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Objective.In patients with perforated peptic ulcer, surgical delay has recently been shown to be a critical determinant of survival. The aim of the present population-based cohort study was to evaluate the association between surgical delay by hour and mortality in high-risk patients undergoing emergency abdominal surgery in general.Material and methods.All in-patients aged ≥18 years having emergency abdominal laparotomy or laparoscopy performed within 48 h of admission between 1 January 2009 and 31 December 2010 in 13 Danish hospitals were included. Baseline and clinical data, including surgical delay and 90-day mortality were collected. The crude and adjusted association between surgical delay by hour and 90-day mortality was assessed by binary logistic regression.Results.A total of 2803 patients were included. Median age (interquartile range [IQR]) was 66 (51–78) years, and 515 patients (18.4%) died within 90 days of surgery. Over the first 24 h after hospital admission, each hour of surgical delay beyond hospital admission was associated with a median (IQR) decrease in 90-day survival of 2.2% (1.9–3.3%). No statistically significant association between surgical delay by hour and 90-day mortality was shown; crude and adjusted odds ratio with 95% confidence interval 1.016 (1.004–1.027) and 1.003 (0.989–1.017), respectively. Sensitivity analyses confirmed the primary finding.Conclusions.In the present population-based cohort study of high-risk patients undergoing emergency abdominal surgery, no statistically significant adjusted association between mortality and surgical delay was found. Additional research in diagnosis-specific subgroups of high-risk patients undergoing emergency abdominal surgery is warranted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. Morbidity and mortality following perforated peptic ulcer (PPU) remain substantial. In the recently published PULP trial, 30-day mortality in patients surgically treated for PPU decreased from 27% to 17% following the implementation of a perioperative care protocol based on The Surviving Sepsis Guidelines. The objective of the present study was to evaluate long-term mortality in the PULP trial intervention and control cohort. Material and methods. Design: nationwide follow-up study of a multicenter, non-randomized, clinical trial with external controls. Setting: Danish patients surgically treated for PPU between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2009. Patients: 117 patients in the intervention group and 512 in the control group. Intervention: a perioperative care protocol based on The Surviving Sepsis Guidelines. Outcome measures: 60-day, 90-day, 180-day, 1-year, and 2-year mortality rates. Statistical analysis: survival statistics. Results. Baseline characteristics, clinical, and perioperative data were in general, similar in the intervention and control group. Sixty days postoperatively, the originally observed difference in 30-day mortality had diminished (25% vs. 30%, p = 0.268). After 180 days, the mortality difference was reduced additionally (31% vs. 33%, p = 0.645), and one year postoperatively, a mortality difference was no longer present (36% in both groups, p = 0.993). Two years postoperatively, the mortality rate in the intervention group was 44%, as compared to 40% in the control group ( p = 0.472). Conclusions. The survival benefit associated with a perioperative care protocol in patients treated for PPU decreases progressively after 30 days and is no longer present after one year. Registration number: NCT00624169 (). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective. The aim of the present study was to compare the ability of four clinical prediction rules to predict adverse outcome in perforated peptic ulcer (PPU): the Boey score, the American Society of Anesthesiologists (ASA) score, the Acute Physiology and Chronic Health Evaluation (APACHE) II score, and the sepsis score. Material and methods. Design: an observational multicenter study. Participants and settings: a total of 117 patients surgically treated for PPU between 1 January 2008 and 31 December 2009 in seven gastrointestinal departments in Denmark were included. Pregnant and breastfeeding women, non-surgically treated patients, patients with malignant ulcers, and patients with perforation of other organs were excluded. Primary outcome measure: 30-day mortality rate. Statistical analysis: the ability of four clinical prediction rules to distinguish survivors from non-survivors (discrimination ability) was evaluated by the area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC), positive predictive values (PPVs), negative predictive values (NPVs), and adjusted relative risks. Results. Median age (range) was 70 years (25-92 years), 51% of the patients were females, and 73% of the patients had at least one co-existing disease. The 30-day mortality proportion was 17% (20/117). The AUCs: the Boey score, 0.63; the sepsis score, 0.69; the ASA score, 0.73; and the APACHE II score, 0.76. Overall, the PPVs of all four prediction rules were low and the NPVs high. Conclusions. The Boey score, the ASA score, the APACHE II score, and the sepsis score predict mortality poorly in patients with PPU. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]