Patterns of Cardiothoracic and vascular surgical admissions at a tertiary University hospital Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Abstract

Background: The subspecialty training in cardiothoracic surgery at the school of medicine in the department of surgery Addis Ababa University is a new field in the country. Virtually all the thoracic surgical patients are referred to our hospital. There are two referral clinic days in a week where varieties of Cardiothoracic and vascular surgical cases are seen as an outpatient and those who deserve and are considered fit for surgery are admitted. The purpose of this study is to observe the disease patterns, evaluate the institutional capacity, implication on training and service delivery in cardiothoracic and vascular surgery

Method: All patients seen at the surgical referral clinic and decided to be admitted for the first time or readmission, from July 2010 to June 2011 were included in the study. Emergency cases were excluded. Data were analyzed using statistical tool SPSS ver.16

Results: A total of 274 cases were decided for admission in this time period. Females were 145 accounting for 52.9 % while men were 129 accounting for 47.1%. Mean age was 38 years while the median age was 39 years, ranging between 13 and 88 years. Neoplasm is the leading pathology for admission accounting 169 (61.7%) cases out of the 274. Malignancies are observed to contribute 126 (45.9%). 98 Esophageal cancer cases were recomeneded for admission making it the single most common diagnosis on admission. Among the esophageal cancers 56 were females (57.1%) while males were 42 (42.9%).

Conclusion and Recommendation: There was an observed change in the male to female ratio with females taking the majority of the admissions and the majority of the esophageal cancer cases admitted. Neoplasm in general and more importantly malignant neoplasm were the leading causes of admission unlike the previous studies indicative of preponderance of non neoplastic and non Malignant causes. The number of cardiothoracic surgery admissions has increased dramatically. We recommend on the commencement of Cancer registry in the country. Further study is needed to have an impact in resource allocation at the institution.

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