Indications and Outcome of Patients who had Re-Laparotomy: Two Years' Experience from a Teaching Hospital in a Developing Nation

BACKGROUND: Complications from abdominal surgery may necessitate a second or more surgeries, re-laparotomy. It is associated with significant morbidity and mortality. Data on relaparotomy from the developing nations is limited. This study aims to assess the indications and outcome of patients who had relaparotomy METHODS: A retrospective review of medical records of all patients who underwent Re-laparotomy at St. Paul's Hospital Millennium Medical College from January 2016 to December 2017 was done. RESULT: Of 2146 laparotomies, 6.9% (149) needed re-laparotomy and 129 patients were analyzed. Most (123,95.3%) had on-demand re-laparotomy. Patients operated on emergency made 70.5% (91) of the cases making the ratio of emergency to elective surgery 2.4:1. The three most common surgeries that needed re-laparotomy were, Perforated appendicitis (35,27.1%), bowel obstructions (28,21.7%) , and trauma (20,13.4%). The most common indications for relaparotomy were intra-abdominal abscess (57,44.23%), wound dehiscence (17,13.2%) and anastomotic leak (15 ,11.6%). Surgical site infection (128,100%) and malnutrition (58,45%) were the leading complications. The overall mortality rate was 12.8 % (19). There was no statically significant difference in mortality rate between on-demand and planned re-laparotomy (P=0.388), urgency of the primary surgery (P=0.891) and the number of relaparotomy (p=0.629). Re-laparotomy for anastomotic leak (p=0.001) and patients above fifty years of age (P=0.015) had significant associations with mortality. CONCLUSION: Intra-abdominal abscess collection, wound dehiscence and anastomotic leak were the most common indications of re-laparotomies. Age above fifty years and anastomotic leaks were significantly associated with mortality.