Systematic review of preoperative and intraoperative colorectal Anastomotic Leak Prediction Scores (ALPS).

Objective: To systematically review preoperative and intraoperative Anastomotic Leak Prediction Scores (ALPS) and validation studies to evaluate performance and utility in surgical decision-making. Anastomotic leak (AL) is the most feared complication of colorectal surgery. Individualised leak risk could guide anastomosis and/or diverting stoma.

Implementation of a batched stepped wedge trial evaluating a quality improvement intervention for surgical teams to reduce anastomotic leak after right colectomy.

Background: Large-scale quality improvement interventions demand robust trial designs with flexibility for delivery in different contexts, particularly during a pandemic. We describe innovative features of a batched stepped wedge trial, ESCP sAfe Anastomosis proGramme in CoLorectal SurgEry (EAGLE), intended to reduce anastomotic leak following right colectomy, and reflect on lessons learned about the implementation of quality improvement programmes on an international scale.

Methods: Surgical units were recruited and randomised in batches to receive a hospital-level education intervention designed to reduce anastomotic leak, either before, during, or following data collection.

Altered anal slow-wave pressure activity in low anterior resection syndrome: short case series in two independent specialist centres provide new mechanistic insights.

Aim: Conventional parameters (anal resting and squeeze pressures) measured with anorectal manometry (ARM) fail to identify anal sphincter dysfunction in many patients with low anterior resection syndrome (LARS). We aimed to assess whether there are differences in anal canal slow-wave pressure activity in LARS patients and healthy individuals.

Method: High-resolution ARM (HR-ARM) traces of 21 consecutive male LARS patients referred to the Royal London Hospital, UK (n = 12) and Aarhus University Hospital, Denmark (n = 9) were compared with HR-ARM data from 37 healthy men.

Elective Cancer Surgery in COVID-19-Free Surgical Pathways During the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: An International, Multicenter, Comparative Cohort Study.

Purpose: As cancer surgery restarts after the first COVID-19 wave, health care providers urgently require data to determine where elective surgery is best performed. This study aimed to determine whether COVID-19-free surgical pathways were associated with lower postoperative pulmonary complication rates compared with hospitals with no defined pathway.

Patients And Methods: This international, multicenter cohort study included patients who underwent elective surgery for 10 solid cancer types without preoperative suspicion of SARS-CoV-2.

Postoperative narcotic use in patients with ovarian cancer on an Enhanced Recovery After Surgery (ERAS) pathway.

Objectives: To determine the impact of an ERAS pathway on post-discharge narcotic use for patients with ovarian cancer undergoing open surgery.

Methods: This was a retrospective cohort study of women who underwent open ovarian cancer surgeries in 2014 prior to ERAS ("pre-ERAS") and in 2016/2018 after ERAS was instituted ("ERAS"). Patients taking chronic narcotics were excluded.