The new timing in acute care surgery (new TACS) classification: a WSES Delphi consensus study.

BACKGROUND: Timely access to the operating room for emergency general surgery (EGS) indications remains a challenge across the globe, largely driven by operating room availability and staffing constraints. The "timing in acute care surgery" (TACS) classification was previously published to introduce a new tool to triage the timely and appropriate access of EGS patients to the operating room. However, the clinical and operational effectiveness of the TACS classification has not been investigated in subsequent validation studies. This study aimed to improve the TACS classification and provide further consensus around the appropriate use of the new TACS classification through a standardized Delphi approach with international experts. METHODS: This is a validation study of the new TACS by a selected international panel of experts using the Delphi method. The TACS questionnaire was designed as a web-based survey. The consensus agreement level was established to be ≥ 75%. The collective consensus agreement was defined as the sum of the percentage of the highest Likert scale levels (4-5) out of all participants. Surgical emergency diseases and correlated clinical scenarios were defined for each of the proposed classes. Subsequent rounds were carried out until a definitive level of consensus was reached. Frequencies and percentages were calculated to determine the degree of agreement for each surgical disease. RESULTS: Four polling rounds were carried out. The new TACS classification provides 6 colour-code classes correlated to a precise timing to surgery, defined scenarios and surgical condition. The WHITE colour-code class was introduced to rapidly (within a week) reschedule cancelled or postponed surgical procedures. Haemodynamic stability is the main tool to stratify patients for immediate surgery or not in the presence of sepsis/septic shock. Fifty-one surgical diseases were included in the different colour-code classes of priority. CONCLUSION: The new TACS classification is a comprehensive, simple, clear and reproducible triage system which can be used to assess the severity of the patient and the surgical disease, to reduce the time to access to the operating room, and to manage the emergency surgical patients within a "safe" timeframe. By including well-defined surgical diseases in the different colour-code classes of priority, validated through a Delphi consensus, the new TACS improves communication among surgeons, between surgeons and anaesthesiologists and decreases conflicts and waste and waiting time in accessing the operating room for emergency surgical patients.

I-ACTSS-COVID-19-the Italian acute care and trauma surgery survey for COVID-19 pandemic outbreak.

The sudden COVID-19 outbreak in Italy has challenged our health systems and doctors faced the challenge of treating a large number of critically ill patients in a short time interval. Acute care surgeons, although not directly involved in treating COVID-19 + patients, have often modified their daily activity to help in this crisis. We have designed the first Italian survey on the effect of COVID-19 outbreak on Acute Care Surgery activity and submitted it to emergency surgeons in all the country to evaluate the experiences, trends, attitudes and possible educational outcomes that this emergency brought to light. A total of 532 valid surveys were collected during the study period. Lombardy and Lazio had the major answer rate. 96% of responders noticed a decrease in surgical emergencies. The outbreak affected regions and hospitals in different ways depending on the local incidence of infection. Half of responders modified their approach to intra-abdominal infections towards a more conservative treatment. 43% of responders, mainly in the North, were shifted to assist non-surgical patients. There has been a direct but non-homogeneous involvement of emergency surgeons. Almost all hospitals have responded with specific pathways and training. Both emergency surgery and trauma activity have changed and generally decreased but the majority of surgeons have operated on suspected COVID-19 patients.

Intra-abdominal hypertension as a trigger of "gut failure" in SARS-CoV-2 infection: Effect of open abdomen (OA) and negative pressure therapy (NPT) on respiratory and gastrointestinal (GI) function.

COVID-19 gastrointestinal manifestations could be attributed to SARS-CoV-2-induced small vessel thrombosis. OA with NPT treatment may have a role in optimization of bowel microcirculation and in the reduction of the endothelial and the systemic cytokine-related damage, improving also respiratory function.