Aetiology, treatment and mortality after oesophageal perforation in Denmark.

Introduction: Perforation of the oesophagus into the thoracic cavity is a potentially life-threatening condition. The causes are numerous. Treatment for oesophageal perforation targets mediastinal and pleural contamination.

[The connection between hospital volume and outcome in thorax surgery].

A review of current literature with respect to a possible correlation among hospital volume, caseload and outcome of thoracic and cardiovascular surgery supports quite convincingly the theory that, from a probability point of view, the combination of high-volume hospitals with high-volume surgeons produces the best results. During the last decade, thoracic and cardiovascular surgery has to a certain degree been centralized in Denmark, reducing the number of public centres to the five university hospitals. None of these centres is low-volume, and two are high-volume hospitals.