title: [Application of damage control surgery in serious pediatric abdominal surgery].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Damage control surgery (DCS) deals with the complex surgical problems by stages. This study investigated the application of DCS in serious pediatric abdominal surgery.
  
  
  METHODS
  The clinical data of 49 children with serious abdominal diseases (age: 4 months to 10 years) were retrospectively studied. Of them, 32 children underwent damage control surgery (DCS) and 17 children underwent conventional operation. The preoperative critical severity score (CSS), postoperative temperature, blood pH and prothrombin time (PT), and the treatment outcome were compared between the DCS and the conventional operation groups.
  
  
  RESULTS
  No significant difference was found in the preoperative CSS between the two groups. There were significant differences in postoperative blood pH and PT values between the two groups (p<0.05). As for postoperative temperature, there was no statistical difference between the two groups, yet the tendency of temperature recovery in the DCS group was milder than that in the conventional operation group. Twenty-seven children (84.4%) were successfully cured in the DCS group, while 9 children (52.9%) in the conventional operation group (p<0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The curative effect of DCS surpasses the conventional operation in children with serious abdominal diseases, suggesting that DCS is of value in the management of serious pediatric abdominal diseases.
authors.affiliation: Department of General Surgery, Second Xiangya Hospital, Central South University, Changsha 410011, China.
authors.forename: Qiang
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Yin
authors.forename: Xiao-Yu
authors.initials: XY
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Ya-Ling
authors.initials: YL
authors.lastname: Xiao
authors.forename: De-Wu
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Zhong
mesh_terms: D000005:Abdomen / Q000601:surgery*; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D011517:Prothrombin Time; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013514:Surgical Procedures, Operative / Q000379:methods*