Global public health impact of recovered supplies from operating rooms: a critical analysis with national implications.

BACKGROUND: In modern operating rooms, clean and unused medical supplies are routinely discarded and can be effectively recovered and redistributed abroad to alleviate the environmental burden of donor hospitals and to generate substantial health benefits at resource-poor recipient institutions. METHODS: We established a recovery and donation program to collect clean and unused supplies for healthcare institutions in developing nations. We analyzed items donated over a 3-year period (September 2010-November 2013) by quantity and weight, and estimated the projected value of the program under potential nationwide participation. To capture the health benefits attributable to the donated supplies at recipient institutions, we partnered with two tertiary-care centers in Guayaquil, Ecuador and conducted a pilot study on the utility of the donated supplies at the recipient institutions (October 2013). We determined the disability-adjusted life years (DALY) averted for all patients undergoing procedures involving donated items and estimated the annual attributable DALY as well as the cost per DALY averted both by supply and by procedure. RESULTS: Approximately, 2 million lbs (907,185 kg) per year of medical supplies are recoverable from large non-rural US academic medical centers. Of these supplies, 19 common categories represent a potential for donation worth US $15 million per year, at a cost-utility of US $2.14 per DALY averted. CONCLUSIONS: Hospital operating rooms continue to represent a large source of recoverable surgical supplies that have demonstrable health benefits in the recipient communities. Cost-effective recovery and need-based donation programs can significantly alleviate the global burden of surgical diseases.

Treatment of Peripheral Neuropathy in Leprosy: The Case for Nerve Decompression.

Plastic surgery has a tradition of caring for patients with facial deformity and hand deformity related to leprosy. The approach, however, to the progressive deformity and disability related to chronic nerve compression is underappreciated in the world today. A cohort of patients with leprous neuropathy from an indigenous area of leprosy in Ecuador was evaluated for the presence of chronic peripheral nerve compression, and 12 patients were chosen for simultaneous upper and lower extremity, unilateral, nerve decompression at multiple levels along the course of each nerve. The results at 1 year of follow-up show that 6 patients improved into the excellent category and 4 patients improved into the good category for improved function. Based on the early results in this small cohort of patients with leprous neuropathy, an approach to peripheral nerve decompression, encompassing the concept of multiple crush at multiple levels of each nerve, seems to offer optimism to improve upper and lower extremity limb function. Long-term studies with quality-of-life outcomes would be welcome.