1.   Brief details of the operative procedures they undergo are provided.

2.   Feedback of information has been shown to change operative procedures in some non-randomised studies but not all.

3.   The majority of patients in a surgical ward will undergo some sort of operative procedure during their stay in hospital.

4.   The types of operative procedures undertaken are shown in Table I.

5.   The distal splenorenal shunt was designed to overcome this problem, but comparison with endoscopic sclerotherapy suggests that this operative procedure is associated with an increased mortality.