Clinical, Surgical and Epidemiological Profile of Reintervened Patients

Abstract

Introduction: Surgical reintervention patients have not been characterized at Dr. Ambrosio Grillo Portuondo Hospital of Santiago de Cuba.

Objective: To characterize the surgically intervened patients according to variables of interest.

Methods: A cross-sectional, descriptive and retrospective study was carried out with the patients surgically reintervened in the aforementioned hospital during the 2018-2020 triennium. The sample consisted of 6279 patients. Epidemiological and surgical-clinic variables of interest were analyzed. Data were summarized by frequency analysis.

Results: The reintervention rate was 1.7% compared to the total number of major operations, while 1.6% corresponded to abdominal surgery. There was a predominance of the age group 46-60 years and the female sex predominated, accounting for 37.8% and 55%, respectively. The initial operation was performed urgently in 91% of the cases, due to acute appendicitis and intestinal occlusion, accounting for 21.7% and 18%, respectively. 70.2% of the cases were reintervened four days later for intraabdominal abscess (39.6%) and anastomotic suture dehiscence (20.7%). On-demand relaparotomy (98.1%) was the most performed procedure, with 18% of application of the open-abdomen technique. Mortality represented 28% of cases, while the most frequent cause of death was septic shock, accounting for 80.6% of deaths.

Conclusions: The reintervened patients constituted a hospital health concern that impacted on the morbidity and mortality profile of abdominal surgery.

Keywords: reintervention; peritonitis; postoperative intraabdominal infection.