The current evidence base underpinning national standards for emergency laparotomy care lacks randomized controlled trial data, highlighting the need for ongoing and future high-quality clinical studies.
The commentary emphasizes the need for high-quality randomized controlled trials to strengthen the evidence base underpinning national standards for emergency laparotomy care.
Around 35,000 patients undergo emergency laparotomy surgery in the UK each year with an in-hospital 30-day mortality estimated as between 11 and 15 %. The recent publication of the First Patient Report of the National Emergency Laparotomy Audit (NELA) has provided a detailed description of individual hospital performance against national standards of care in emergency laparotomy in England and Wales. Although the standards used for audit purposes in NELA are based upon the best currently available evidence, none of the source data derives from randomised controlled studies. This commentary explores the evidence base for the standards evaluated by NELA and highlights recent and forthcoming studies that may substantially contribute to improving the evidence base in this area, thereby improving patient care and strengthening the validity of the NELA audit standards.
Odor et al. (Thu,) conducted a editorial in Emergency laparotomy. The current evidence base underpinning national standards for emergency laparotomy care lacks randomized controlled trial data, highlighting the need for ongoing and future high-quality clinical studies.