Bleeding colonic diverticula. A reappraisal of natural history and management.

OBJECTIVE: The study was undertaken to correct or reaffirm current recommendations based on old observations of doubtful validity because of their lack of routine colonoscopy, scintigraphy, or angiography. METHOD: Patterns of bleeding were derived from transfusion records of 78 patients admitted 106 times for lower gastrointestinal bleeding with no detectable cause other than colon diverticula. RESULT: Bleeding stopped spontaneously in 82 of 108 episodes and in 66 of 67 patients requiring less than four units of transfusion on any day. When four or more units were required in a day, 25 of 42 patients required emergency surgery. When a bleeding site was identified and removed, only 1 of 25 patients bled again from another diverticulum. After discharge without surgery, 28 of 73 began to bled again. After "blind" colectomy and ileoproctostomy, four of seven patients developed leaks or abscesses, and two died. CONCLUSIONS: Bleeding stopped spontaneously in 75% of episodes and in 99% of patients requiring less than four units of transfusion per day. Bleeding continued in 25% of episodes and in most patients who required four or more units per day. Bleeding sites of those patients who continued to bleed were shown by scintigraphy or angiography. When a bleeding diverticulum is removed, rebleeding is rare. "Blind" resection is unsafe.

Intractable bleeding from anorectal varices relieved by inferior mesenteric vein ligation.

Intractable anorectal variceal bleeding is an uncommon manifestation of portal hypertension, distinct from simple hemorrhoids, that is managed with therapies as conservative as bedrest, stool softeners, and correction of coagulopathy and those as invasive as portosystemic shunt. In this case report, instant variceal decompression and cessation of bleeding followed a novel treatment: inferior mesenteric vein ligation.

Measuring and managing quality of surgery. Statistical vs incidental approaches.

New rules for quality assurance provoked a comparison of effects of two approaches used concurrently for 14 years. In an incidental approach, a multidisciplinary conference reviewed all postoperative complications as they occurred and attributed each to one of six causes. Remedies were instituted and data were filed. In a statistical approach, death and complication rates were computed annually and compared with previous years' rates and with rates reported to Congress as national norms. Statistics suggested acceptable quality in each specialty but calculations were tedious and differences achieved significance too rarely or too slowly to identify problems, protect patients, and improve care. The incidental approach was popular and produced immediate improvements in patient care. Conferees attributed one half of complications to errors. Frequent acknowledgment of susceptibility to error may contribute to the safety and quality shown by our statistics.

Emergency operations for gastric and duodenal ulcers in high risk patients.

With routine endoscopy, histamine antagonists, proximal gastric vagotomy (PGV) and declining prevalence of duodenal ulcers, morbidity and mortality of ulcer surgery should have declined. Two hundred thirty-four ulcer operations performed since 1976 were compared with 778 between 1961 and 1971. The hospital mortality rate has increased from 2.7 to 14.5%. Increased mortality was related to a doubling of the rate of emergency operations over age 50 and to a 94% decline in elective operations under 50. Mortality was increased by the need for emergency operations and more by concurrent diseases than by old age. Few operations could have been avoided by earlier elective surgery. Most perforations and hemorrhages occurred from previously unsuspected ulcers, many in patients being treated for other advanced or terminal diseases. Although most deaths occurred in this group, 42% survived. Such patients should be expeditiously offered the definitive operations most appropriate to the locations of their ulcers. Since 1976 among 200 survivors, 20 ulcers have recurred. Most recurred after PGV was tried for pyloric and prepyloric ulcers (8 of 16 recurred) and after previously untreated perforated ulcers were simply closed (4 of 11 recurred). The authors so far have one recurrence after 43 PGVs for duodenal ulcers. These recurrences confirm the need for vagotomy in perforated duodenal ulcer and for resection of ulcers proximal to the duodenum.