Surgeon-Journal of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons of Edinburgh and Ireland最新文献

Background: Tourniquets are commonly used in extremity surgery to help provide a bloodless operative field to improve visibility and reduce length of procedures. With the development of WALANT (wide awake, local anaesthetic, no tourniquet) techniques, many surgeons undertake surgery without tourniquet inflation. The correct technique of pneumatic tourniquet application is poorly understood by healthcare staff. The application of a tight tourniquet when applied for optional use or use for only a portion of a procedure, rather than for inflation throughout can cause venous engorgement of an extremity leading to increased blood loss and reduced operative field visualisation thereby discouraging surgeons from persevering with WALANT strategies.

Aim: To determine the effect of tourniquet application tension on limb volume prior to skin incision.

Methods: 30 volunteers had the volume of their non-dominant forearm measured post-inflation of a surgical tourniquet using two different application techniques. Tight application was defined as the tourniquet fastened using a dynamometer to a tension of 100 N. Loose application was defined as the tourniquet fastened using a dynamometer to a tension of 50 N. The tourniquet was then inflated to 200 mmHg after both application techniques. Exsanguination was performed by elevation of the arm for 1 min prior to tourniquet inflation. At 5 min the forearm volume was measured using a volume displacement technique.

Results: 93 % of participants (28/30) had a higher volume of water displaced when the tourniquet was applied tightly. The mean difference between the loose and tight applications was 30.06 mls.

Conclusion: The increase in volume in tightly applied tourniquets is believed to result from increased intravascular volume. This increase in blood volume can lead to increased intra-operative blood loss and poor intra-operative visualisation when operating without tourniquet inflation. Loose application of the tourniquet pre-inflation appears to prevent sequestration of venous blood in the limb, therefore decreasing operative blood loss and improving view for operating.

Level of evidence: Level 1; Symptom Prevalence Study.

Background and aims: Activation of the systemic inflammatory response (SIR) is associated with inferior outcomes across a spectrum of disease. Routinely available measures of the SIR (neutrophil:lymphocyte ratio (NLR), platelet:lymphocyte ratio (PLR), systemic immune-inflammatory index (SII), systemic inflammatory grade (SIG)) have been shown to provide prognostic value in patients undergoing surgical intervention. The present study aimed to review the literature describing the prognostic association of NLR, PLR, SII and SIG in patients undergoing intervention for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA).

Methods: This PRISMA guidelines were followed. The MEDLINE database was interrogated for relevant studies investigating the effect of peri-operative systemic inflammation-based prognostic systems on all-cause mortality in patients undergoing OSR and EVAR for AAA. Inter-study heterogeneity precluded meaningful meta-analysis; qualitative analysis was instead performed.

Results: There were 9 studies included in the final review reporting outcomes on a total of 4571 patients; 1256 (27 %) patients underwent OSR, and 3315 (73 %) patients underwent EVAR. 4356 (95 %) patients underwent a procedure for unruptured AAA, 215 (5 %) patients underwent an emergency procedure for ruptured AAA0.5 studies reported early (inpatient or 30-day) mortality; 2 of these found that elevated NLR predicted inferior survival, however PLR did not provide prognostic value. 6 studies reported long-term mortality; elevated NLR (5 studies), PLR (1 study), and SIG (1 study) predicted inferior survival.

Conclusions: It appears that activation of the SIR is associated with inferior prognosis in patients undergoing intervention for AAA, however the evidence is limited by heterogenous methodology and lack of consensus regarding optimal cutoff.

Prospero database registration number: CRD42022363765.