INTRODUCTION: Significant deaths of between 21% and 38% occur from non-trauma surgical conditions in the accident and emergency room. Access to emergency surgical care is limited in many developing countries including Nigeria. We aimed to study the spectrum of non-trauma surgical @entity341 , identify challenges in management and evaluate outcomes. METHODS: A one year prospective cohort study of all non-trauma @entity341 in adults seen at the surgical emergency room of LASUTH from 1st October, 2011 to 30th September, 2012 was conducted. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 15.0. RESULTS: Of a total of 7536 @entity1 seen, there were 7122 adults. Those with non-trauma conditions were 2065 representing 29% of adult @entity341 . Age ranged between 15 and 97 years and male to female ratio was 1.7:1. Acute abdomen (30%), urological problems (18%) and @entity5 (10%) were the most common. Among 985 @entity1 requiring admission only 464 (47%) were admitted while the remaining 53% were referred to other centers. Emergency surgical intervention was carried out in 222 @entity1 representing 48% of admitted @entity1 . There were 12 (24%) non-trauma deaths in the emergency room. They were due to acute abdomen and @entity5 in half of the cases. CONCLUSION: Facilities for @entity1 needing emergency care were inadequate with more than half of those requiring admission referred. Attention should be paid to the provision of emergency surgical services to the teeming number of @entity1 seen on yearly basis in the Teaching Hospital.

Non-trauma surgical XXXX in adults: Spectrum, challenges and outcome of care.

@entity1 :: ('9606', 'Species') :: ['patients'] @entity341 :: ('MESH:D004630', 'Disease') :: ['emergencies'] @entity5 :: ('MESH:D009369', 'Disease') :: ['malignancies']
@entity341 :: (MESH:D004630,Disease) :: ['emergencies']
