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Abdominal drainage was unnecessary after hepatectomy using the conventional clamp crushing technique

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Journal of Gastrointestinal Surgery

Abstract

A prophylactic abdominal drainage catheter is routinely inserted by many surgeons in patients after hepatic resection. Between January 2002 and September 2004, 462 consecutive patients who had undergone hepatic resection using a clamp crushing method by the same surgical team were retrospectively divided into the drainage group (n = 357) and the nondrainage group (n = 105). There was no difference in hospital mortality between the two groups of patients (drainage group, 0.6% vs. nondrainage group, 0%; P = 1.0). However, there was a greater incidence of surgical complications in the drainage group (31.4% vs. 8.6%, P < 0.001), and greater incidence of wound complications and subphrenic complications in the drainage group compared to the nondrainage group (24.4% vs. 4.8%, P < 0.001). In addition, the mean (+- SEM) postoperative hospital stay of the drainage group was 13 +- 6.5 days, which was significantly longer than that of the nondrainage group (9.7 +- 3.3 days, P = 0.001). On multivariate analysis, abdominal drainage and intraoperative bleeding were the independent risk factors that were significantly associated with the incidence of drainage-related complications. The results suggested that routine abdominal drainage is unnecessary after hepatic resection when the conventional clamp crushing method is used during parenchyma transection.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Liver Cancer Institute and Zhong Shan Hospital, Fudan University, 200032, Shanghai, China

    Lu Lu M.D., Hui-Chuan Sun M.D., Ph.D. (Associate Professor of Surgery), Lun-Xiu Qin M.D., Ph.D., Lu Wang M.D., Ph.D., Qin-Hai Ye M.D., Ph.D., Ning Ren M.D., Ph.D., Jia Fan M.D., Ph.D. & Zhao-You Tang M.D.

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  1. Lu Lu M.D.
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  2. Hui-Chuan Sun M.D., Ph.D.
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Correspondence to Hui-Chuan Sun M.D., Ph.D..

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Lu, L., Sun, HC., Qin, LX. et al. Abdominal drainage was unnecessary after hepatectomy using the conventional clamp crushing technique. J Gastrointest Surg 10, 302–308 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gassur.2005.06.002

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