Impact of previous surgery on time taken for incision and division of adhesions during laparotomy

Top Cited Papers
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Ncision time and division of adhesion time was recorded on 120 patients (89 elective cases and 31 emergencies) undergoing midline laparotomy under the care of a single colorectal surgeon. RESULTS: Fifty-one percent of elective and 71 percent of emergency cases had previously had abdominal surgery. Previous surgery prolonged the median incision time from 5 (range, 3-10) to 8 (range, 4-39) minutes ( P<0.001) and the median division of adhesion time from 0 (range, 0-30) to 15 (range, 0-12) minutes ( P<0.0001). CONCLUSIONS: Previous surgery significantly increases the operating time during subsequent surgery by a median of 18 minutes. This information may be of use in the planning of surgical workload and highlights the needs for cost-effective adhesion prevention strategies. © The ASCRS 2000...