Surgical management of the acute abdomen: When approaching the ‘acute abdomen’ patient, the surgeon often does not have a clear understanding of the pathology prior to the celiotomy. It is therefore important that the approach to these patients should enable the surgeon to explore the entire abdominal cavity to determine the cause and extent of the condition and also, to obtain biopsies if definitive treatment is not possible. This presentation reviews a thorough abdominal exploration of a patient via video and discuss practical ways (including instrumentation, approaches and biopsy techniques) that allow the surgeon to optimise their approach to these tricky patients.

Otomies and ectomies in the acute abdomen – how to improve outcomes: When managing cases with an acute abdomen that require surgical intervention, there is often the need for the surgeon to either enter a hollow viscus (for example, gastrotomy, jejunotomy, etc.), or, to remove a portion of the organ (for example, partial gastrectomy, enterectomy, etc.). This presentation reviews the basic principles of such gastrointestinal surgeries using clinical examples and live video feed to emphasise key points, errors in technique and controversies. The talk aims to provide clear and practical advice that can be used in day-to-day surgical practice – hopefully, improving both confidence and surgical outcomes.