Biomedical subjects

G L Brooke-Cowden

Publications and source records attributed to G L Brooke-Cowden.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

PubMed2005

The Auburn Elective Surgery Pilot Project.

BACKGROUND: The aim of this project was to increase rates of day surgery, reduce elective surgical waiting lists, give patients a guaranteed date of surgery and improve operating theatre utilization. The guiding principle behind the project was to treat the administration of elective surgery as a separate business unit, distinct from emergency surgery. METHODS: Elective surgical referrals for admission from throughout the Western Sydney Health Area Service were pooled. The procedure for surgical admissions was altered in three areas: (i) the use of a new booking and waiting list system administered by a dedicated nurse coordinator who generated the lists for surgery; (ii) restructuring the elective surgical operating sessions; and (iii) planning post-discharge care at the time of operation using model clinical pathways. RESULTS AND CONCLUSIONS: During the project period, the number of the selected surgical procedures performed doubled. Fifty-seven per cent of patients were discharged on the day of surgery. Surgeons took less time to perform procedures. By the end of the trial period, waiting lists for the selected procedures were eliminated. Operating costs as evaluated by the Centre for Health Economics Research and Evaluation were reduced by 25%. The administrative changes to surgical admissions resulted in improved cost and patient throughput for elective surgical admissions with no adverse patient outcomes.

Ambulatory Surgical Procedures↗

PubMed2000

Improving the reinforcement of parastomal tissues with Marlex mesh: laboratory study identifying solutions to stomal aperture distortion.

PURPOSE: Parastomal hernia formation commonly complicates permanent stomas and represents a significant and frequently recurrent management problem, regardless of the method of repair. Prosthetic material reinforcement of parastomal tissues offers the best results. However, problems with unravelling of mesh fibers along cut margins leading to aperture enlargement and hernia recurrence may occur. Raised intra-abdominal pressure in the early postoperative period before incorporation of the mesh into surrounding tissues may result in hernia formation if the aperture size in the mesh increases. METHODS: Assessment of the physical properties of Marlex mesh was performed in a materials testing laboratory, using standardized tests to simulate the stresses imposed on in situ mesh. RESULTS: Holes cut in Marlex mesh were found to enlarge and distort at loads simulating intra-abdominal pressure changes. Reinforcement with a polypropylene pursestring suture was found to stabilize the periaperture mesh fibers and maintain the original area throughout tensions at least double maximal intra-abdominal pressures. Distensibility of intact sheets of mesh was found to vary by up to 100 percent, depending on the direction of the applied tension, and thus, mesh orientation in hernia repair has major implications. CONCLUSION: We propose that if mesh is used to reinforce abdominal wall tissues and is cut or fashioned to size, then the cut margins must be reinforced if the intended dimensions and functional integrity of the mesh are to be maintained.

Abdomen↗

PubMed1976

Postgastrectomy syndromes.

Postgastrectomy syndromes requiring further operation are fortunately uncommon, as the symptoms are disabling and the results of corrective surgery are, at times, disappointing. Our sixty-six patients underwent a total of seventy-six procedures with forty-one successful results and thirty-five failures. Among the secessful group, only fourteen results were graded as excellent. (Table V.) Our experience, like that of others, demonstrates the necessity of accurate evaluation of the patient and of accurate syndrome classification. This not only allows the appropriate operation to be chosen but also helps to indicate those in whom operation should be avoided. Where more than one surgically remediable syndrome exists, simultaneous correction should be undertaken. Treatment of the mechanical problems of obstructed afferent loop by jejunojejunostomy and of stomal obstruction by complete stomal reconstruction provides satisfactory results. Roux-en-Y anastomosis is effective in patients with alkaline gastritis, but we caution against the use of this procedure in patients with vague symptoms and minimal endoscopic changes. Antiperistaltic jejunal reversal is the procedure of choice in managing severe postvagotomy diarrhea. Although most patients with dumping can be managed conservatively, a small number with severe symptoms and nutritional problems cannot and require further operation. Our experience with conversion from Billroth II to Billroth I and with isoperistaltic interposition, although minimal, has been reasonably satisfactory. Four groups of patients remain with symptoms of chronic vomiting, late postvagotomy atonic stomach, dumping "plus," and miscellaneous symptoms. These patients have complaints that are difficult to define and usually have poor results with further operations. We believe that surgery should be avoided in these patients and that conservative measures be continued.

Adult↗

PubMed1976

Repair of massive abdominal wall defects. Combined use of pneumoperitoneum and Marlex mesh.

The most important aspects of repairing massive hernias, eventrations, or surgically created abdominal wall defects are preoperative preparation of the patient and conservative judgment in indications for use of prosthetic material. Before operation, most patients (excluding those with trauma or severe sepsis) can be prepared electively by progressive preoperative pneumoperitoneum. The procedure is safe, simple, and effective. As described, it involves no special techniques or equipment and may be carried out as an inpatient or outpatient procedure. Prosthetic material should be used only to obviate tension on a suture line, for this must scrupulously be avoided. It should not be used routinely as onlay grafts in small or moderate hernias as primary fascial suturing gives better results with few wound complications when closure without tension is possible. Progressive preoperative pneumoperitoneum, combined when necessary with Marlex mesh to obviate tension, enables closure of even gigantic defects. The technique avoids the severe and sometimes fatal preliminary complications resulting from sudden increase in abdominal pressure and diaphragmatic elevation that accompany replacement of abdominal viscera that have lost their "right of domain" with large hernias or abdominal wall defects. This technique also markedly diminishes postoperative pain and aids satisfactory pulmonary management and thus permits early postoperative mobilization and discharge from the hospital.

Abdominal Muscles↗

PubMed1976

Disability after gastric surgery.

Partial gastrectomy, truncal vagotomy, pyloroplasty, and gastrojejunostomy, singly and in combination, produce clinical disturbances in gastric reservoir function, gastric emptying, gastric mucosal integrity, small intestinal motility, and small intestinal fluids shifts. Ordinarily, these disturbances are of minor clinical importance and respond readily to conservative management. However, postoperative gastric surgical symptoms are, at times, annoying or disabling to the patient. Some of these clinical states are amenable to surgical treatment, and in others, operative intervention is definitely contraindicated. Therefore, it is important to recognize those syndromes which are amenable to an operative procedure. Alkaline gastritis, a syndrome of postcibal pain and diffuse endoscopic gastritis with or without vomiting of bile, is best treated by vagotomy and Roux-en-Y gastrojejunostomy. The afferent loop syndrome of relief of pain by vomiting and the demonstration of a dilated or tortuous afferent loop is likewise best treated by vagotomy and Roux-en-Y gastrojejunostomy or enteroenterostomy. Efferent loop obstruction causing vomiting and gastric distention requires a revision of the gastrojejunostomy. The dumping syndrome is best treated conservatively for at least a year. If this approach fails, loop reversal at the stoma or conversion of a Billroth II to a Billroth I anastomosis is effective. For postvagotomy diarrhea, loop reversal in the distal jejunum gives relief, and for the postvagotomy atonic stomach, a subtotal gastrectomy should be performed after failure of conservative management, although there is not enough experience with this condition to make accurate prognoses. Beware of the patient who does not fit any of these syndromes. A poor result is likely to follow attempts at surgical correction.

Afferent Loop Syndrome↗