From small acorns--developing a laparoscopic colorectal surgical service.

INTRODUCTION: Randomised controlled trials have shown that laparoscopic colorectal surgery is equal in terms of safety to open surgery. Benefits have been seen for length of stay, blood loss, immune suppression and analgesia requirements. The aim of this study was to assess the safety and feasibility of introducing laparoscopic colorectal surgery to our unit. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Prospectively collected cases of all patients undergoing laparoscopic colorectal surgery between July 2003 and July 2007 were reviewed. RESULTS: A total of 143 patients (75 males and 68 females) with a mean age of 65.8 years (range, 21-95 years) underwent surgery. Laparoscopic resection for colorectal malignancy was performed in 93 patients (65%). The conversion rate for all cases was 14.7%. Mean operative time was 203 min (range, 100-400 min), with a mean blood loss of 180 ml. The mean number of lymph nodes in malignant cases was 13.8 with clear resection margin in all but one case. The mean postoperative stay was 5.6 days (median, 4 days; range, 2-35 days). UKCCR standard for lymph node retrieval was achieved in 62.6% of cases. There were four postoperative deaths. The overall 30-day morbidity rate was 21.7%. The service is consultant-led with 9.8% of cases performed by senior trainees and 37% of procedures performed by two consultants. CONCLUSIONS: Laparoscopic colorectal surgery is technically feasible and safe in our hands. Although operative time is longer, this is counterbalanced by shorter hospital stay. The results from this series support the findings of others and continuing development of this service.

The dependence of measured alveolar deadspace on anatomical deadspace volume.

BACKGROUND: Changes in pulmonary deadspace are indicators of disease status (e.g. pulmonary embolus, acute respiratory distress syndrome) and they have prognostic usefulness in the intensive care unit. The components of pulmonary deadspace, the alveolar and anatomical deadspaces (VDalv and VDanat), are commonly considered to be independent (i.e. the addition of airway equipment should not alter the measured VDalv). However, VDanat has been shown to affect VDalv in the absence of changes in alveolar ventilation or perfusion. We sought to quantify the variability in measured VDalv induced by changes in VDanat using a cardiorespiratory computational model. METHODS: Using the Nottingham Physiology Simulator, we examined three simulated ventilated patients with small, moderate and large ventilation-perfusion (VQ) defects. Each patient received 12.5 bpm x 500 ml. We varied VDanat between 50 and 250 ml, keeping the VQ ratio of each alveolus constant. We calculated VDalv by subtracting VDanat (measured using Fowler's technique) from the physiological deadspace (measured using the Bohr-Enghoff equation). We calculated fresh-gas tidal volume (VTfresh) by subtracting VDanat from the exhaled tidal volume and calculated VDalv/VTfresh. In the simulated patient with the large VQ defect, we performed the same protocol with tidal volumes of 750 and 1000 ml. RESULTS: When VDanat increased from 50 to 250 ml (500 ml tidal volume) VDalv decreased by 48.3% (mean value across the three VQ defects) and VDalv/VTfresh decreased by 15.1%. These relationships were similar at each tidal volume studied. CONCLUSIONS: Measured VDalv is altered by changes in VDanat despite constant VQ ratios in each alveolus. This has implications for the interpretation of deadspace measured in the clinical setting. The variability is less for the ratio VDalv/VTfresh.

Maintenance of anaesthesia with sevoflurane or isoflurane effects on adverse airway events in smokers.

Patients who smoke are at risk of coughing and other adverse airway events during induction of anaesthesia. We have studied the incidence of adverse airway events in smokers under isoflurane or sevoflurane anaesthesia after induction with propofol. Smokers inhaling isoflurane had a 45% incidence of adverse airway events compared to 10% in those inhaling sevoflurane (p = 0.013).