Relaparotomy. A ten-year series.

A review of the literature covering c. 158,000 laparotomies shows that acute relaparotomy has an incidence of 1.0% and a mortality rate of 43%. Over and above this, rupture of the abdominal wound, which illogically is often considered separately, occurs in 0.6% of all laparotomies and carries a mortality of 34% in the 179,000 laparotomies reviewed in this article. Our own series of 121 relaparotomies in 16,719 cases of laparotomy (an incidence of 0.72%, including burst abdomen) with a 28.1% mortality is discussed. Indications for relaparotomy have included haemorrhage (19%), ileus (25%), peritonitis (32%), wound rupture (22%), and other causes (2%).