Comparative study on the outcome of primary skin closure versus delayed primary skin closure in case of emergency laparotomies

Abstract

Introduction: One of the most common complications that one can encounter is the surgical site infection (SSI) after any surgical procedures especially after exploratory laparotomy for perforative peritonitis. A surgical wound is considered as infected when there is purulent drainage from the wound. The purpose of the present study was to compare the primary wound closure technique and delayed primary wound closure technique with regard to the rate of wound infection and other complications which are usually associated with the infection like wound dehiscence, stitch sinuses, incisional hernias and duration of hospital stay. Materials and Methodology: 120 participants were randomly divided into two groups with 60 subjects each for primary wound closure and delayed primary wound closure. Data was coded and entered in Microsoft Excel sheet and the data analysis was done using SPSS-17. Association between qualitative variables will be analysed using Chi-square test. Associations between quantitative variables were analysed using independent sample t-test. Non parametric tests were if whenever necessary. When a p value of less than 0.05 is considered as statistically significant.