[Medical-surgical complications and their impact on patients' return to work whilst follow-up major lower-limb amputations in Hospital del Trabajador in Santiago (HTS)]. / Complicaciones médico-quirúrgicas y su impacto en el retorno laboral durante el seguimiento de pacientes con amputación mayor de extremidades inferiores en el Hospital del Trabajador de Santiago (HTS).

INTRODUCTION: The presence of different complications whilst follow-up amputee patients reaches 10-80%. The main objective of this research is to assess the impact of these in the return-to-work of lower-limb traumatic amputation cases. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A retrospective cohort research was carried out. Clinic-demographic variables information was recollected in order to assess its linkage to different medical-surgical complications and functional outcomes. Survival curves were created to evaluate the return-to-work of patients with and without complications. RESULTS: A total of 46 patients, on average aged 45.7 years old (91.3% men, 71.7% without comorbidities), were included on this research. The most frequent level of amputation was transtibial (65.2%). Residual limb pain, phantom pain, dermatological-infectious complications and painful neuroma were registered in 80.4%, 58.7%, 50% y 30.4% of the cases respectively. Half of the patients had returned to their workplace after 2years of post-surgical follow-up. The return-to-work rates were significantly lower in patients suffering from residual limb pain (p=0.0083) and from painful neuroma (p=0.0051). CONCLUSION: Complications are frequent during traumatic-amputee patients' follow-up and, some of them, may impact on the return-to-work rate.

[The prevalence of irritable bowel symptoms in a population of shopping mall visitors in Santiago de Chile]. / Prevalencia de síntomas de intestino irritable en población asistente a centros comerciales de Santiago de Chile.

BACKGROUND: Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) is a functional gastrointestinal disorder characterized by abdominal pain or discomfort that is associated with altered bowel habit. Both its prevalence and clinical characteristics vary throughout Latin America. A percentage of patients does not seek medical attention, therefore a reliable prevalence figure can only be established by interviewing non-selected populations. AIMS: To study the prevalence and clinical characteristics of IBS symptoms in non-selected subjects in Santiago, Chile. METHODS: A total of 437 shopping mall visitors above the age of 15 years (246 women) participated in the study by answering the Rome II validated questionnaire for IBS. The demographic and socioeconomic backgrounds, comorbidities, and a family history of IBS were registered. RESULTS: A total of 64.1% subjects reported having gastrointestinal symptoms and 28.6% had symptoms suggestive of IBS. When the subjects with IBS symptoms were compared with the asymptomatic individuals, a predominance of women (65.6 vs. 42.9, P<.001) and a greater cholecystectomy frequency (33.6 vs. 12.9% P<.05) were observed in the former. The age of symptom onset was 30.4 years. An equal percentage of subjects (42.4%) presented with diarrhea and constipation and 15.2% presented with alternating IBS. Participants with a higher educational level reported a lower percentage of IBS (P<.05). A family history of the disease was present in 40% of the subjects with IBS, compared with 14.9% in the asymptomatic individuals (P<.05). Only 39.2% of the subjects had seen a physician for their symptoms and the treatment and tests ordered were inappropriate. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of IBS symptoms in the population studied is one of the highest described. Therefore, health teams should have the necessary knowledge and skill required for its management.