Jessica Eaton

High Elective Surgery Cancellation Rate in Malawi Primarily Due to Infrastructural Limitations

BackgroundThe provision of safe and timely surgical care is essential to global health care. Low- and middle-income countries have a disproportionate share of the global surgical disease burden and struggle to provide care with the given resources. Surgery cancellation worldwide occurs for many reasons, which are likely to differ between high-income and low-income settings. We sought to evaluate the proportion of elective surgery that is cancelled and the associated reasons for cancellation at a tertiary hospital in Malawi.MethodsThis was a retrospective review of a database maintained by the Department of Anesthesiology at Kamuzu Central Hospital in Lilongwe, Malawi. Data were available from August 2011 to January 2015 and included weekday records for the number of scheduled surgeries, the number of cancelled surgeries, and the reasons for cancellation. Descriptive statistics were performed.ResultsOf 10,730 scheduled surgeries, 4740 (44.2%) were cancelled. The most common reason for cancellation was infrastructural limitations (84.8%), including equipment shortages (50.9%) and time constraints (33.3%). Provider limitations accounted for 16.5% of cancellations, most often due to shortages of anaesthesia providers. Preoperative medical conditions contributed to 26.3% of cancellations.ConclusionThis study demonstrates a high case cancellation rate at a tertiary hospital in Malawi, attributable primarily to infrastructural limitations. These data provide evidence that investments in medical infrastructure and prevention of workforce brain drain are critical to surgical services in this region.

The effect of anatomic location of injury on mortality risk in a resource-poor setting

INTRODUCTION Injury is a significant cause of death, with approximately 4.7 million people mortalities each year. By 2030, injury is predicted to be among the top 20 causes of death worldwide. We sought to characterize and compare the mortality probability in trauma patients in a resource-poor setting based on anatomic location of injury. METHODS We performed a retrospective analysis of prospectively collected data using the trauma database at Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) in Lilongwe, Malawi. We included all adult trauma patients (≥16years) admitted between 2011 and 2015. We stratified patients according to anatomic location of injury, and used descriptive statistics to compare characteristics and management of each group. Bivariate analysis by mortality was done to determine covariates for our adjusted model. A Cox proportional hazard model was performed, using upper extremity injury as the baseline comparator. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the trend in incidence and mortality of head and spine injuries over five years. RESULTS Of the 76,984 trauma patients who presented to KCH from 2011 to 2015, 49,126 (63.8%) were adults, and 8569 (17.4%) were admitted. The most common injury was to the head or spine, seen in 3712 patients (43.6%). The highest unadjusted hazard ratio for mortality was in head and spine injury patients, at 3.685 (95% CI=2.50-5.44), which increased to 4.501 (95% CI=2.78-7.30) when adjusted for age, sex, injury severity, transfer status, injury mechanism, and surgical intervention. Abdominal trauma had the second highest adjusted hazard of mortality, at 3.62 (95% CI=1.92-6.84) followed by thoracic trauma (HR=1.3621, 95% CI=0.49-3.56). CONCLUSION In our setting, head or spine injury significantly increases the hazard of mortality significantly compared to all other anatomic injury locations. The prioritization of timely operative and non-operative head injury management is imperative. The development of head injury units may help attenuate trauma- related mortality in resource poor settings.

The Utility of Local Anesthesia for Neurosurgical Interventions in a Low-Resource Setting: A Case Series

IntroductionTrauma is a major contributor to global morbidity and mortality, and injury to the central nervous system is the most common cause of death in these patients. While the provision of surgical services is being recognized as essential to global public health efforts, specialty areas such as neurosurgery remain overlooked.MethodThis is a retrospective case review of patients with operable lesions, such as extra-axial hematomas and unstable depressed skull fractures that underwent neurosurgical interventions under local anesthesia.ResultsA total of 13 patients underwent neurosurgical intervention under local anesthesia. Two and three patients with burr hole decompression of epidural and subdural hematomas, respectively; seven patients had elevation of depressed skull fractures and lastly one patient had an aspiration of a brain abscess. All patients survived with and without residual neurological deficits.ConclusionAccess to resources and staff required to deliver general anesthesia is challenging in resource-poor settings. We have therefore begun performing emergent interventions under local anesthesia, with or without conscious sedation. While some patients had some minor residual weakness after the procedure, the degree of neurological deficit was improved from that observed before the procedure in all patients.

Epidemiology, Management, and Functional Outcomes of Traumatic Brain Injury in Sub-Saharan Africa

BACKGROUND Trauma accounts for 4.7 million deaths each year, with an estimated 90% of these occurring in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). Approximately half of trauma-related deaths are caused by central nervous system injury. Because a thorough understanding of traumatic brain injury (TBI) in LMICs is essential to mitigate TBI-related mortality, we established a clinical and radiographic database to characterize TBI in our low-income setting. METHODS This is a review of prospectively collected data from Kamuzu Central Hospital, a tertiary care center in the capital of Malawi. All patients admitted from October 2016 through May 2017 with a history of head trauma, altered consciousness, and/or radiographic evidence TBI were included. We performed descriptive statistics, a Cox regression analysis, and a survival analysis. RESULTS There were 280 patients who met inclusion criteria; of these, 80.5% were men. The mean age was 28.8 ± 16.3 years. Median Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS) score was 12 (interquartile range, 8-15). Road traffic crashes constituted the most common injury mechanism (60.7%). There were 148 (52.3%) patients who received a computed tomography scan, with the most common findings being contusions (26.1%). Of the patients, 88 (33.0%) had severe TBI, defined as a GCS score ≤8, of whom 27.6% were intubated and 10.3% received tracheostomies. Overall mortality was 30.9%. Of patients who survived, 80.1% made a good recovery. Female sex was protective, and the only significant predictor of poor functional outcome was presence of severe TBI (hazard ratio, 2.98; 95% confidence interval, 1.79-4.95). CONCLUSIONS TBI represents a significant part of the global neurosurgical burden of disease. Implementation of proven in-hospital interventions for these patients is critical to attenuate TBI-related morbidity and mortality.