TITLE:
Emergency Digestive Oncological Surgery in Yaounde (Cameroon): Indications and Short-Term Results
AUTHORS:
Guy Aristide Bang, Goura a Goura, Joseph Cyrille Chopkeng, Eric Patrick Savom, Yanick Mahamat Ekani Boukar, Daniel Biwole Biwole, Amanda Missi, Bernadette Ngo Nonga
KEYWORDS:
Digestive cancer, Emergency, Acute abdomen, Oncological Surgery, Cameroon
JOURNAL NAME:
Surgical Science,
Vol.13 No.4,
April
21,
2022
ABSTRACT: Background: Data on emergency digestive oncology surgery are limited in Cameroon. The
aim of this work was to give the short-term results of emergency digestive
carcinological surgery in our context. Patients
and Methods: We conducted a descriptive and analytical observational study with
retrospective data collection in four reference hospitals in the city of
Yaoundé. Files of patients who had emergency digestive oncological surgery, for
an acute complication, from January 1, 2016 to December 31, 2020, were
included. The outcomes of the patients in the 30 days following the surgery had
to be known. Results: We collected 41 patients, representing 20% of the digestive oncological
surgery activity. Their average age was 51.76 ± 16.59 years with a male
predominance (63.4%). The cancer complication was inaugural in 27 patients. The
main tumor sites were colic (56.1%), rectal (19.5%), and
gastric (9.7%). The indications for surgery were: acute bowel obstruction
(60.9%), acute generalized peritonitis (29.3%), and
gastrointestinal bleeding (4.9%). The tumor was diagnosed intraoperatively in
10 patients (24.4%). The main operative procedures were left colectomy (21.9%)
and Hartmann’s intervention (19.5%). The morbidity and mortality rates were
60.9% and 43.9%, respectively. Preoperative anemia (p = 0.019), peritonitis as
indication for surgery (p = 0.039) and TNM stage 4 (p = 0.015) were identified
as associated with an increased risk of death. Conclusion: In our context, one-fifth of digestive oncological surgery is done urgently in front of an
acute complication which is inaugural for cancer in nearly two-thirds of
patients. Postoperative morbidity and mortality are significant.