European Journal of Cardiovascular Medicine

Introduction: Burst abdomen is considered to be there when intestine or other viscera are seen through the abdominal wound after surgery (general and obstetric surgeries).It can increase the length of hospital stay and result in significant social and economic costs for the patient and health care system. The present study aims at analyzing the incidence, etiological factors and management of this severe post-operative complication experienced by gynaecologists.  Materials and Methods: The present study comprises 25 cases of burst abdomen in the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, MKCG Medical College Hospital, Berhampur, Odisha from August 2020 to July 2022. Using a check-list and a questionnaire, the patient’s demographic data, medical history, physical examination findings, laboratory investigation results, surgical procedures, and outcome of the repaired burst abdomen were collected.  Results: In our study period the incidence of burst abdomen was 0.19%. Majority of the cases, both caesarean delivery cases (100%) and gynaecological cases (60%), were emergency cases. The indication of laparotomy being ectopic pregnancy (40%) was the most common in gynaecological cases and the most frequent indication for caesarean delivery leading to burst abdomen was obstructed labor (40%). Obesity was the the most frequent (24%) comorbidity encountered in our setup. Majority of the cases (84%) had transverse incision and only 16% cases had sub-umbilical midline incisions. Layer closure was used in majority (92%) of the cases which led to burst abdomen as compared to mass closure which was seen in 8% of the burst abdomen cases. The majority (72%) of burst abdomen occurred between 6th and 7th post-operative day in our study, with the average mean of 6.72 days.  The post-operatively anemia was seen in 72% of the cases that led to burst abdomen. Operative area infection also seemed to pre-dispose patients to burst abdomen and was seen post-operatively in 36% of the patients.  Conservative treatment (daily saline dressings) was done in no case in our study. Immediate re-suturing of the wound in the operation theatre was done in 22 cases. In majority of cases (56%), secondary closure of burst abdomen was done with non absorbable polypopylene. In present study the range of stay for majority was within 21-35 days and mean duration of stay was 24.52 days. Two cases had burst abdomen recurrence, i.e. 8%. Conclusion: Burst abdomen is one of the serious postoperative complications faced by surgeons and is of greatest concern because of risk of evisceration, the need for immediate intervention and the possibility of repeat dehiscence. It poses tremendous impact on quality of life, health care cost for patients, their families and hospitals by requiring re-operations, need for antibiotics and prolonging hospital stay. Knowledge of the more common mechanisms and how to avoid or overcome these hazards should help to reduce the incidence of this dangerous complication such as maintaining asepsis, avoiding preoperative, intraoperative and postoperative precipitating factors of burst abdomen and providing good antibiotic coverage.