Dangerous passage: the utility and accuracy of modern chest computed tomography in penetrating thoracic injuries with potential transmediastinal trajectory.

AIM: The aim of this study is to evaluate utility and reliability of chest CT as a standalone screening modality for stable patients with thoracic GSWs and potential transmediastinal trajectories. METHODS: All patients with thoracic GSWs over a 5-year period were identified. Unstable patients requiring immediate surgery were excluded and the remaining underwent chest CT with intravenous contrast. Sensitivity and specificity for clinically significant injuries were tested against an aggregate gold standard of discharge diagnosis including imaging, operative and clinical findings. RESULTS: A total of 216 patients met inclusion criteria and underwent chest CT. After imaging, 65 (30.1%) had indication for immediate surgery, of which 10 (4.6%) underwent a thoracic procedure for chest injuries while 151 (69.9%) were selected for nonoperative management (NOM). 11 (5.1%) required a delayed thoracic operation, none due to injuries missed on CT. The remaining 140 (64.8%) underwent successful NOM. Up to 195 (90.3%) patients had successful NOM of thoracic injuries. Only 9.2% required additional imaging, all negative. CT identified a cardiac injury in one case and a vascular injury in two cases, all confirmed by surgery, while one thoracic IVC injury missed on CT was found intraoperatively. 2 patients had CT suspicious for esophageal injury, ruled out by following investigations. There was one death in the total cohort, none in the NOM group. CONCLUSIONS: Modern high-quality CT provides highly accurate and reliable screening modality for penetrating chest and mediastinal injuries and can be used as a standalone study in most patients or to guide further tests. Chest CT facilitated successful NOM.

Prospective evaluation of the selective nonoperative management of abdominal stab wounds: When is it safe to discharge?

BACKGROUND: The optimal observation time required to exclude hollow viscus injury in patients undergoing selective nonoperative management (SNOM) for abdominal stab wounds (SWs) remains unclear. The aim of this study was to determine the safe period of observation required before discharge. METHODS: In this prospective observational study, all patients who sustained an abdominal SW were screened for study inclusion (July 2018 to May 2021). The primary study outcome was time to SNOM failure, defined as the need for surgical intervention after an initial period of observation. RESULTS: During the study period, 256 consecutive patients with an abdominal SW met the study criteria. The mean age was 33 (26-46) years, and 89% were male. Of all patients, 77% had single SW, and 154 (60%) had an anterior abdominal SW (most common site right upper quadrant, 31%). Forty-six (18%) underwent immediate laparotomy because of evisceration (59%), hemodynamic instability (33%), or peritonitis (24%). The remaining 210 patients (82%) were taken for computed tomography scan (n = 208 [99%]) or underwent clinical observation only (n = 2 [<1%]). Of the patients undergoing computed tomography scan, 27 (13%) triggered operative intervention, and 9 (4%) triggered angioembolization. The remaining 174 patients (83%) underwent SNOM. Of these, three patients (2%) failed SNOM and underwent laparotomy: two developed peritonitis at 10 and 20 hours after arrival, respectively, and at laparotomy had small bowel and gastric injuries. The third patient developed increasing leukocytosis but had nontherapeutic laparotomy. CONCLUSION: Selective nonoperative management of stab wounds to the abdomen commonly avoids nontherapeutic operative intervention and its resultant complications. A small percentage of patients will fail SNOM, and therefore, close clinical observation of these patients in hospital is critical. All patients in this series who failed SNOM did so within 24 hours of presentation. Therefore, we recommend a period of 24 hours of close clinical monitoring to exclude a hollow viscus injury before discharge of patients with abdominal stab wounds who do not meet the criteria for immediate operative intervention. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: Prognostic/Epidemiological; Level III.

Nationwide trends in the use of subtotal cholecystectomy for acute cholecystitis.

BACKGROUND: Subtotal cholecystectomy is a viable alternative approach to the proverbial "difficult" gallbladder. To date, only a few studies have observed the establishment of those bail-out procedures as an increasingly common surgical practice. The purpose of this study is to assess nationwide trends of subtotal cholecystectomy through evaluation of operative variables and patient- and institution-level characteristics in procedure preference. METHODS: Data were obtained from the National Inpatient Sample for the years between 2003 and 2014. Patients with acute cholecystitis were categorized based on the ninth revision International Classification of Disease Clinical Modification procedure codes for open total, laparoscopic total, open subtotal, or laparoscopic subtotal cholecystectomy. Any patient younger than 18 years of age or with a preoperative stay >1 week was excluded. Logistic regression analysis was performed to evaluate significant patient- and institution-level characteristics associated with the performance of subtotal cholecystectomy. RESULTS: A total of 290,855 patients were evaluated. During the study period, the rate of open and laparoscopic subtotal cholecystectomy sharply increased (0.10% of all cholecystectomy procedures to 0.52% and 0.12% to 0.28%, respectively). The conversion rate from laparoscopic to open total cholecystectomy decreased from 10.5% to 7.6%. Subtotal cholecystectomies were performed at significantly higher rates in men (odds ratio: 1.95, P < .001), Asian Americans (odds ratio: 2.21, P = .037), and patients with alcohol abuse (odds ratio: 2.23, P < .001). Teaching hospitals (odds ratio: 2.41, P < .001) and those in rural areas (odds ratio: 2.26, P < .001) were more likely to perform subtotal cholecystectomies. CONCLUSION: Growing trends in the use of subtotal cholecystectomy suggest evolving surgical practices for acute cholecystitis. Our data suggests that several patient- and hospital-level characteristics might play a deciding role in procedure preference.