Emergency laparotomy at St Olav's Hospital, Trondheim.

Background: Emergency laparotomies are associated with higher mortality and longer hospital stays than elective laparotomies. The purpose of this study was to survey patient characteristics, hospital care pathways, and mortality for patients undergoing emergency laparotomy at St Olav's Hospital, Trondheim.

Material And Methods: This is a retrospective cohort study of all patients over 18 years of age who underwent emergency laparotomy at St Olav's Hospital, Trondheim, between 1 January 2015 and 1 April 2020.

Safety, productivity and predicted contribution of a surgical task-sharing programme in Sierra Leone.

Background: Surgical task-sharing may be central to expanding the provision of surgical care in low-resource settings. The aims of this paper were to describe the set-up of a new surgical task-sharing training programme for associate clinicians and junior doctors in Sierra Leone, assess its productivity and safety, and estimate its future role in contributing to surgical volume.

Methods: This prospective observational study from a consortium of 16 hospitals evaluated crude in-hospital mortality over 5 years and productivity of operations performed during and after completion of a 3-year surgical training programme.

Non-communicable diseases at a regional hospital in Nepal: Findings of a high burden of alcohol-related disease.

Recent global burden of disease reports find that a major proportion of global deaths and disability worldwide can be attributed to alcohol use. Thus, it may be surprising that very few studies have reported on the burden of alcohol-related disease in low income settings. The evidence of non-communicable disease (NCD) burden in Nepal was recently reviewed and concluded that data is still lacking, particularly to describe the burden of alcohol-related diseases (ARDs).

Rates of caesarean section and total volume of surgery in Sierra Leone: a retrospective survey.

Background: Surgical services are essential components of health-care systems. Monitoring of surgical activity is important, but resource demanding. Simpler tools to estimate surgical volume, particularly in low-income countries, are needed.

The use of an acellular porcine dermal collagen implant in the repair of complex abdominal wall defects: a European multicentre retrospective study.

Background: The use of biological materials for the repair of complex abdominal wall defects has increased over the years; however, the role of these materials in routine practice remains unclear. The aim of the study was to evaluate clinical outcomes following the use of Permacol™ porcine collagen surgical implant in complex abdominal wall repair.

Methods: This subset analysis of seven European sites from a multicentre retrospective study included patients undergoing open or laparoscopic surgery and treated with Permacol™ surgical implant.