A

Emergency laparotomy shows high 30-day (12 %) and 1-year (25 %) mortality overall—and even worse figures in patients >70 years (22 % and 38 %, respectively)—leading the authors to state that “more needs to be done to improve outcomes” after such surgery, confirming that it is indeed an area requiring improvement [Watt 2015, PMID 26037986].