RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Leak following surgical repair of traumatic duodenal injuries results in prolonged hospitalization and oftentimes nil per os(NPO) treatment. Parenteral nutrition(PN) has known morbidity; however, duodenal leak(DL) patients often have complex injuries and hospital courses resulting in barriers to enteral nutrition(EN). We hypothesized EN alone would be associated with 1)shorter duration until leak closure and 2)less infectious complications and shorter hospital length of stay(HLOS) compared to PN. METHODS: This was a post-hoc analysis of a retrospective, multicenter study from 35 Level-1 trauma centers, including patients >14 years-old who underwent surgery for duodenal injuries(1/2010-12/2020) and endured post-operative DL. The study compared nutrition strategies: EN vs PN vs EN + PN using Chi-Square and Kruskal-Wallis tests; if significance was found pairwise comparison or Dunn's test were performed. RESULTS: There were 113 patients with DL: 43 EN, 22 PN, and 48 EN + PN. Patients were young(median age 28 years-old) males(83.2%) with penetrating injuries(81.4%). There was no difference in injury severity or critical illness among the groups, however there were more pancreatic injuries among PN groups. EN patients had less days NPO compared to both PN groups(12 days[IQR23] vs 40[54] vs 33[32],p = <0.001). Time until leak closure was less in EN patients when comparing the three groups(7 days[IQR14.5] vs 15[20.5] vs 25.5[55.8],p = 0.008). EN patients had less intra-abdominal abscesses, bacteremia, and days with drains than the PN groups(all p < 0.05). HLOS was shorter among EN patients vs both PN groups(27 days[24] vs 44[62] vs 45[31],p = 0.001). When controlling for predictors of leak, regression analysis demonstrated EN was associated with shorter HLOS(ß -24.9, 95%CI -39.0 to -10.7,p < 0.001). CONCLUSION: EN was associated with a shorter duration until leak closure, less infectious complications, and shorter length of stay. Contrary to some conventional thought, PN was not associated with decreased time until leak closure. We therefore suggest EN should be the preferred choice of nutrition in patients with duodenal leaks whenever feasible. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: IV.
RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Blunt traumatic abdominal wall hernias (TAWHs) are rare but require a variety of operative techniques to repair including bone anchor fixation (BAF) when tissue tears off bony structures. This study aimed to provide a descriptive analysis of BAF technique for blunt TAWH repair. Bone anchor fixation and no BAF repairs were compared, hypothesizing increased hernia recurrence with BAF repair. METHODS: A secondary analysis of the WTA blunt TAWH multicenter study was performed including all patients who underwent repair of their TAWH. Patients with BAF were compared to those with no BAF with bivariate analyses. RESULTS: 176 patients underwent repair of their TAWH with 41 (23.3%) undergoing BAF. 26 (63.4%) patients had tissue fixed to bone, with 7 of those reinforced with mesh. The remaining 15 (36.6%) patients had bridging mesh anchored to bone. The BAF group had a similar age, sex, body mass index, and injury severity score compared to the no BAF group. The time to repair (1 vs 1 days, P = .158), rate of hernia recurrence (9.8% vs 12.7%, P = .786), and surgical site infection (SSI) (12.5% vs 15.6%, P = .823) were all similar between cohorts. CONCLUSIONS: This largest series to date found nearly one-quarter of TAWH repairs required BAF. Bone anchor fixation repairs had a similar rate of hernia recurrence and SSI compared to no BAF repairs, suggesting this is a reasonable option for repair of TAWH. However, future prospective studies are needed to compare specific BAF techniques and evaluate long-term outcomes including patient-centered outcomes such as pain and quality of life.