Surgical site infection (SSI) is one of the most frequent complications after abdominal surgery as abdominal procedures are often clean-contaminated, contaminated or even dirty procedures, so long the gastrointestinal tract, plenty of microorganisms, is entered. SSI is associated with morbidity and mortality, and reduces the patients' quality of life after surgery. Moreover, it prolongs hospital stay and requires increased instrumentation, medication and complementary tests, altogether representing an economic burden for the Health Services. This has led to the development of several...

Diverticular disease is one of the most common problems encountered by gastroenterologists, emergency physicians and surgeons, with a higher prevalence in elderly patients and a dramatic rising of incidences in young people, which involve an increase in health care costs, according to ambulatory visits and hospital admissions. Acute diverticulitis, the most important complication of diverticular disease, has a broad spectrum of severity, which involves many treatment options, ranging from outpatient-based antibiotic treatment, or even isolated nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, to...

Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) programs are a multidisciplinary approach in the perioperative care of the patient undergoing major surgery, including pre, intra and postoperative measures, based on the actual evidence published in literature (evidence-based medicine), to improve the postoperative recovery of the patient. ERAS protocols have been widely developed in colorectal surgery, but, given their excellent results, new protocols and guidelines have been developed in other surgical fields, including abdominal and extra-abdominal areas. In the last decade, several ERAS protocols...

Enhanced recovery after surgery (ERAS) programs are a multidisciplinary approach in the perioperative care of the patient undergoing major surgery, including pre, intra and postoperative measures, based on the actual evidence published in literature (evidence-based medicine), to improve the postoperative recovery of the patient. ERAS protocols have been widely developed in colorectal surgery, but given their excellent results, new protocols and guidelines have been developed in other surgical fields, including abdominal and extra-abdominal areas. One of the main keypoints in the...