Annales chirurgiae et gynaecologiae
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The investigation is a report of postoperative fever in 608 patients, who had been subjected to major abdominal surgery. There were 259 patients (259/608: 43%) who developed fever, defined as a temperature higher than or equal to 38 degrees C, on at least two consecutive measurements. ⋯ In those patients where a focus was present the maximum temperature as well as the duration of fever was longer than in patients without a focus. The time from operation to onset of fever did not differ in the two groups.
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A retrospective analysis is presented of 195 consecutive patients with chest trauma, hospitalized from 1976 to 1984 at the Institute of Pathology and Surgery of the University of Cagliari. The most frequent causes were traffic accidents. In 11 patients the trauma was penetrating while 184 presented with blunt trauma. ⋯ Early osteosynthesis was performed in the 22 patients with flail chest and in 15 with multiple depressed fractures. Total mortality was 4.1%, and 13.6% in patients with flail chest. All deaths were associated with significant extrathoracic injuries.