[Stab wounds and lacerations among operating room personnel]. / Stik- og snitlaesioner hos operationspersonale.

In order to illustrate frequency of peroperative accidental needle-stick injuries and lacerations among operation theatre staff, the theatre staffs in the Central Hospital in Hillerød (CH), the County Hospital in Roskilde (ASR) and the St. Elisabeth Municipal Hospital in Copenhagen (SE) were requested to complete a questionnaire after every operation in which they had participated. This investigation took place during a period of three months in CH and two months in ASR and SE. A total of 861 questionnaires were completed with a percentage of replies of 54.4. Of these, 355 (41%) were gynaecological/obstetric interventions, 297 (35%) orthopaedic surgical interventions and 188 (22%) general surgical while 21 (2%) were unspecified. A total 187 (21.7%) cases of holes in the gloves, 47 (5.5%) accidental needlesticks and two (0.23%) accidental lacerations. The frequency of needlestick injuries was greater during gynaecological operations than with the orthopedic surgical and general surgical operations. No differences were observed in the average durations of operation in cases of lesion or total number of lesions. Among the operations, 657 (76.3%) were elective operations, 168 (19.5%) were emergencies and 36 (4.2%) were unspecified. Thirty (4.6%) of the needlestick injuries occurred during the elective interventions and 14 (8.3%) during the emergency operations. As a rule, it was the operating surgeon who injured himself with a needle and the commonest site of the lesion was the pulp of the left index finger. Only one of these lesions had been notified as an occupational injury.

[Cancelled surgical interventions at an orthopedic department]. / Aflyste operationer på en ortopaedkirurgisk afdeling.

In a department of orthopaedic surgery, all cancelled elective inpatient operations were registered prospectively during a period of four months. Out of 686 planned interventions, 13% were cancelled, most frequently less than 48 hours prior to the time of the planned operations. Patients whose operations were cancelled were not younger than patients subjected to operation but failure to report was related to low patient age. The type of the operative intervention which had to be cancelled did not differ from the interventions which were carried out. 40% of the cancellations were due to defective preoperative preparation of the patients, 23% were due to acute illness or personal circumstances of the patients and 36% were due to deficient operative capacity. Measures are recommended for possible reduction in the number of cancelled operations.

[The reliability of fiber endoscopic estimation of the size of gastroduodenal ulcer]. / Pålideligheden af fiberendoskopisk bedømmelse af størrelsen på gastroduodenale ulcera.

The areas of 22 regions in a gastro-duodenal model were estimated endoscopically by 11 examiners. The procedure was then repeated with a biopsy forceps as the reference for measurement. Without the biopsy forceps, 86% of the areas were underestimated. Measurement with the biopsy forceps reduced the deviations of the estimates and the scatter of these but 75% were still underestimated. The estimates showed considerable inter-observer variation and limited reproducibility. Endoscopically estimated alteration in area of an ulcer should not be accepted as clinical documentation for healing.