Published in The American surgeon
Previous literature demonstrates the safety of primary repair in penetrating colon injury requiring resection, without the creation of a diverting ostomy. It is unknown whether a similar approach can be applied to patients with blunt colon injury. The aim of this study was to measure outcomes in patients who underwent colon resection with and witho...
Published in The American surgeon
Decompressive craniectomy (DC) is a surgical modality sometimes used in the management of elevated intracranial pressure. Questions remain as to its long-term benefits in traumatic brain injury patients. The extended Glasgow Outcome Scale (eGOS) is a scoring system based on a structured interview that allows for consistent and reproducible measurem...
Published in The American surgeon
The increased use of CT scans has raised concerns regarding the risks of early radiation exposure in the Puerto Rico pediatric population. Available literature sustains that repeated exposure to imaging-related radiation in the pediatric population is associated with a 3-fold increase in the risk of developing pediatric hematogenous and central ner...
Published in The American surgeon
Geriatric trauma patients with low-level falls often have multiple comorbidities and limited physiologic reserve. Our aim was to investigate postdischarge mortality in this population. We hypothesized that five-year mortality would be higher relative to other blunt mechanisms. The registry of our Level 1 trauma center was queried for patients evalu...
Published in The American surgeon
In 2014, ACS-NSQIP® targeted pancreatectomies to improve outcome reporting and risk calculation related to pancreatectomy. At the same time, our department began prospectively collecting data for pancreatectomy in the Enhanced Recovery After Surgery® Interactive Audit System (EIAS). The purpose of this study is to compare reported outcomes between ...
Published in The American surgeon
There is no standard method for closure of an appendiceal stump during laparoscopic appendectomy. This study compares stump closure using a stapler with closure using an Endoloop ligature. The charts of all patients who underwent laparoscopic appendectomy at a single tertiary care center over a two-year period were reviewed for demographics, comobi...
Published in The American surgeon
Bacteremia is a worrisome postoperative complication and blood cultures (BCx) are often nondiagnostic. We previously reported a 4 per cent overall yield of positive cultures in postoperative patients. To reduce unnecessary testing, we present a predictive model to identify patients in whom growth of pathogens is unlikely and provide a clinical deci...
Published in The American surgeon
To date, no studies have examined the relationship between geographic and socioeconomic factors and the frequency of pedestrians sustaining traumatic injuries from a motor vehicle. The objective of this study was to analyze the impact of location on the frequency of pedestrian injury by motor vehicle. The University of Louisville Trauma Registry wa...
Published in The American surgeon
In 2015, the United States Navy hospital ship (USNS) COMFORT, deployed to 11 Caribbean and Latin American countries over a six-month period to provide humanitarian civic assistance. Personnel from the United States Navy and multiple nongovernmental organizations collaborated to offer surgical and medical care. Data from past deployments aid in plan...
Published in The American surgeon
To determine whether monitored anesthesia care (MAC) results in shorter colonoscopy time. A retrospective chart review from electronic medical records at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital was performed of all patients seen by the Eastern Virginia Medical School Department of Surgery who underwent a screening or diagnostic colonoscopy from December 2...
