Incisional hernia and enterocutaneous fistula in patients with chronic intestinal failure: prevalence and risk factors in a cohort of patients referred to a tertiary centre.

Abstract

This study aims to determine the prevalence of incisional hernia (IH) and enterocutaneous fistula (ECF) in patients with intestinal failure (IF) referred to a tertiary centre and to identify factors associated with their development. A retrospective case note review was undertaken of a prospectively maintained database of all patients on home parenteral nutrition between 2011 and 2016 at a UK tertiary referral centre for IF. Risk factors were identified using binary logistic regression. The database search identified 447 patients, of whom 349 (78.1%) had surgery prior to developing IF. Eighty-one (23.2%) patients had an IH and 123 (35.2%) had an ECF at the time of referral. Of these, 51 (14.6%) had both IH and ECF. IH was associated with a high body mass index (P=0.05), a history of a major surgical complication resulting in IF (P=0.01), previous emergency surgery (P=0.04), increasing number of operations (P=0.02) and surgical site infection (SSI; P=0.01). ECF was associated with complications relating to earlier surgery. (P≤.001), previous treatment with an open abdomen (P=0.03), SSI (P=0.001), intra-abdominal collection (P≤0.001) and anastomotic leak (P=0.02). In this series, patients with IF had a prevalence of IH which was more than double that expected following elective laparotomy (about 10%) and one in three had an ECF. Risk factors for IH and ECF are discussed.