Characterisation of older patients that require, but do not undergo, emergency laparotomy: a multicentre cohort study

Background: Older adults (≥65 yr) account for the majority of emergency laparotomies in the UK and are well characterised with reported outcomes. In contrast, there is limited knowledge on those patients that require emergency laparotomy but do not undergo surgery (NoLaps).

Methods: A multicentre cohort study (n=64 UK surgical centres) recruited 750 consecutive NoLap patients (February 15th - November 15th 2021, inclusive of a 90-day follow up period). Each patient was admitted to hospital with a surgical condition treatable by an emergency laparotomy (defined by The National Emergency Laparotomy Audit (NELA) criteria), but a decision was made not to undergo surgery (NoLap).

Results: NoLap patients were predominately female (452 patients, 60%), of advanced age (median age 83.0 yr, interquartile range 77.0-88.8), frail (523 patients, 70%), and had severe comorbidity (750 patients, 100%); 99% underwent CT scanning. The commonest diagnoses were perforation (26%), small bowel obstruction (17%), and ischaemic bowel (13%). The 90-day mortality was 79% and influencing factors were >80 yr, underweight BMI, elevated serum lactate or creatinine concentration. The majority of patients died in hospital (77%), with those with ischaemic bowel dying early. For the 21% of NoLap patients that survived to 90 days, 77% returned home with increased care requirements.

Conclusions: This study reports that the NoLap patient population present significant medical challenges because of their extreme levels of comorbidity, frailty, and physiology. Despite these complexities a fifth remained alive at 90 days. Further work is underway to explore this high-risk decision-making process.

Clinical trial registration: ISRCTN14556210.