Thirty-day surgical outcome among patients who had undergone emergency laparotomy in a tertiary care teaching hospital: An audit of 151 cases

Abstract

Introduction: Despite being one of the most commonly performed emergency surgical procedures, there is a scarcity of data on the outcomes and postoperative mortality rates of emergency laparotomy. Materials and Methods: A descriptive study was conducted among 151 patients those who underwent emergency laparotomy in the department of general surgery over a period of 8 months. Data were collected from the medical records available in the Medical Records Library. Results: The mean age of the study population was 45 years, with 82.8% being males. The overall mortality rate was 23.84% at 30 days. Conclusion: Emergency laparotomy carries a risk of high mortality and is associated with several modifiable factors. The data presented here reinforce the need for new models of care with increased multidisciplinary input into patient care in the postoperative period.

Keywords

• Emergency laparotomy
• mortality
• serum albumin