Abstract
Background
Damage control surgery (DCS) was a major paradigm change in the management of critically ill trauma patients and has gradually expanded in the general surgery arena, but data in this setting are still scarce. The study aim was to evaluate outcomes of DCS in patients with general surgery emergencies.
Methods
Between 2005 and 2015, 164 patients (104 men, age 66) underwent DCS for non-traumatic abdominal emergencies. The decision to perform DCS was triggered by the presence of at least one trauma DCS criterion: hypotension (<70 mmHg), hypothermia (<35 °C), acidosis (pH < 7.25), coagulopathy (INR ≥ 1.7) and massive (>5 RBC) transfusion. Statistical tests were performed to identify risk factors for operative mortality. Observed outcomes were compared to those predicted by commonly employed scores (APACHE II, POSSUM, P-POSSUM, SAPS II).
Results
DCS was performed for acute mesenteric ischemia (n = 68), peritonitis (n = 44), pancreatitis (n = 28), bleeding (n = 14) and other (n = 10). Abdominal compartment syndrome was associated in 52 patients (32%). Seventy-four (45%) patients died and 150 patients (91%) experienced complications. On multivariate analysis, age (p = 0.018) and INR ≥ 1.7 (p = 0.001) were independent predictors of mortality. Mortality was 24% (13/55), 48% (22/46) and 62% (39/63) in patients with one, two and ≥3 DCS criteria, respectively. Comparison of observed and score-predicted mortality suggested DCS use resulted in significant survival benefit of the whole cohort and of patients with pancreatitis and postoperative peritonitis.
Conclusions
DCS can be lifesaving in critically ill patients with general surgery emergencies. Patients with peritonitis and acute pancreatitis are those who benefit most of the DCS approach.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Stone HH, Strom PR, Mullins RJ (1983) Management of the major coagulopathy with onset during laparotomy. Ann Surg 197:532–535
Feliciano DV, Mattox KL, Jordan GL (1981) Intra-abdominal packing for control of hepatic hemorrhage: a reappraisal. J Trauma 21:285–290
Lucas CE, Ledgerwood AM (1976) Prospective evaluation of hemostatic techniques for liver injuries. J Trauma 16:442–451
Moore EE (1996) Thomas G. Orr Memorial Lecture. Staged laparotomy for the hypothermia, acidosis, and coagulopathy syndrome. Am J Surg 172:405–410
Rotondo MF, Zonies DH (1997) The damage control sequence and underlying logic. Surg Clin N Am 77:761–777
Gruen RL, Brohi K, Schreiber M et al (2012) Haemorrhage control in severely injured patients. Lancet Lond Engl 380:1099–1108
Moore FA, McKinley BA, Moore EE (2004) The next generation in shock resuscitation. Lancet Lond Engl 363:1988–1996
Weber DG, Bendinelli C, Balogh ZJ (2014) Damage control surgery for abdominal emergencies. Br J Surg 101:e109–e118
Person B, Dorfman T, Bahouth H et al (2009) Abbreviated emergency laparotomy in the non-trauma setting. World J Emerg Surg WJES 4:41
Ball CG, Correa-Gallego C, Howard TJ et al (2010) Damage control principles for pancreatic surgery. J Gastrointest Surg Off J Soc Surg Aliment Tract 14:1632–1633 (author reply 1634)
Subramanian A, Balentine C, Palacio CH et al (2010) Outcomes of damage-control celiotomy in elderly nontrauma patients with intra-abdominal catastrophes. Am J Surg 200:783–788 (discussion 788–789)
Filicori F, Di Saverio S, Casali M et al (2010) Packing for damage control of nontraumatic intra-abdominal massive hemorrhages. World J Surg 34:2064–2068
Stawicki SP, Brooks A, Bilski T et al (2008) The concept of damage control: extending the paradigm to emergency general surgery. Injury 39:93–101
Finlay IG, Edwards TJ, Lambert AW (2004) Damage control laparotomy. Br J Surg 91:83–85
Morgan K, Mansker D, Adams DB (2010) Not just for trauma patients: damage control laparotomy in pancreatic surgery. J Gastrointest Surg Off J Soc Surg Aliment Tract 14:768–772
Freeman AJ, Graham JC (2005) Damage control surgery and angiography in cases of acute mesenteric ischaemia. ANZ J Surg 75:308–314
