title: Aggressive treatment of severe diffuse peritonitis: a prospective study.
abstract: In a prospective study of 22 patients with diffuse peritonitis managed by the method of electively staged multiple laparotomies, the abdomen was left open in 9 patients. The patients were selected on the basis of the severity of their intra-abdominal infection: only massive faecal peritonitis, postoperative peritonitis and pancreatic abscesses were included. These amounted to only 9 per cent of all patients with intra-abdominal infection treated over a 2-year period. Up to seven re-operations were required per patient. In view of a high mortality rate of 32 per cent, the superiority of this aggressive management strategy over conventional methods is not fully established.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgery, University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schein
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Saadia
authors.forename: Z
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Freinkel
authors.forename: G A
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Decker
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007813:Laparotomy / Q000379:methods*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010538:Peritonitis / Q000401:mortality / Q000601:surgery*; D011379:Prognosis; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012086:Reoperation