FREQUENCY AND PATTERN OF ACUTE PERITONITIS AT TERTIARY CARE TEACHING HOSPITAL

OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency and pattern on acute peritonitis at tertiary care teaching hospital. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This descriptive case series study was conducted from July 2015 to December 2015 on the patients that were provisionally diagnosed as acute peritonitis after relevant investigations and underwent surgical interventions of ≥12 years of age and either gender. The laparotomy was done under general anaesthesia or epidural anaesthesia while the postoperatively patients were followed till discharge from hospital and reviewed in OPD for at least one month. The data collected on pre-designed proforma and analyzed in SPSS 16. The frequency / percentages and mean ± SD was calculated for the study variables. RESULTS: During six months study period, total fifty individuals with peritonitis were enrolled and evaluated with 38.98 ± 7.62 mean age ± SD. Majority of the individuals were belonged to rural population (75%) and were males (70%). The common sign and symptoms observed were pain in abdomen (90%), fever (80%), vomiting (84%), tenderness and rigidity (80%). The leading etiologies identified were duodenal (50%), appendicular (20%) and ilial perforations (6%). The interventions performed were omental graft closure (Graham's patch), simple closure of perforation and resections and anastomosis while the common complications observed were wound infections (8 patients), fecal fistula (3 patients) and pelvic abscess (3 patients). The mortality was observed in 10 subjects, of which seven males and three females. CONCLUSION: Prompt resuscitation and early surgical intervention can reduce the mortality and morbidity in relation to acute peritonitis. Key words: Peritonitis, Etiology, Complications and Surgical interventions