Khan A, Hsee L, Mathur S, Civil I (2013) Damage-control laparotomy in nontrauma patients: review of indications and outcomes. J Trauma Acute Care Surg 75:365–368
Goussous N, Jenkins DH, Zielinski MD (2014) Primary fascial closure after damage control laparotomy: sepsis vs haemorrhage. Injury 45:151–155
Tadlock MD, Sise MJ, Riccoboni ST et al (2010) Damage control in the management of ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm: preliminary results. Vasc Endovasc Surg 44:638–644
Banieghbal B, Davies MR (2004) Damage control laparotomy for generalized necrotizing enterocolitis. World J Surg 28:183–186. doi:10.1007/s00268-003-7155-9
Kafka-Ritsch R, Birkfellner F, Perathoner A et al (2012) Damage control surgery with abdominal vacuum and delayed bowel reconstruction in patients with perforated diverticulitis Hinchey III/IV. J Gastrointest Surg Off J Soc Surg Aliment Tract 16:1915–1922
Perathoner A, Klaus A, Mühlmann G et al (2010) Damage control with abdominal vacuum therapy (VAC) to manage perforated diverticulitis with advanced generalized peritonitis—a proof of concept. Int J Colorectal Dis 25:767–774
Becher RD, Peitzman AB, Sperry JL et al (2016) Damage control operations in non-trauma patients: defining criteria for the staged rapid source control laparotomy in emergency general surgery. World J Emerg Surg WJES 11:10
Knaus WA, Draper EA, Wagner DP, Zimmerman JE (1985) APACHE II: a severity of disease classification system. Crit Care Med 13:818–829
Copeland GP, Jones D, Walters M (1991) POSSUM: a scoring system for surgical audit. Br J Surg 78:355–360
Prytherch DR, Whiteley MS, Higgins B et al (1998) POSSUM and Portsmouth POSSUM for predicting mortality. Physiological and operative severity score for the enumeration of mortality and morbidity. Br J Surg 85:1217–1220
Le Gall JR, Lemeshow S, Saulnier F (1993) A new simplified acute physiology score (SAPS II) based on a European/North American multicenter study. JAMA, J Am Med Assoc 270:2957–2963
Kirkpatrick AW, Roberts DJ, De Waele J et al (2013) Intra-abdominal hypertension and the abdominal compartment syndrome: updated consensus definitions and clinical practice guidelines from the World Society of the Abdominal Compartment Syndrome. Intensive Care Med 39:1190–1206
Burch JM, Ortiz VB, Richardson RJ et al (1992) Abbreviated laparotomy and planned reoperation for critically injured patients. Ann Surg 215:476–483 (discussion 483–484)
Rotondo MF, Schwab CW, McGonigal MD et al (1993) “Damage control”: an approach for improved survival in exsanguinating penetrating abdominal injury. J Trauma 35:375–382 (discussion 382–383)
Dindo D, Demartines N, Clavien P-A (2004) Classification of surgical complications: a new proposal with evaluation in a cohort of 6336 patients and results of a survey. Ann Surg 240:205–213
Sartelli M, Abu-Zidan FM, Ansaloni L et al (2015) The role of the open abdomen procedure in managing severe abdominal sepsis: WSES position paper. World J Emerg Surg WJES 10:35
van Ruler O, Mahler CW, Boer KR et al (2007) Comparison of on-demand vs planned relaparotomy strategy in patients with severe peritonitis: a randomized trial. JAMA 298:865–872
Bruns BR, Ahmad SA, O’Meara L et al (2016) Nontrauma open abdomens: a prospective observational study. J Trauma Acute Care Surg 80:631–636
Tenner S, Baillie J, DeWitt J et al (2013) American College of Gastroenterology guideline: management of acute pancreatitis. Am J Gastroenterol 108(1400–1415):1416
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
Authors report no conflict of interest and no grant support for the research.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Girard, E., Abba, J., Boussat, B. et al. Damage Control Surgery for Non-traumatic Abdominal Emergencies. World J Surg 42, 965–973 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-017-4262-6
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00268-017-4262-6