British journal of anaesthesia
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Multicenter Study Observational Study
Critical care usage after major gastrointestinal and liver surgery: a prospective, multicentre observational study.
Patient selection for critical care admission must balance patient safety with optimal resource allocation. This study aimed to determine the relationship between critical care admission, and postoperative mortality after abdominal surgery. ⋯ After risk adjustment, no 30-day survival benefit was identified for either planned or unplanned postoperative admissions to critical care within this cohort. This likely represents appropriate admission of the highest-risk patients. Planned admissions in selected, intermediate-risk patients may present a strategy to mitigate the risk of unplanned admission. Substantial inter-centre variation exists in planned critical care admissions after emergency laparotomies.
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The physiological changes of pregnancy can increase the risk of peri-partum pulmonary aspiration. There is limited objective information regarding gastric volumes in pregnant patients. The aim of this cohort study was to characterise prospectively the range of gastric-fluid volume in term non-labouring pregnant patients compared with a historical cohort of non-pregnant females. ⋯ Baseline gastric volume of non-labouring pregnant patients at term is not significantly different from that of non-pregnant females. This information will be helpful to interpreting findings of gastric point-of-care ultrasound in obstetric patients.