Physiotherapy and Anterior Resection Syndrome (PARiS) trial: feasibility study protocol.

Introduction: Rectal cancer affects more than 600 patients per year in Wales, with a 5-year survival rate of around 60%. A recent report demonstrated that 19% of patients with bowel cancer had difficulty controlling their bowels after surgery, and these patients were twice as likely to report lower quality of life than those who had control. Nearly all patients will experience bowel dysfunction initially following surgery and up to 25% will experience severe bowel dysfunction on a long-term basis.

Improved limb salvage for patients with vascular disease and tissue loss associated with new model of provision targeted at the diabetic foot.

Aims: The establishment of a vascular surgeon-led emergency diabetic foot service in 2006 has evolved to provide lower limb wound care for patients with and without diabetes. We aimed to determine whether the service was associated with sustained, improved limb salvage rates for the whole population, analyse key aspects of service provision and compare outcomes against published studies.

Methods: The vascular unit serves a largely rural population of approximately 240,000.

The impact of distance from transplant unit on outcomes following kidney transplantation.

Background: Following transplantation, many patients travel long distances for follow-up care. Many studies have examined the influence of distance from transplant centre on access to transplantation, but few have examined post-transplant outcomes.

Materials And Methods: Distance from transplant centre was calculated for all kidney transplant recipients transplanted over a 5-year period.

Relative accuracy of emergency CT in adults with non-traumatic abdominal pain.

Objective: CT examination prior to emergency laparotomy has become ubiquitous in contemporary clinical practice, but the relative accuracy of CT in this context has not been widely reported. The aim of this study was to determine the accuracy and strength of agreement between the perceived pre-operative CT diagnosis and operative findings.

Methods: Data from patients undergoing pre-operative CT prior to emergency laparotomy from January 2013 to June 2014 in a large teaching hospital were analysed.

The influence of socioeconomic deprivation on early outcomes in vascular access surgery.

Introduction: Socioeconomic deprivation is an important factor in determining poor health and is associated with a higher prevalence of many chronic diseases including diabetes and renal failure, and often poorer outcomes for patients with such conditions. The influence of deprivation on outcomes following vascular access surgery has not previously been reported.

Methods: The Welsh Index of Multiple Deprivation was used to assess the influence of socioeconomic deprivation on outcomes following 507 consecutive first upper limb arteriovenous (AV) fistulas from a single institution in the United Kingdom, performed between 2011 and 2014.