Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England
-
Ann R Coll Surg Engl · Jul 1997
Biography Historical ArticleSir William Fergusson and the case of the doubly excised scapula.
-
Red blood cells are still transfused inappropriately in spite of recent media attention and public awareness about the risks of blood products. A prospective audit was conducted to determine the avoidable blood transfusion rates in the elective perioperative setting utilising the guidelines issued by the American College of Physicians (ACP). ⋯ Violations of the guidelines were perioperative transfusion in bleeding patients who were haemodynamically stable (31%) and transfusion in asymptomatic, stable patients solely to attain a haemoglobin level above 10 g% (22%). There is a need for objective, easily adaptable and widely disseminated consensus guidelines to the indications for red blood cell transfusion.
-
Ann R Coll Surg Engl · May 1997
Clinical TrialA prospective evaluation of the modified Alvarado score for acute appendicitis in children.
The accuracy of the modified Alvarado score was assessed prospectively in the preoperative diagnosis of acute appendicitis in children. A consecutive series of 118 patients (54 boys, 64 girls) with acute abdominal pain was studied prospectively over a 6 month period. ⋯ The overall sensitivity of a modified Alvarado score of > or = 7 was 76.3% and its specificity was 78.8%. Current clinical practice is more accurate than the modified Alvarado score in the diagnosis of acute appendicitis in children.