Early postoperative complications of anorectal surgery

Summary

The charts of 454 patients undergoing anorectal surgery at Saint Barnabas Medical Center in 1969 were analyzed in regard to age and sex distribution, type of anesthesia employed, nature of surgical procedure performed, amount of postoperative analgesic required, frequency of postoperative urethral catheterization, duration of hospital stay, frequency of postoperative hemorrhage, rectal packing, postoperative infection, fecal impaction, and postoperative days to first bowel movement.

It was found that the most commonly employed form of anesthesia was caudal, and that the most commonly performed procedure was hemorrhoidectomy. The average number of doses (equivalent to 1/4 gr of morphine) of analgesic given postoperatively was 1.78. An average of 5 per cent of patients needed catheterization postoperatively. Average postoperative hospital stay was 5.0 days. Average number of days to first bowel movement postoperatively was 2.7. The overall incidence of hemorrhage, not treated by packing, was 9 cases. Seven patients needed rectal packing. Six patients developed postoperative fecal impaction. No instance of significant local infection was recorded.