[Extrathoracic surgical emergencies in hospitalized patients with bronchopulmonary diseases. Analysis of the operative risk].

An experience of surgical non-thoracic emergencies in patients admitted for chronic lung disease is herein presented. Fifty-four patients out of 10457 admitted in the four Departments of Pneumology of the Binaghi Hospital (Cagliari) between 1-1-1985 and 31-3-1993, were referred to our Department of General Surgery due to non-thoracic surgical emergencies. There was a considerable delay in the referral (only 25% of patients within 12 hours from the onset of symptoms): indeed predominant respiratory symptoms, hypoxia and hypercapnia made these patients no responsive to symptoms of surgical emergency. Surgical emergencies in causal correlation with respiratory disease (intestinal occlusion due to abdominal metastases of lung carcinoma, complicated peptic ulcer) had the worst prognosis (mortality: 52.9%). Those in chance connection, such as acute limb ischemia and preexisting abdominal disease, had a less adverse outcome. Mortality, however, was 37.5%: this datum outlines the role of chronic lung disease in defining operative risk. The authors call attention to three groups of observed patients: 1) three patients were operated on for intestinal occlusion due to unrecognized abdominal neoplasia, that showed itself in the course of hospitalization in the Department of Pneumology for lung metastases; 2) in 3 cases symptoms and signs of acute abdomen were observed without abdominal disease. The cause of acute pseudoabdomen was diaphragmatic pleural or basal pulmonary inflammation; 3) the eight patients with pulmonary embolism were all admitted in the Department of Pneumology with a wrong diagnosis of bronchopneumonia.