Research progress of the open abdomen in the treatment of gastrointestinal fistula with complicated intra-abdominal infection

Abstract

Gastrointestinal fistula patients may suffer from complicated intra-abdominal infection and sepsis with improper treatment, which is characterized by high mortality ranging from 20% to 60%, as well as high medical costs. Gastrointestinal fistula patients with complicated intra-abdominal infections are not often diagnosed early, and proper treatment remains an unsolved problem. Therefore it is a great challenge for surgeons to repair broken intestines under complicated intra-abdominal infection conditions and to repair ruptured intestines under conditions of severe abdominal adhesions and swelling of the intestinal wall and mesentery. After the open abdominal approach was first adopted to treat complicated intra-abdominal infection patients by Duff and Moffat in 1981, it gradually began to be used more widely. However, some investigators have reported that the open abdomen approach has not been effective in controlling controlled mortality, instead, it may even increase mortality. For this reason, the approach has only been used in large medical centers rather than having been widely popularized. In this review, the effect, timing, indications of open abdomen approach and the principles for the open abdominal wound management are summarized, and the reason for the various efficacy among different centers is also analyzed. We provide a new perspective for clinicians to manage the gastrointestinal fistula patients with complicated intra-abdominal infection.