%0 Journal Article
%T Pattern of surgical emergencies in a Nigerian tertiary hospital
%A Ndubuisi OC
%A Onyemaechi
%A Sebastian O
%A Sunday U & Ekenze
%A Urube
%J African Health Sciences
%D 2019
%X Background: Surgical emergencies account for a major part of the surgeon¡¯s workload. Evaluation of pattern of surgical emergencies will assist in developing concrete proposals for improved care. The aim was to assess the pattern of surgical emergencies in our center. Methods: We undertook one-year prospective study of all the emergency surgical admissions at Federal Medical Centre Makurdi from January to December 2011. Results: There were 575 surgical emergencies which constituted 56.8% of surgical admission, and 27.2% of allemergency hospital admissions. The commonest trauma cases were soft tissue injuries (30.3%), while the commonest non-trauma case was acute abdomen (41.6%). The mean age of the patients was 33.7 ¡À 17.2 years.Multiple injuries and traumatic brain injuries requiring intensive care monitoring, and malignancies were associated with higher mortality rates (p = 0.001). The 1-year mortality rate was 7.8% and the preventable death rate (PDR) for the trauma-related emergencies was 71.4%. Conclusion: There is a wide spectrum of surgical emergencies in our setting with trauma accounting for a substantial proportion of cases. Improved trauma care, neurosurgical services and intensive care facilities may improve the outcome of surgical emergencies in our environment. DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.4314/ahs.v19i1.53 Cite as: Onyemaechi NOC, Urube SU, SO E. Pattern of surgical emergencies in a Nigerian tertiary hospital. Afri Health Sci. 2019;19(1). 1768-1777. https:// dx.doi. org/10.4314/ ahs. v19i1.5
%U http://www.bioline.org.br/abstract?id=hs19052&lang=en