Anastomotic Leaks and Fistulas

Abstract

There are two chief clinical scenarios of postoperative intestinal leak:

• The leak is obvious — you see intestinal contents draining from the operative wound or from the drain site — if a drain was left.

• You suspect a leak but do not see one.

“If there is a possibility of several things going wrong, the one that will cause the most damage will be the one to go wrong” (Arthur Bloch, Murphy’s Law)