Short-Term Outcomes and Complications of Damage Control and Definitive Laparotomy in Deployed Combat Environments: 2002 to 2011.

Introduction: Damage control laparotomy (DCL) in an austere environment is an evolving surgical modality.

Methods: A retrospective evaluation of all patients surviving 24 hours who underwent a laparotomy from 2002 to 2011 in Iraq and Afghanistan was performed. DCL was defined as a patient undergoing laparotomy at two distinct North American Treaty Organization (NATO) Role 2 or 3 medical treatment facilities (MTFs); a NATO Roles 2 and 3 MTFs, and/or having the International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision, Clinical Modification procedure code 54.

Pediatric falls from buildings: defining the burden of injury in Hawai'i.

Falls from buildings, including houses, are an important cause of childhood injury in the United States; however, no study has previously examined the impact of this problem in Hawai'i. The objective of this study is to categorize the demographics and injury circumstances of pediatric falls from buildings in Hawai'i and compare to other US cities. Patients age 10 and under who were injured in nonfatal accidental falls from buildings in Hawai'i between 2005 and 2011 were identified retrospectively from a statewide repository of hospital billing data.

A prospective randomized trial using blood volume analysis in addition to pulmonary artery catheter, compared with pulmonary artery catheter alone, to guide shock resuscitation in critically ill surgical patients.

Measurement of blood volume (BV) may guide fluid and red blood cell management in critically ill patients when capillary leak from shock and fluid resuscitation makes assessment of intravascular volume difficult. This is a prospective randomized trial of critically ill surgical patients with septic shock, severe sepsis, severe respiratory failure, and/or cardiovascular collapse. The control group received fluid management based on pulmonary artery catheter parameters and red blood cell transfusions based on hematocrit values.

Recurrent rectal diverticulitis.

Diverticular involvement of the colon is very common in the United States. Patients present with asymptomatic diverticuli and may have complications of these, spanning the spectrum of uncomplicated diverticulitis to an acute surgical abdominal as a result of feculent peritonitis. We discuss a patient requiring low anterior resection for intractable symptoms resulting from recurrent rectal diverticulitis as well as a review of the limited literature on the subject of diverticular disease of the rectum.