Factors affecting mortality and morbidity in patients with peptic ulcer perforation.

BACKGROUND AND AIM: With the introduction of H2 receptor antagonists and proton pump inhibitors, the incidence of elective surgery for peptic ulcer (PU) diseases has decreased, although complications of PU such as perforation and bleeding have remained fairly constant. The purpose of this study was to identify the risk factors that predict morbidity and mortality in patients with perforated PU. METHODS: The records of 269 patients who were operated on for perforated PU were reviewed retrospectively. The following factors were analyzed in terms of morbidity and mortality: age >65 years; gender; associated medical illness; chronic ingestion of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, aspirin, corticosteroids or immunosuppressants; alcohol ingestion and smoking habits; American Society of Anesthesiologist (ASA) status; season; delayed operation; site of ulcer perforation; and shock on admission and type of operation. RESULTS: There were 30 female (11.16%) and 239 male (88.84%) patients. Seventy-one (26.4%) patients had associated diseases. Simple closure was performed in 257 (95.5%) patients; 12 patients (4.5%) underwent definitive operations. A total of 108 postoperative complications were present in 65 (24.2%) patients. Twenty-three patients died (8.55%). Multivariate analysis showed that only age, ASA score, treatment delay, presence of shock and definitive operation were independent predictors of mortality. Significant risk factors that led to morbidity were ASA status, time of surgery, season, presence of shock and type of surgery. There was a significant difference concerning morbidity and mortality between simple closure of the perforation and definitive surgery. CONCLUSIONS: Age, delayed surgery, presence of shock, ASA risk and definitive surgery are factors significantly associated with fatal outcomes in patients undergoing emergency surgery for perforated PU. Therefore, proper resuscitation from shock, improving ASA grade, decreasing delay and reserving definitive surgery for selected patients is needed to improve overall results.

Are pretreatment serum albumin and cholesterol levels prognostic tools in patients with colorectal carcinoma?

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study was to determine if pretreatment serum albumin and cholesterol levels are prognostic factors in patients with colorectal carcinomas. MATERIAL/METHODS: Ninety-nine patients with colorectal carcinoma were included in this study. Retrospective data analysis included the clinicopathological parameters of age and gender; emergent surgical intervention; stage at presentation; tumor location, size, and differentiation; lymph node metastases; lymphatic, venous and perineural invasion; preoperative serum albumin, cholesterol, hemoglobin, and CEA levels; the presence of preoperative and postoperative metastases; and tumor recurrence. RESULTS: Low levels of serum albumin, advanced TNM stage, presence of venous invasion, and high CEA levels were independently correlated with prognosis in multivariate analysis. Advanced stage and low levels of serum cholesterol were found to be a statistically significant parameter for disease free survival. Mean serum albumin levels were found to be decreased in patients with advanced stage, which correlated with increased tumor burden. Although not statistically significant for cholesterol levels, the patients with low serum albumin and low cholesterol levels had shorter overall survival than patients with normal serum albumin and normal cholesterol levels. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that a preoperative low level of serum albumin can be an indicator for the malignant potential of the tumor and represents an unfavorable prognosis for patients with colorectal carcinoma.