ABSTRACT
Objectives: Patients requiring surgery for secondary peritonitis demonstrate a significantly increased risk for incisional surgical site infection. This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of subcutaneous wound drain post-laparotomy for contaminated surgical wounds. Design: This was a prospective comparative hospital-based study. Setting: Patients who had surgery for secondary peritonitis in Irrua Specialist Teaching Hospital were studied. Participants: Fifty patients aged 16 years and above who presented with secondary peritonitis. Intervention: Patients who met the inclusion criteria were randomized into two equal groups. Group A had a suction drain placed in the subcutaneous space after laparotomy while Group B did not. Main outcome measures: Development of incisional surgical site infection, wound dehiscence, and duration of post-operative hospital stay. Results: The incidence of incisional surgical site infection was significantly less in Group A (20%) than in Group B (68%). There was no case of wound dehiscence in Group A as against 3 (12%) in Group B. The difference was not statistically significant. The mean duration of hospital stay was significantly less with subcutaneous suction drain (8.96+2.81 Vs 14.04+8.05; p = 0.005). Conclusion: Subcutaneous suction drainage is beneficial in abdominal wall closure in cases of peritonitis as it significantly reduces the incidence of incisional surgical site infection and the duration of postoperative hospital stay. The reduction in surgical wound dehiscence observed in this study was, however, not statistically significant. Funding: None declared.
Subject(s)
Abdominal Wound Closure Techniques , Length of Stay , Peritonitis , Surgical Wound Dehiscence , Surgical Wound Infection , Humans , Male , Female , Surgical Wound Infection/prevention & control , Surgical Wound Infection/epidemiology , Middle Aged , Prospective Studies , Adult , Peritonitis/etiology , Surgical Wound Dehiscence/epidemiology , Surgical Wound Dehiscence/prevention & control , Surgical Wound Dehiscence/etiology , Abdominal Wound Closure Techniques/instrumentation , Aged , Sepsis/etiology , Sepsis/epidemiology , Drainage/instrumentation , Laparotomy , Suction/methods , Young AdultABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Urethral stricture disease is prevalent, and many surgical techniques have been developed to treat it. Currently, urethroplasty for bulbar strictures implies ventral or dorsal stricturotomy and a buccal mucosa graft (BMG) patch. OBJECTIVE: To describe the surgical approach of the ventral patch BMG urethroplasty for proximal bulbar urethral stricture and to analyze 11 consecutive cases for whom the technique was used. PATIENTS AND METHODS: The diagnosis of urethral stricture was confirmed with a combined retrograde urethrography and micturating cystourethrography. A single team exposed the urethra, harvested, and planted the BMG in the lithotomy position under general anesthesia. The oral preoperative preparation was done with oraldene (hexetidine) mouth wash three times daily beginning from the 2nd preoperative day. The buccal mucosa was harvested from the left inner cheek in all the patients. The donor site was left unclosed but packed with wet gauze. Data related to age, preoperative adverse conditions, stricture length, urine culture result, perineal/oral wound complications, postoperative residual urine volume, and duration of hospital stay were recorded. RESULTS: Eleven patients with proximal bulbar urethral stricture had BMG urethroplasty from August 2013 to October 2015. Stricture length ranged from 2 to 5 cm. In six (54%) of the men, the stricture resulted from urethritis thereby constituting the most common etiology of urethral stricture in this study. The preoperative adverse conditions were age above 70 in three, diabetes mellitus in two, severe dental caries in one, and recurrent stricture in two. All of them were able to resume reasonable oral intake 72 h postoperatively. One (9.2%) had perineal wound infection, while two (18.2%) still had mild pain at donor site 4 weeks postoperatively. Ten (90.9%) of the 11 patients had <30 ml residual urine volume at 2 months of follow-up. CONCLUSION: Urethritis is still a common cause of urethral stricture in this rural community. Ventral onlay buccal mucosal graft urethroplasty for proximal bulbar urethral stricture is safe, even in certain adverse preoperative conditions. Buccal mucosa from the cheek is however now preferred.
