individual surgeons at a single institution for laparoscopic cholecystectomies, at the level of the provider. Methods: Data were collected for laparoscopic cholecystectomies performed over 2 years from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2017. Only elective cholecystectomies performed for noninflamed gall bladder were included in the analysis. Any patients admitted through the emergency department were excluded. Patients who had comorbidities requiring further workup after admission were also excluded. To the best of our knowledge, there is no published model for determining value at the level of the provider. Hence, we devised a formula to determine the value of health care provided by individual surgeons based on outcome 30 days after laparoscopic cholecystectomy: Value = Positive outcome score/Cost of care. Results: A total of 1840 cholecystectomies were performed by nine surgeons in the study period, out of which 1402 met the selection criteria. There was a significant variation in the value provided by different surgeons according to our model. Conclusion: Our proposed model differentiated the value provided by individual surgeons. Validation of the model on prospectively collected data is the way forward. The key points are: (1) There is a shift from volume-based healthcare to value-based healthcare (VBHC). (2) There is paucity of data about value provided by individual providers. (3) We propose a method of calculating and differentiating value provided by individual providers.

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INTRODUCTION: Penetrating oesophageal injuries are extremely rare. Their timely recognition can be difficult and optimal treatment remains controversial. Early recognition of injury is possible with the help of a high index of suspicion and early radiological and endoscopic examinations. Prompt surgical intervention with primary repair of injury, should be the goal. PRESENTATION OF CASES: We describe two cases of penetrating oesophageal trauma where T-Tube placement through the oesophageal defect, was successfully employed. Both cases proved to be challenging due to time lapse after injury and anatomical location. DISCUSSION: Penetrating injuries to the Oesophagus are rare with a reported incidence of 11-17%, most are due to gunshot injuries or stabbings, cervical followed by the thoracic Oesophagus are most at risk. In delayed presentations and sepsis related multi-organ instability, diversion and drainage are considered appropriate. T-tube placement through defects in difficult situations of delayed presentation is well described in setting of iatrogenic perforations. Their use has been described in penetrating injuries but much less frequently. CONCLUSION: T-tube placement though oesophageal defects can prove to be an effective treatment option to repair both iatrogenic and penetrating injuries of the Oesophagus, whether early or delayed.

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An elderly gentleman presented to our emergency with a 10-day history of right upper quadrant pain and nausea with associated tenderness on examination. His white cell counts were raised with predominant neutrophils with ultrasound evidence of a heterogeneous sub-hepatic collection, not associated with fever, diarrhoea or vomiting. He had a similar episode 3 weeks ago, which resolved with antibiotics. Initially thought to be a perforated acute appendicitis or a liver abscess a CT scan was done to further substantiate our finding. This to the contrary revealed a perforated sub hepatic appendix. Patient was treated conservatively with IV fluids and antibiotics and the sub hepatic collection was aspirated under ultrasound guidance. He responded well to treatment and made an uneventful recovery.

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Oesophageal injury due to blunt trauma is extremely rare, and when it presents it carries a very high mortality. Time is of essence and if not promptly recognised these injuries could have devastating consequences. We report a case emphasising the importance of oesophagoscopy in diagnosing oesophageal injuries. A young man presented to our emergency ward as an unwitnessed road traffic accident after receiving first aid from a secondary care facility. At presentation, he was haemodynamically stable with decreased power in lower limbs, and with severe neck and back pain. There was high suspicion of spinal injury, which was later evident on clinical and on radiological findings. A CT scan revealed oesophageal injury, indicated by contrast extravasation, which was convincing enough to proceed without endoscopy. Surprisingly, the apparently convincing injury picked up on CT scan marked by contrast extravasation turned out to be an artefact, which led to a negative surgical exploration.

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BACKGROUND: Obesity is considered a disease and one of the fastest growing global threats. In Pakistan General Physicians (GPs) are approached first in case of any disease thus their knowledge and practices regarding obesity are very important to assess. Our objective was to assess the knowledge and practices of GPs regarding obesity and management. METHODS: This was a cross-sectional study conducted among GPs of Karachi. 140 GPs from 17 towns of Karachi were selected by convenience sampling. Data was analyzed using SPSS-16. RESULTS: Total 140 GPs with mean age of 46.1 +/- 11.1 years were included in the study. Among them 90 (64.3%) were males and 40 (28.3%) were females. Awareness was assessed regarding factors related to obesity and knowledge was compared on basis of qualification and knowledge update. Significant difference was found for insufficient physical activity (p = 0.001) and social problems (p = 0.02). On the basis of knowledge update, stress and anxiety (p = 0.013) were found to be significant. Significant difference was found in readings for BMI (p = 0.038) and waist circumference (p = 0.000) to label patient obese. Among several lifestyle modifications advised, significant difference was found for increase fibre in diet (p = 0.006), low fat intake (p = 0.003), low carbohydrate intake (p = 0.02). CONCLUSION: Overall awareness regarding obesity was fair among GPs, while certain gaps were found in criteria for labelling patient obese. Significant difference in knowledge of GPs was found among those GPs who update their knowledge and who did not.

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