Can failure of percutaneous drainage of postoperative abdominal abscesses be predicted?
BACKGROUND
Percutaneous drainage (PD) of complex postoperative abscesses associated with a variety of factors such as multiple location or enteric fistula remains a matter of debate. Accordingly, this retrospective study was designed to determine the predictive factors for failure of PD of postoperative abscess, in order to better select the patients who may benefit from PD.


METHODS
From 1992 to 2000, the data of 73 patients who underwent computed tomography (CT)-guided PD for postoperative intra-abdominal abscess, were reviewed. PD was considered as failure when clinical sepsis persisted or subsequent surgery was needed. The possible association between failure of PD and 27 patient-, abscess-, surgical-, and drainage-related variables were assessed using univariate and multivariate analysis.


RESULTS
Successful PD was achieved in 59 of 73 (81%) patients. The overall mortality was 3% but no patient died after salvage surgery. Multivariate analysis showed that only an abscess diameter of less than 5 cm (P = 0.042) and absence of antibiotic therapy (P = 0.01) were significant predictive variables for failure of PD.


CONCLUSIONS
CT-guided PD associated with antibiotic therapy could be attempted as the initial treatment of postoperative abdominal abscesses even in complex cases such as loculated abscess or abscess associated with enteric fistula.
Benoist
Stéphane
S
Department of Surgery, Service de Chirurgie Générale et Digestive, Hôpital Lariboisière, Paris, France.
Panis
Yves
Y
Pannegeon
Virginie
V
Soyer
Philippe
P
Watrin
Thierry
T
Boudiaf
Mourad
M
Valleur
Patrice
P
D018784:Abdominal Abscess / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000628:therapy*; D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000704:Analysis of Variance; D013505:Digestive System Surgical Procedures / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods; D004322:Drainage / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000628:therapy*; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D011336:Probability; D011379:Prognosis; D012086:Reoperation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D014057:Tomography, X-Ray Computed; D017211:Treatment Failure; D016896:Treatment Outcome