The effect of abdominal drainage on post-operative morbidity; a prospective cohort study

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of drains used in current clinical practice on operation parameters and post-operative morbidity. The comprehensive data obtained through the prospective design were analysed in detail according to whether abdominal drainage was applied. Abdominal drainage was present in 44.1% of patients who met the inclusion criteria. Drains were placed significantly more frequently during oncologic surgery (p = .007). The mean mobilisation (p = .001), first flatus (p = .001), and first oral intake (p = .029) times were longer in the drain group than those in the non-drain group. In patients who underwent oncological surgeries, no significant differences were observed except for the pre-operative duration of bowel preparation (p = .006) and first flatus time (p = .003). Our results suggest that drain placement in gynecological procedures does not provide an additional advantage.

IMPACT STATEMENT

• What is already known on this subject? Post-operative drainage of the abdominal cavity has been controversial for many years. However, whether abdominal drainage provides an additional benefit in lower and upper abdominal surgical procedures remains unclear.

• What do the results of this study add? Most studies have examined post-operative pain and surgical site infections. We examined the relationship between abdominal drainage and demographic and pre-/post-operative clinical features in detail. We demonstrated that abdominal drainage in gynecological procedures may not provide an additional advantage.

• What are the implications of these findings for clinical practice and/or further research? The present study provides valuable information that can guide physicians in deciding whether to use post-operative abdominal drainage. This topic warrants investigation with randomised data in the future.

Keywords:

• Drain management
• gynaecologic procedures
• morbidity
• surgery
• pelvic drainage
• post-operative complication

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

Data are available on request due to privacy or other restrictions.