Telephone pre-anaesthesia assessment for ambulatory breast surgery

Objective: To review the efficacy of telephone preoperative anaesthesia assessment in patients undergoing ambulatory breast surgery. Design: Retrospective study. Setting: Day Surgery Centre, Tung Wah Hospital, Hong Kong. Patients: Patients with breast lumps to be excised were seen by dedicated breast surgeons and informed of day procedures and preoperative anaesthesia assessment. Those who fulfilled the selection criteria of age (18-45 years) and American Society of Anesthesiologists grade I were recruited for telephone anaesthesia assessment preoperatively. The patients were contacted by senior day surgery nurses via telephone before the scheduled operation date, and information was retrieved using a standard assessment form. Prospective data from January 2002 to December 2007 were analysed. Main outcome measures: Proportion of patients who successfully underwent day surgery after telephone preoperative anaesthesia assessment. Results: Of 482 patients receiving ambulatory surgery for breast lumps during the study period, 283 patients were selected for preoperative telephone anaesthesia assessment. Five (2%) patients with problems identified by this method underwent further assessment at the Day Surgery Centre; the remaining 278 (98%) required no further assessment and proceeded to have a successful day surgery procedure. Conclusion: Preoperative anaesthesia assessment by telephone is an effective means of preoperative assessment in selected patients undergoing ambulatory breast surgery.published_or_final_versio

Saliva diagnostics for oral diseases

Oral diseases, or stomatognathic diseases, denote the diseases of the mouth (“stoma”) and jaw (“gnath”). Dental caries and periodontal diseases have been traditionally considered as the most important global oral health burdens. It is important to note that in oral diagnostics, the greatest challenges are determining the clinical utility of potential biomarkers for screening (in asymptomatic people), predicting the early onset of disease (prognostic tests), and evaluating the disease activity and the efficacy of therapy through innovative diagnostic tests. An oral diagnostic test, in principle, should provide valuable information for differential diagnosis, localization of disease, and severity of infection. This information can then be incorporated by the physician when planning treatments and will provide means for assessing the effectiveness of therapy