Diseases of the colon and rectum
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Improving surgical quality is a priority, but building a business case for the efforts could be challenging. Bridging the gap between the clinicians and hospital leaders is the first step to align quality and financial priorities within health care. ⋯ A comprehensive unit-based safety program implementation, including dedicated frontline providers who focused on the standardization of protocols, was able to reduce the variation in resource utilization and costs in comparison with a control group.
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Randomized Controlled Trial
Preoperative oral antibiotics and intravenous antimicrobial prophylaxis reduce the incidence of surgical site infections in patients with ulcerative colitis undergoing IPAA.
The usefulness of preoperative oral antibiotics for the prevention of surgical site infection in elective colorectal surgery remains controversial. ⋯ Combined oral and intravenous antimicrobial prophylaxis in patients with ulcerative colitis undergoing restorative proctocolectomy with IPAA contributed to the prevention of surgical site infection.
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No immediate surgery (Watch and Wait) has been considered in select patients with complete clinical response after neoadjuvant chemoradiation to avoid postoperative morbidity and functional disorders after radical surgery. ⋯ Extended chemoradiation therapy with additional chemotherapy cycles and 54 Gy of radiation may result in over 50% of sustained (>12 months) complete clinical response rates that may ultimately avoid radical rectal resection. Local failures occur more frequently during the initial 12 months of follow-up in up to 17% of cases, whereas late recurrences are less common but still possible, leading to 50% of patients who never required surgery. Strict follow-up may allow salvage therapy in the majority of these patients (see Video, Supplemental Digital Content 1, http://links.lww.com/DCR/A113.).
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Comparative Study
Payer status and access to laparoscopic subtotal colectomy for ulcerative colitis.
Medicaid populations have been shown to have inferior surgical outcomes, but less is known about their access to advanced surgical procedures. ⋯ Medicaid payer status was associated with reduced use of laparoscopic subtotal colectomy for ulcerative colitis. Although this finding may be due in part to physician preference or patient characteristics, health system factors appear to contribute to selection of the surgical approach.