Choice of surgical procedure in typhoid perforation: experience in 42 cases.

Forty-two patients of typhoid perforation of the gut have been studied. All the patients were subjected to surgery after resuscitation. Simple closure (with or without serosal patch) and temporary ileostomy were the commonly performed surgical procedures. The overall mortality was 14.2%. Postoperative morbidity included wound dehiscence, fistula, encephalopathy, septicaemia, intra-abdominal abscesses and incisional hernia. Faecal fistula formed in 5 out of 42 cases. Ileostomy was found to be the best procedure with regard to morbidity and mortality.