title: Emergency small-bowel resection in a district general hospital.
abstract: Small-bowel resection has been identified as a core surgical skill that all general surgical trainees must acquire. Most of these resections are performed by the unsupervised higher surgical trainee on call. Reviewing 51 small-bowel resections performed over a five-year period in a district general hospital we found that, although the operation carried a high mortality rate (18%) and a high morbidity rate (21%), these had less to do with the operative technique than with the nature of the underlying disease and the hazards of emergency surgery in general. We conclude that small-bowel resection per se is relatively safe and remains a good training procedure.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, Medway Hospital, Gillingham, Kent, UK.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Wegstapel
authors.forename: H M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Hoque
authors.forename: R W
authors.initials: RW
authors.lastname: Hoile
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000714:Anastomosis, Surgical / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000401:mortality; D002648:Child; D004638:Emergency Treatment / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000401:mortality; D005260:Female; D006769:Hospitals, General; D006801:Humans; D007421:Intestine, Small / Q000601:surgery*; D008297:Male; D008505:Medical Staff, Hospital; D008875:Middle Aged; D000267:Tissue Adhesions / Q000601:surgery