Frequency of spontaneous closure of post-operative enterocutaneous fistula.

Abstract

Objectives: To determine the frequency of spontaneous closure of post-operative enterocutaneous fistula at a tertiary care hospital. Study Design: Descriptive Case Series. Setting: Department of General Surgery Unit-I, Nishtar Medical University/ Hospital, Multan. Period: Nine months 1/4/2018 to 31/12/2018. Material & Methods: Non-probability consecutive sampling. Results: From 80 patients, 34 (42.5%) were male and 46 (57.5%) were female. Mean age of our patients was 40.31 ± 10.58 years. Most of our patients i.e. 55 (68.8%) belonged to poor families. Mean body mass index of our patients was 24.67 ± 3.39 kg/m² and obesity was present in only 14 (17.5%) patients. Initial surgery was elective in 53 (66.2%) and emergency surgery in 27 (33.8%) patients. Site of origin of ECFs was gastric in 17 (21.3%), duodenum in 22 (27.5%), Jejunum in 14 (17.4%), Ilium was involved in 17(21.3%) and colorectal in 10(12.5%). Mean disease duration was 3.21 ± 2.09 weeks and mean duration of surgery was noted to be 4.71 ± 2.13 hours and 73.8% underwent surgical procedure for up to 5 hours. Mean hospital stay was noted to be 13.58 ± 7.41 days while 73.8% stayed in hospital for more than 7 days. Spontaneous closure of post-operative enterocutaneous fistula was noted in 25 (31.3%) of our patients. Conclusion: Spontaneous closure of post-operative enterocutaneous fistula without any surgical intervention is quite common.