title: Hepatectomy without abdominal drainage. Results of a prospective study in 61 patients.
abstract: The increasingly simple postoperative course of major surgery has challenged the routine use of drainage after most abdominal surgical procedures. Therefore a prospective study was designed to determine if abdominal drainage could be safely avoided after liver resection and was evaluated in 61 consecutive patients. There was one postoperative death (1.7%) from variceal bleeding. Four other patients (6.7%) developed an abdominal complication: two right subphrenic hematomas requiring reoperation in one case and two incisional ascitic leaks requiring incisional repair in one patient. There was neither a subphrenic abscess nor bile peritonitis. Postoperative hospitalization was 11.5 +/- 3 days in the entire group and 8.5 +/- 1 days in patients without complications. These results suggest that liver resection can be performed safely without abdominal drainage and that the routine use of drains is unnecessary.
authors.affiliation: Groupe de Recherche sur la Chirurgie du Foie et de l'Hypertension Portale, Université Paris XI, Hôpital Louise Michel, Evry, France.
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Franco
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Karaa
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Meakins
authors.forename: G
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Borgonovo
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Smadja
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Grange
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000601:surgery; D004322:Drainage; D005260:Female; D006498:Hepatectomy; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000601:surgery; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011182:Postoperative Care; D011446:Prospective Studies